Julie Hewett Lipstick in Rouge Noir

image from juliehewett.net

As some of you may have figured out by now, in addition to having a lot of taupe eye shadow I also have a lot of red lipsticks and glosses. I love wearing red lipstick. Someone who appreciates this fact is Cindy over at the Prime Beauty Blog. She was generous enough to send be a brand new, unused tube of Julie Hewett Lipstick in Rouge Noir! She knows how much I adore red lips but I don't think she knew what an absolute gem she was sending to me. Thank you Cindy!

When wearing a red lip, it's important to keep everything else neat and simple. What you are doing, when wearing red lipstick is paying homage to cornerstone of cosmetics itself. Ah ha. You didn't realize how significant red lips are, did you? Now, I'm not saying that the lipstick wears you, not at all. I'm saying YOU wear the lipstick. You must appreciate the power red lipstick can yield. The perfect red lipstick is akin to the perfect pair of black pumps, the little black dress, and that perfect evening bag. A necessity and a luxury all at the same time.

Is lipstick powerful? In a word, YES! Now I won't go as far as Poppy King (Another famous lipstick maven), who in a New York Times article in 2007 was quoted as saying

“A slash of red on the mouth has a clear relation to genitalia, sex and the menstrual cycle, and wearing it is a sign of female power,” she says. “You leave your mark on the world.”

Personally I don't want to think of my menses while wearing red lipstick, but I can see that metaphorically red lips can signify fertility, sexuality and power. I get what she is saying...although I don't know if I would have gone THAT far to say it. But Poppy King is unique. As unique as red lipstick!

Now back to the matter at hand. Julie Hewett's Rouge Noir Lipstick. Julie Hewett based her entire company around it. Julie Hewett may be known for her classic line of lipsticks, cream blushes and powder shadows, but she started out as a Hollywood Makeup Artist. It was on the set of Pearl Harbor (Terrible movie, Sorry Julie) where Julie realized that she needed a strong red lip to go with the 1940's era makeup she had to create. Enter the Noir line of lipsticks. Doubly pigmented and long lasting, the Noir line of lipsticks even pay homage to the World War II era with lipstick cases that resemble torpedoes...well they look like torpedoes to me. Perhaps I have been watching HBO's The Pacific too much. I digress.


Julie updated the old time-y formula with essential oils like rosebud and camellia but the formula does not lack in pigmentation. Wow. Applying directly from the tube and you will get lipstick overload. Not saying that it's a bad thing to apply directly from the tube, but be prepared for instant opaque lip color. The finish is matte so there is not very much slip to the lipstick when apply directly from the tube. It might almost feel too heavy if applied from the tube they way you slick on other lipsticks. Personally I prefer to apply with a lip brush as it makes the lipstick last longer and deposits the color exactly where I want it. The lipstick itself has no scent or taste to it. That's a huge plus in my book. It lasts really well though a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea and only needs a little touch up before I head off to work.


The color itself is a true red. Not a blue red and not a yellow red. This is described as "true movie-star red" on the Julie Hewett website. As I mentioned, the matte finish can be "shined up" a bit if you add a tiny bit of lip balm to the center of your lips and spread it out with your lip brush. You will get a nice satiny finish and still enjoy the long lasting power of this product. Julie Hewett recommends that you apply her Camellia Lip Balm under the lipstick for a well primed lip and sheer finish. Since I didn't have that I used my cheap-o $1 Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers Lip Balm. The result:



Oh my goodness. At the risk of sounding incredibly self centered and vain, HOT DAMN those lips look FINE! Seriously. Have you ever seen a more perfect neutral red? (OK don't answer that because you probably have right here on this blog...it was a rhetorical question.) This is a red ANYONE can wear. Now one must be confident enough to sport a red lip to wear a color this bright, this bold, this RED. But honestly...even if you aren't, try it anyway. You never know how much a lipstick can improve your mood, make you uninhibited, make you just plain happy. This is what this lipstick does to me. It makes me happy.

Do you NEED this? YES! At a mere $22.50 (which is inexpensive compared to high end brands like Chanel and YSL...and yes. this lipstick is as good as those brands) How can you not try at least one of the Rouge Noir Lipsticks? Even if you never thought you could wear red lipstick, Julie Hewett has a wide range of reds to take the intimidation out of wearing red lipstick. In her range of sheer to matte formulas, I am confident you will find a color that suits you and you will feel beautiful.