Tom Ford Beauty Nikita Shade & Illuminate Lips

Nikita

Tom Ford Beauty Nikita Shade & Illuminate Lips ($60.00 for 0.12 oz.) contains a bold, medium red and a reddish-burgundy. The red applied nicely, and it wore well, but the burgundy had a lot of slip and feathered on me.

Shade & Illuminate Lips is a lipstick duo that features a formula that is supposed to have “rich color” and “adherence” with a “velvet matte finish.” The duos are designed to have a lighter shade and a darker shade, and they can be worn alone, mixed, or as an ombre lip look. There was also a dual-ended applicator–a sponge on one end and a brush on the other–but the sponge really did not work well to apply the color, as it yielded sheer coverage and seemed to suck all the emollient qualities out of the formula and left behind a drier, almost powdery texture on the lips. The lip brush worked, but for me, the tiny applicator was harder to control and took me three to four times as long to apply compared to a traditional lip brush (which has a longer handle). The actual formula felt like there was a powderiness to it that is not present in any of Tom Ford’s other lipstick ranges, though the formula felt lightly creamy, thin but not too thin, and smooth. Once I applied the color and actually wore it for a few minutes, I did not notice the powderiness that was there when I was initially applying the lipstick.

Tom Ford Beauty Shade & Illuminate Lips Nikita

Nikita

Temptalia

Limited Edition

Product

Pigmentation

Texture

Longevity

4.5

Application

86%

Total

Nikita (Left)

Nikita (Left) is a bright, medium red with neutral undertones and a cream finish. It had rich, opaque color coverage that applied evenly and smoothly on the lips. The consistency was creamy, moderately emollient, and comfortable to wear. I noticed a smidgen of color sat in my deeper lip lines, but the richness and depth of the color made it hard to see even in the close-up photos. The color wore nicely for five hours, left a stain behind, and was hydrating.

Top Dupes

View Swatches View All Dupes

Burberry Regiment Red (37) (P, $34.00) is darker (95% similar).
Bite Beauty Rosehip (P, $24.00) is cooler, lighter (95% similar).
MAC Von Teese (LE, $17.00) is cooler, darker (95% similar).
Kat Von D Gold Blooded (P, $21.00) is lighter (95% similar).
MAC My Inner Femme (LE, $17.00) is lighter (95% similar).
MAC Starlett Scarlet (LE, $18.00) is cooler (95% similar).
Urban Decay Temper (DC, $22.00) is more muted, lighter (95% similar).
Hourglass Raven (P, $28.00) is less glossy (95% similar).
MAC Steam Heat (LE, $17.00) is lighter (95% similar).
Milani Desire (LE, $8.99) is less glossy, cooler (90% similar).

Tom Ford Beauty Shade & Illuminate Lip Color Nikita (Left)