Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer Swatches and First Impressions

Clinique's Pop Lip Colour + Primer is the latest lipstick launch from Clinique, and these are marketed as a hybrid lipstick and primer, that doesn't shift or fade, and has a moisturizing sheen. I was told that the lipstick contains flexible polymers that bind together to ensure that the lipstick remains fresh and stays in place, and the ingredients include Shea butter and some other plant oils.

Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer: A hybrid lipstick and primer that is Clinique's latest launch

These were launched last month over here at $33 a pop, so I'm a little bit late, but better late than never right? They seemed pretty nice overall, and not ridiculously expensive, either. Anyway, without further ado, let's move on to the swatches! I've swatched them by the same categories they're sold in - Tawnies, Nudes, Pinks, and Violets.

First off, I do apologize for the less than stellar lighting - as you can probably guess, I was swatching these indoors at a blogger event (yes, I spend my blogger events swatching rather than socializing or eating or being a normal person - a blogger's gotta do what a blogger's gotta do, you know?), so although I tried tweaking my camera settings to get the best outcome, the swatches still leave something to be desired. Alas that we can't always have great lighting in-store!


Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer: The Nudes
First, the "Nude" shades, which include both pale and deep nudes.

01 Nude Pop is a somewhat pale neutral beigey nude.
03 Cola Pop is a deep brown-based nude. This is probably geared towards girls with deeper skintones, but it isn't totally unwearable on me, either - it would just be a deep brownish shade on me.
04 Beige Pop is also another pale beige shade. Between Nude Pop and Beige Pop, Beige Pop is a bit more pink and Nude Pop is a bit more nude, but to be honest, I don't think I would be able to differentiate between the two if I wore them on my lips. For what it's worth, they're pretty similar on me.


Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer: The Tawnies
Next, the "Tawny" shades. When Clinique says "Tawnies", I think they mean "warm-toned shades", because pretty much all 3 shades are fiarly warm, with orange lean.

05 Melon Pop is a salmon orange type of shade, andquite warm.
06 Poppy Pop is a nice bright orange coral that's not 100% orange, but has a good dose of it.
08 Cherry Pop is a bright pink, and surprisingly not a warm-toned shade. Initially I thought it would be, but it pulls rather cool on me. (I know it doesn't look "bright pink" in the swatches - this is where I apologize again for the indoors lighting I was swatching in.)


Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer: The Pinks
After this, the Pinks!

09 Sweet Pop is a medium neutral pink. Quite wearable, and probably a popular shade.
10 Punch Pop is a bright hot pink that stops short of veering into neon territority. It's actually quite wearable as far as bright pinks go (again, my camera didn't capture the brightness of this shade). Between Punch Pop and Cherry Pop, they are quite similar, but Punch Pop is a bit more of a hot magenta pink, while Cherry Pop is more of a bright cerise pink. Again, the difference is subtle, although they aren't as similar as Beige Pop and Nude Pop.
11 Wow Pop is similar to Sweet Pop, except that it is a bit cooler toned.


Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer: The Violets
Lastly, the Violets! This seems to be a catch-all term for any and all shades with a cool or purple lean in them. Plums and pinky-plums are among my favourite lip colour shades, so unsurprisingly, a lot of my personal favourites are from this colour family.

13 Love Pop is my favourite, it is a fairly bright but wearable pinky-plum - sort of like MAC Sweetie, but on steriods. This was my personal favourite, but I had a hard time deciding!
14 Plum Pop is another pinky-plum that is quite similar to Love Pop, but Love Pop is a bit brighter and more pink, while Plum Pop is more muted and more purple.
15 Berry Pop is a really gorgeous deep plummy shade. It looks similar to Cola Pop in my photos (again, indoors lighting), but Cola Pop is a bit more brown and less plummy. But in terms of shade depth (how dark/deep the shade is) they are similar.
16 Grape Pop is the shade for people who are looking for a "purple" lipstick. It is a fairly wearable shade of purple though - there is enough pink thrown in so it is not outright purple, more of a purple with pink added in.

Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer: Overall, great lipsticks that don't cost a bomb

My first impressions when swatching the lipsticks are that they were quite nicely pigmented, and aren't too dry. The colour range isn't the most extensive, but there is something for everyone in there. I came away with the impression that these were pretty good value for money for a department store brand.