Beauty Abroad, Part 13: Topshop Matte Lip Bullet in Get Me Bodied

BABY, ALL I WANT
IS TO LET IT GO
AIN’T NO WORRIES, NO
WE CAN DANCE ALL NIGHT…

Ahem. On my previous trip to the UK, I limited my Topshop damage to two nail polishes and an eyeshadow. This time I was eager to try one of Topshop’s many lip products, and I settled on the Matte Lip Bullet in Get Me Bodied (£8), a dark magenta-plum.

Topshop’s Lip Bullets are thin twist-up lipsticks in matte black-and-white tubes with clear plastic caps. The white plastic looks sleek when new, but it can easily get messy if you remove or replace the cap too hastily. The testers in the Topshop store looked downright gory.

The Lip Bullets come in two finishes, satin and matte; slapdash Google research indicates that the satin bullets came out last year and the matte ones this summer. They’re not crayons, exactly, because the bullet has the slanted head of a traditional lipstick—and because Topshop has wasted no time in capitalizing on the lip-crayon trend with its own line of crayons, which I’m sure are totally different from the bullets. I swatched a few satin-finish Lip Bullets alongside Get Me Bodied, and they felt slippery and moisturizing; the darkest one, burgundy Wine Gum, applied a bit unevenly.  But Get Me Bodied was perfectly even and opaque with one swipe, so it came home with me. (I should note that although lip products were two for £12 at Topshop, I resisted buying a second. I’m prouder of this than I should be.)

Get Me Bodied has a modern matte finish, softer and more luminous than, say, the NYX matte lipsticks. It glides on smoothly and wears off evenly; it also stands up remarkably well to food and drink. I don’t find it unusually drying, but I do like to wear it over a thin layer of balm for added comfort. I’ve included two lip swatches because the color likes to shift from bright pinky-purple plum to muted reddish plum, depending on the light. The first photo was taken outside, the second in evening light indoors.

Now I’m going to level with you: I have several lipsticks that are very similar to Get Me Bodied. It’s embarrassing. If I ever mention wanting another lipstick that can be described as “plum” or “dark fuchsia,” please slap some sense into me. Left to right: Revlon Black Cherry, YSL Belle de Rose, Topshop Get Me Bodied, Milani Sangria, Revlon Plum Velour, & Other Stories Droguet Purple.

The closest matches are Black Cherry (slightly darker) and Belle de Rose (slightly lighter), though neither one is matte and Black Cherry, despite its cult status, has a criminally patchy formula. I was planning to get rid of it, but now I’m curious to see how it works over Barry M Plum liner…

I’ve been wearing Get Me Bodied constantly since I bought it, including on my transatlantic flight on Thursday. (AB’s Law: if you try to apply a bold lipstick in an airplane lavatory, the plane is guaranteed to hit a patch of turbulence the second you touch bullet to lip.) I usually pair this color with a boring taupe eye, but today I decided to add a bit more color. I’m wearing Milani Bella Taupe all over my lids and smudged on the lower lashlines, and the mint shade from the NARS Habanera duo blended into the inner third of each lid. Blush is Illamasqua Zygomatic; mascara is CoverGirl LashBlast Length.

I discovered the pairing of plumberry lip and mint eye by accident, when I tried on NARS Audrey in a store while wearing Habanera. I should have thought of it before that, since Habanera is a duo composed of plum and mint, but hey. The mint half of Habanera has surprised me over and over with its versatility. It can hold its own against almost any color of lipstick, but it also blends easily into neutral shadows for an understated icy sheen.

All the Matte Lip Bullets seem to be named after pop songs (“Call Me Queen Bee” is lavender, which strikes me as a bit delicate for Lorde). The phrase “get me bodied” didn’t ring a bell for me when I saw it in the store, but a quick Google that evening revealed it to be the title of a Beyoncé track from 2006. Back then, the most cutting-edge music I listened to was Simon and Garfunkel, so it’s no wonder I first heard this song eight years later. I found it intensely annoying on first listen, but decided to give it another chance before this post went up. Approximately fifty plays later, I’m ready to recant. Thank you, Topshop, for introducing me to my next earworm/pre-conference motivational song. I’m not convinced that a matte plum lipstick is the best color to wear to “get bodied,” i.e. pick up dudes at the club–but that’s on Topshop, not Beyoncé. Beyoncé knows what’s up.

15 thoughts on “Beauty Abroad, Part 13: Topshop Matte Lip Bullet in Get Me Bodied”

  1. STOP IT. Stop looking like you fell, perfectly (delicately) tousled, from a slightly bohemian artist's flat circa 1932. Seriously. We're gonna have to have a talk about that, during which you will reveal to me your secrets. ;-)I keep seeing Topshop makeup! We have one Topshop store in this town, and I'm wondering whether or not they carry the makeup line. If it doesn't however, it seems like Revlon Black Cherry is a passable dupe, at least for colour. I'm a bit new to the whole matte thing, to be honest. I love my Revlon Matte balms, but thanks to a typical rogue quirk, I feel more OMGMADEUPWTFBBQ while wearing matte lipstick in modest pink, than I do while wearing MUFE's glitter metallic violet lipstick. I'm getting over it, slowly, as I rather like the feel of a soft, velvety matte lipstick on my lips. Now if everyone would just stop looking so amazing in those Charlotte Tilbury lipsticks…You too, in the Topshop one. Just stop already… ;-)P.S. I'm incredibly proud of you for not succumbing to the desire to get that 2 for 12 deal. I would have fallen headlong into that one, I'm not (totally) ashamed to say! 😀

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  2. I understand your trepidation re: matte lipsticks! For me, a matte finish reads more \”serious\” than \”omfgmadeup,\” but it's the same basic idea: less playful, more committed to an intense color. I'm more comfortable wearing a matte red than a glossy red in an academic setting, for instance. I haven't been keeping up with the new Charlotte Tilbury releases because a new brand to swoon over is the last thing I need, but I just gave her matte lipsticks a quick Google and they are very pretty indeed!Some people can make Black Cherry work for them. If you turn out to be one of those people, I'll need you to reveal *your* secrets. I'd definitely recommend some kind of lip liner underneath, either nude or berry/plum/purple, to take care of that awful patchiness…

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  3. Hmm… patchiness = lame. The only thing I usually do is smoodge a layer into my lip as a stain first, then try the sheer/patchy lipstick over the top. I'm not, perhaps, sufficiently committed to the colour to put up with a patchy lipstick (especially as Revlon lipsticks are still ~$20 each here on a good day on sale), but that would be my solution.

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  4. It is always the right formula that completes the right shade, imho. That probably explains why you've been wearing this a lot although you have some other similar shades. ;)From the pictures, it looks like you're wearing NARS Audrey. It looks gorgeous on you! BTW, I couldn't agree more with you about Revlon Black Cherry. Love love this color, but I just cannot work this one. It is my \”Droguet Purple\” in a way. Now, I do have one lipliner that is in a concealer color. I want to experiment if it works with darker (problematic) lip colors. 😉

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  5. You're absolutely right about the importance of lipstick formulas! I find the YSL Rouge Pur Couture formula to be drying, even though I love the color and the finish, so I don't wear Belle de Rose as often as I might otherwise. It took me a long time to realize that \”shiny\” doesn't necessarily mean \”moisturizing\” and \”matte\” doesn't necessarily mean \”drying.\”I bought a neutral lip liner just yesterday: Milani Nude, which is more mauve than nude on me. I tried it under Droguet Purple and it made the color more even, so I can't imagine it wouldn't do the same with Black Cherry. Also, have you seen Rocaille's latest post? I love her idea of wearing Black Cherry as a stain! (Which might look nice with a gloss on top, as well.)

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  7. I'm laughing at the variations on a theme, because I have the same issue with mauvey-beigey-pinks. Why mess with a good thing, though, if you know what works? And you ABSOLUTELY need them in different finishes, undertones, formulations etc.

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  8. Ik this is old post but dyk if topshop matte has ingredients listed anywhere i cant find it. their website pop up for ingredients not working for me fsr. I'm wondering if topshop matte lipstick is lead or titanium free. tia

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