All About That Brand- J Cat Beauty

For Cyber Monday I went ahead and got a few things from J Cat Beauty to try out. We got a full size of the wonder lip paint in November's Ipsy,a lipstick in a Lip Monthly bag, and I was interested to see about the rest of the line.

Anyway, for this review I gathered up samples I already owned and also purchased products from them.  So, we'll be looking at two lip crayons, three glitter liners, four wonder lip paints, and one lipstick.  I'm going to break it into sections for you, so you only have to read what you want to read about, because this is going to be long.

The Company/ Shipping Experience

This is a cruelty-free brand that keeps their prices solidly in the drugstore range. I would have originally labeled them as a niche brand, where they aren't exactly a small indie company but they also are not widely available offline.  However, they are expanding to have at least their lip paints in Ulta, so I don't know where they fall in that regard.

I got these lippies in two separate orders and they both broke.
They have a nice formula, but way too fragile.

Something to note about J Cat Beauty, is that their photography is still on a learning curve (much like mine). What that means for them as a business though is that sometimes depending on the lighting or angle, their photos online are not always true to how it looks when you actually receive the product.  This is a common thing among small and indie companies, but it is important to consider because a couple of my products were not how I expected them to be,

However, there was at least one example I can document for you of just obvious false advertising. The irony of this is that I enjoy said product anyway.

Everything was packaged really nicely, they gave me a tracking number, shipping time was good. I forgot to take a photo of the original packaging, but it was a bubble mailer with their own sticker on it, inside of that was a HUGE organza bag. Inside the huge organza bag, everything was secured together in a square of branded tissue paper (I hate branded tissue paper, but that is a personal preference and has nothing to do with quality). Underneath that, all the items were in plastic bags.

This might seem a little ridiculous, but I thought it was both pretty and practical. This time of year I have had several packages come to me wet and abused, so while the organza bag and the tissue paper make it look pretty, the bubble mailer and the tight packaging help to prevent the products from breaking, while the plastic bags will save the actual product if it gets wet. 

Twist and Kiss Lip Crayons- $4.99

These are the moisturizing lip crayons that every beauty line ever is beginning to carry. It's a new trend, but also my favorite trend because I finally have balms that make me look good, soothe my lips, and don't get lost in my purse.

The two colors are Eskimo Kiss, and Vampire Kiss







Now, Vampire Kiss on the website looks basically the same as how it looks, the swatch thumbnail looks slightly more purpley but it is such a tiny image I can't really judge them on that. However, Eskimo Kiss is significantly pinker in it's photo than it is in real life. I bought it thinking it would almost match my Jordana Twist and Shine or Clinique Chubby Stick pictured below:

The photo from their website

 So, you can see both in the lip and the hand swatches that the red color is much more sheer. When you swatch it on the hand, it even feels more sheer. However, I think that has more to do with the color than it necessarily being an entirely different formula.


On the lips, Eskimo Kiss looks a lot more like what I was expecting, and the two colors sheer out similarly. Both of them feel smooth but not overly thick, and have an almost Nyx Butter Gloss scent to them.

Liquid Glitter Liner- $3.99

I got three of these, in Christmas colors, because I had some looks I wanted to try out. These weren't as cool as I was hoping they were going to be. Silver is the only color I think could really stand on it's own, and even that took a few coats. The liner does not seal itself sufficiently, and in order to avoid fallout I had to use Elf's Lock and Seal over top of the product. 

The brushes are of varying quality. When I opened my first tube, I thought the brush was actually a silicone tip, which I feel would have been really good for this product. However, it is a fine point long bristle brush, and the bristles don't like to stay together. 

I swatched them on my hand both on their own and then with black and white liners as a base. 

The glitter liner on its own looks really pretty if you can get it to catch the light just right, but without a base liner of either a dark or similar color it mostly looks strange

Just the silver glitter liner on my eye

What I can see this being good for is taking a look from day to evening without having to redo your full face of makeup. This product comes in a ton of colors, so if you wore a brown liner , put the brown glitter over it, or if you had a purple smokey eye, put on the purple liner. So long as you seal it, it should be just fine.

I think you could also get the exact same if not a better effect simply by using a cosmetic glitter and Elf's Lock and Seal. However, I think the glitter liner two-step process would be faster, less messy, and better for travel.

Fantabulous Lipstick- $2.99

I only have one of these because I got this in my Lip Monthly bag and at first was incredibly disappointed by the color, so before making this post it had never really crossed my mind to evaluate the formula

My lipstick is in the shade honeycrisp (which you can see completely washes out my lips). It is very good for when I want to feel like a frost princess, which happens sometimes.

As for the formula, it is very pigmented, this particular color has a sort of satin finish to it, and it is very comfortable to wear. It has no added scent to it, so it smells very natural but in a faint, pleasant way. The main smell I get is beeswax, because that happens to be one of the main ingredients.

There are 48 colors to choose from, it is very comfortable to wear, and from my one sample seems very pigmented. Mostly, these are typical lipstick colors, however they do have a gold and a few very intense purples.  If you are looking for a cheap cruelty-free lipstick, I would seriously give these a shot.

Wonder Lip Paints- $4.99

This is the last set of products I am going to review, and it is so incredibly complicated because I swear that most of these are completely different formulas. My lip swatches of each color will be on the right. These are on bare lips, no primer or liner. The lip swatches shown for each color on the website will be on the left. We can assume that they used perfect lighting, some magical primer, a lip liner, and some photo enhancing, but I think you will still see my problem with one of these shades in particular. 

Mad Splatter

This didn't go on very opaque, and it initially felt very liquidy. However it did dry easily and the color was strong on my lips. 

Looking Glass

 This one was thick and pigmented and dried comfortably on the lips, it reminded me a lot of my OCC lip tars.

Blabberwocky

 Redder than it looks in the photos, to the point where I would suggest that girls who are afraid of strong red lips try this out as a lower maintenance version.

Duchess with Muchness

Extremely liquidy and sheer on the lips. Not at all what was shown online. However, it added the most beautiful golden sheen to my lips and looks gorgeous mixed in with other colors.

Glitter Cream Palette 4.99$

 I got this in a trade, completely unused as an extra. I figured since it was a J.cat Beauty product I would test it out. So I did, and it was awful. On the right you can see the swatches I did with my finger, the glitter is patchy and doesn't have much stick to it.

Now, I don't know about you, but I pay 5$ for minuscule amounts of glitter in cream so that I don't have to deal with fallout. But the glitter went EVERYWHERE. In fact, I think it went even more places because it was in the cream.

My leggings

Disclaimer that this is not intended for use on the eyes. But I honestly wouldn't recommend putting it anywhere because it will get in your eyes as it cannot be bothered to stay put.

Bottom Line and Recommendations 

Cons
Inconsistent formulas for the same product
Inaccurate website pictures
Hit or miss products
Easily Broken Lippies

Pros
Small,cruelty-free company
Affordable pricing
They always aim for interesting products
Ingredients on every product
Ingredients not just on the heat shrink plastic you remove
Cute and practical wrapping

Would Recommend:
Try the cosmetic glitters
If you like to mix colors, much mucher is great for giving the gentle golden sheen to your custom lip cocktail
People who want to try or own OCC Lip Tars but have no plans to mix them: cautiously try Wonder Lip Paints