bareMinerals Gen Nude Patent Lip Lacquer “Everything” | Review

Hello friends!

One of my favorite happy accidents is buying makeup from TJMaxx and finding out that it’s actually something that you can still purchase! When I pulled this out to review, I was so excited to find that it was still on bareMinerals’ website as an option to snatch up!

Unfortunately, that’s the only thing that I was really excited about after having tried this out.

Color: The BareMinerals website describes this color as a “muted mauve”. It’s definitely a my lips but better shade! It leans a bit on the pinky purple side, but is still a neutral.

Finish: With a product name that contains the words patent and lacquer, you would expect this to be shiny, and it does not disappoint! It’s got that thick, shiny look on the lips.

Packaging: The packaging is a pretty basic acrylic tube with a shiny black cap. The brand name is written on the tube with a sticker on the bottom listing the color name.

Applicator: The applicator on this is a paddle-like doefoot, with a longer, thin shape to it. I don’t know if this is normal for the product, but only one half of the paddle had fluff on it; the other side was just the plastic paddle.

Application: Unfortunately, application of this was not easy. The product is so thick and sticky that the doefoot wouldn’t want to move across my lips easily, making getting an even application as well as a decent lip line incredibly difficult. I couldn’t get into the corner of my lips nicely, and had to make a lot of touch ups after. I found that it seemed to sink into and emphasize my more prominent lip lines, but sat on top of the less obvious ones.

Transfer: Shocking no one, this stuff transfers like crazy! It came off on my straw when drinking, and on to my burger when eating, even transferring off of my burger onto the plate. It was on my chin after eating as well. This stuff is going to come off on everything until it’s gone!

Fading: With the formula being thicker than a standard gloss, it was capable of hanging around fully pigmented and shiny after talking and just drinking from a straw. However, after eating, the vast majority of the color had come off, but the shine and stick was still around. I wonder if a different color might result in a different outcome after food, but for me it turned into basically a clear sticky gloss!

Comfort: I really struggled with wearing this product the second I put it on my lips, which to be fair I should have known with a name like “lip lacquer”. It feels so thick and sticky, I couldn’t get away from the sensation of my lips sticking together as I talked, or anything coming near my mouth getting immediately stuck onto my lips. As a person with long hair and cat owner, this was a dangerous game to play!

Overall: This is 100% not my type of product, and I will be getting rid of it as soon as possible. I have such an aversion to it that I do struggle to recommend it to anyone as an every day wear kind of product; it’s so uncomfortable to me and with how sticky it is I wouldn’t want to wear it in real life. The only thing I can recommend it for is maybe photography or editorial looks?

If for some reason my poor review has drawn you in enough to try this, you can purchase for $20 on the bareMinerals website or at Ulta. I’d recommend just shopping your local TJMaxx/Marshall’s to see if you can find it; you’ll usually be able to find them for closer to $7 or $8, which is a fairer price to me.