A friend of mine (he’s a boy) has been telling me about a brand called Pretty Suci and how interesting it is. It claims to be halal and wudhu friendly, which you can check out more of on their website here. Perfect for anyone who doesn’t need the hassle of wondering whether or not their makeup is in the way when performing solat.
Since we here at MyLS are all about supporting local brands, I thought I’d give Pretty Suci a try. And did my friend come through or what– he got me this huge, pretty pink box just FULL of Pretty Suci lipsticks. As you can see, the presentation of the brand is A+.
Anyway, let’s get into the lipsticks. First things first– these lipsticks probably have the best packaging for a local brand that I’ve seen thus far. You can definitely see the Hourglass/Laura Mercier inspiration behind it, which is a good thing. The packaging is hefty and doesn’t feel light and flimsy like toy makeup. The cap screws shut with a click, so you wouldn’t worry about it spilling all over in your handbag.
I’m certainly not knocking other local brands for having flimsy packaging or whatever– I understand that production is an expensive process and I would much prefer a company to invest in the actual product instead of investing in beautiful packaging then running out of money for the product itself, but as a user I would love my Malaysian-made lipsticks and makeup to be able to fit in with the rest of my makeup… it’s a bit harder to do so when the packaging is constantly falling to pieces.
L-R: Cek Mek Molek, Minah Jambu
Next, we’ll go into how the lipsticks actually perform. I received two colours: Cek Mek Molek (which is a straight beige nude) and Minah Jambu (a mauve lipstick). Unlike the previously reviewed Velvet Vanity lipsticks, these go on more creamy than liquidy. However, that doesn’t mean they’re thick and stodgy. The lipsticks are quite easy to apply, and I was able to put them on without having to exfoliate my lips beforehand since they don’t cling to any dry patches (but then again I’m militant with using lip balm!). Once on, they dry up quite quickly and so long as you don’t go out of your way to eat oily foods, they’ll stay on quite well. I’ve eaten cookies and drank water (without a straw) with these lipsticks on, and they stayed on.
UPDATE:
At the top: there’s me wearing Minah Jambu while at the bottom there’s little Spunky wearing Cek Mek Molek.
So we’ve established that longevity-wise, these lipsticks do well. But do they actually look nice on your lips throughout the day? For that, I’d say Minah Jambu wins over Cek Mek Molek. First of all, my sisters and I totally love this colour! It’s such an interesting shade which looks different on everyone– depending on your skintone and the existing colour of your lips, it can come of more browny or it can even look like a red with mauve tones. This is not a shameless plug at all, but here is a video of my younger sister Spunky (we call her that) wearing Minah Jambu. She attests that it’s one of those shades which look great on camera!
Besides the colour, Minah Jambu also performs excellently with time. I’m not the biggest fan of liquid lipstick and I always thought that there isn’t any such thing as something which is supposed to dry up on your lips like cement without at least settling into the lines and crevices of your lips (unless, of course, you keep your lips stretched out while you wait for the lipstick to dry… but then who wants to do that?). But I grudgingly admit that Pretty Suci’s Minah Jambu does not settle into your lines! Cek Mek Molek, however, does slightly and is a bit more drying and less comfortable than Minah Jambu. But that is so typical of nude lipstick.
L-R: Cek Mek Molek, Minah Jambu
All in all, I’m really happy with Pretty Suci. The only downside is as of now, they only have two shades which I feel isn’t enough seeing how promising Minah Jambu and Cek Mek Molek are! But I guess this is forgivable, since the brand just kicked of this year anyway. We really do need more brands like Pretty Suci to make other local indie brands to step up their game. There’s more to selling liquid lipstick than just repackaging products you get from China you know? I’m just saying.
Pretty Suci’s official website will be launching in October! In the meantime, sign up to be informed of the official launch at www.prettysuci.com.
MY LIPSTICK STAIN 