Viva Glam Gaga: worth the hype?

2Elizabeth Fish • 16th Apr 2010 • Personal • aids, cyndi lauper, lady gaga, lipstick, mac, mac aids fund, mac cosmetics, viva glam, viva glam gaga

As most of you may know, singer, songwriter, fashionista and producer Lady Gaga has really been making waves in the music charts across the world. She’s won numerous awards, broke various records, and kept everyone talking with her crazy outfits and catchy tracks.

However recently Gaga teamed up with Cyndi Lauper to become ambassadors of cosmetic brand M.A.C’s “Viva Glam”. Viva Glam is M.A.C’s special brand aimed at raising money to fight AIDs across the globe. You can find out more about the the charity here, and shop the whole range here.

Together, to celebrate becoming ambassadors, the pair created two limited edition lustre lipsticks, Viva Glam Cyndi and Viva Glam Gaga. At £12.50 ($14) a pop , Cyndi’s lipstick is a berry pink shade, meanwhile Gaga’s is a much lighter, bubblegum colour.

As a Gaga fan and someone who will support a good cause, I decided to try out Viva Glam Gaga, despite not being much of a lipstick wearer – I’m more into what goes on my eyes than my lips (they’re thin, so Im scared I’ll look like a little girl playing with mum’s makeup). Anyway, I bit the bullet and gave it a try, here’s my run down.

1. Firstly, I was impressed at the speed in which M.A.C deliver. It came a day after I ordered. However, I was quite curious about WHY M.A.C needed to put one lipstick in such a huge box:

Even though everything about the box is recyclable, surely this much packaging must take something from the donating to their campaign (Yes, my postage cost was pretty low, and the cost of these types of boxes plus actual delivery doesn’t quite add up. Of course, if the boxes are bought in great bulk they are possibly extremely cheap)? Either way, I really didnt need such a huge box for something so small, think of the environment M.A.C!

2. Onto the lipstick. The first thing that got me was the lovely vanilla smell. Doing my research, I discovered that all M.A.C lipsticks actually have this smell. Goodo. I have some makeup of my own which smells like ear drops (my mascara, I will leave names out, for now)….

3. I was doing a bit of research the day before I bought it, and heard a few horror stories about it. Looking at people’s camera shots, the lipstick also looked so bright, like Barbie pink. I can safely assure you all it is not Barbie pink, just a nice, light pink with a slight blue hue.

4. Time to apply!! Once again, I read stories such as it won’t suit many people, and can’t be incorporated into many looks. I have to say, I don’t agree. Don’t forget, this is a lustre lipstick rather than matt, so you can layer it on depending on how dramatic you want to be. Here is a photo of a more subtle everyday look – only two layers:

At first, I was a bit freaked out as it started off quite purple combined with my natural lip colour. Though after being patted down with my finger and once it set to my lips, a soft pink appeared. Very feminine, not to brash, and not at all Barbie. However, if your lips are dry like mine were today, this lipstick will definitely highlight the flaws – so go moisturise? Hah!

5. Another rumour I heard was it makes your teeth appear yellowish. Now, with subtle appliance this is not true. Though when I applied more layers to go full on Gaga I could understand why some people could suffer with this; it is very intense with a lot of coats, so could easily knock the gleam off those pearly whites. Still, even when bolder I did not really have that problem. So unless you already know you have this problem with certain lipsticks, I’d give it the go ahead. Here it is brighter. Sadly my iphone isn’t quite advanced enough to pick out the true colour (edited slightly to remove the sun glare), but you get the idea:

So, for what my opinion it’s worth, I would fully recommend this lipstick. Not only is it good quality, and lasts quite well (you may need to re-apply once on a night out to hold its intensity), but you are giving to a good cause. I love this so much, I will be sad to see this go. Grab it while it’s still in production!