Review and Swatch: Topshop lipstick in Firecracker!

Happy summer everyone! I really hope you have been having a lovely and warm summer vacation, I know I sure am! To try and kick off a summer-themed string of posts I have a lipstick review for the shade "Firecracker" (oo, how fierce) by Topshop's makeup line. I purchased this lipstick at Topshop, it was %50 for $7CAN at the time. 

Let's have a look shall we?

Company Discription:Velvet finish lipstick to smooth, moisturise and nourish lips. Apply for fabulous colour and moisturised, matte finish, wear alone or with gloss for a shiny finish.

Packaging: The packaging for this lipstick is a bit different from all other lipsticks, mainly because it's made out of thin aluminium or tin. It's very light otherwise, but I feel like the thin metal case could be crushed so easily! I do have to say that the crayon-esque drawing around the packaging is too adorable... 

Colour:  Okay I'm going to start off by being pretty honest here; Firecracker is not my colour. I mean, it's a gorgeous flaming orange but I don't see when I would wear this! It's just so bright... I'm too timid for bright lips but dabbing this on with a very light hand might help.

(woaaah, dat mirror effect!)

Texture and Longevity: Topshop has various different formulas of their lipsticks, not as wide as Mac but decent. Firecracker is a velvet finish, which I guess means it's more of a sheer lipstick. The claims are definitely correct when they say it goes on smooth but this finds all the damn dry patches on my lips! And I swear I didn't even know those dry patches existed! It has a semi matte finish, but I don't know what Topshop was trying to do with labelling it as "velvet" but saying it's "matte". MAKE UP YER MINDS! Could it be the insane finish conflict that is causing it to bring out my dry patches??
Firecracker lasts pretty decently on my lips, around 3-4 hours without needing to be touched up.

Overall: I think I like the idea of this lipstick more than the lipstick itself. It has a really nice smooth texture, sheer application, and a bright as hell colour but the fact that is accentuates dry patches like crazy is a real turn off. I will keep wearing this lipstick but only in the sheerest possible form, 'cause that might be the only way!

Ingredients: The ingredients list on the Topshop website groups different colour lipsticks together so the list is basically an essay. 

OCTYLDODECANOL, POLYBUTENE, DIISOSTEARYL MALATE, POLYETHYLENE, HYDROGENATED STYRENE/METHYL STYRENE/INDENE COPOLYMER, MICROCRYSTALINE WAX (CERA MICROCRYSTALLINA), CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE,  STEARALKONIUM BENTONITE, MICA, PROPYLENE CARBONATE, FRAGRANCE (PARFUM), PENTAERTHRITYL TETRA-DI-T-BUTYL HYDROXYHYDROCINNAMATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, LAURYL METHACRYLATE/GLYCOL DIMETHACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, GLYCERINE, DICAPRYLYL ETHER, PISIUM SATIVUM EXTRACT, ALGAE EXTRACT, CASSIA ANGUSTIFOLIA SEED POLYSACCHARIDE (SENNA POLYSACCHARIDE), GELLAM GUM, XANTHAM GUM, POLYGLYCERYL-2 DIPOLYHYDROXYSTEARATE LINALOOL, HYDROXYCITRONELLAL, CITRONELLOL, AMYL CINNAMAL, ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE.

MAY CONTAIN (+/-):  TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891), IRON OXIDES (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), CARMINE (CI 75470), RED 6, RED 7, RED 7 LAKE (CI 15850), RED 28 LAKE (CI 45410), RED 30 LAKE (CI 73360), YELLOW 5 LAKE (CI 19140), YELLOW 6 LAKE (CI 15985), BLUE 1 LAKE (42090)

*This lipstick was purchased by me.