Clinique Chubby Stick Cheers To Chubby Set - Review And Swatches

You should know by now that I'm a pretty honest person so I'm going to start this post with a bit of a confession, and it's one that applies to pretty every single post bar 1 that I'm going to be publishing in the run up to Christmas - This post like so many others is late in fact it's almost a year late!

Despite the fact that I love a bargain, I'm not a huge fan of the post Christmas sales, after being squished and stressed whilst shopping in the run up to Christmas, the last thing that I want to do is to go through it all again on Boxing Day. That said I have been known to brave the frustration of websites going down, and online queueing systems, to do a bit of sales shopping online. Although I used to be a little bit more slap dash, I'm not more selective about what I do buy, and way back in December 2017 I picked this Clinique Chubby Stick Cheers To Chubby Set up in the Boots sale.

At that point my lip colour collection was probably worse than it is now, but despite trying every chunky lip pen, and chubby stick inspired lipsticks I had never ever tried the original, and this kit gave me the perfect opportunity to try both of the Clinique Chubby Stick formulations, and some of their most popular colours.

This kit was obviously a one off for Christmas last year and as a result it's no longer available but I still think that it's worth talking about because of the shades are permanent and are still available in their full sizes from both the Clinique website, and from their online and in store concessions.

The kit itself came packaged in a compact and reusable metal tin, emblazoned with the Clinique logo. The tin contained 5 x1g Chubby Stick Lip Colour Balms, in both of Clinique's Chubby Stick formulations.

The original Chubby Stick formulation is the Chubby Stick Moisturising Lip Colour Balm, which contains both mango and Shea butter, and is designed to give the lips intense nourishment and a subtle sheen and tint. There were 2 of these in this kit 13 Mighty Mimosa and 07 Super Strawberry.

If you want a bit more coverage in your lip balm then Clinique also make the Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm, they have a similar ultra nourishing formula but with a more intense gloss colour. There were 3 shades in this formulation in this kit 08 Grandest Grape, 05 Plushest Punch, and 03 Mightiest Maraschino.

From left to right - 13 Mighty Mimosa, 03 Mightiest Maraschino, 05 Plushest Punch, 08 Grandest Grape, and 07 Super Strawberry

I'm going to talk about each colour individually but first just a few general thoughts x First of all Clinique are known for catering for sensitive skin so all of these products are fragrance free, and they have no real taste to them, which personally is a bit of shame since the names lend them so well to flavours and tastes.

Secondly, as you would expect for something called a chubby stick these are quite chunky, so if you have really thin lips you might have problems applying these neatly, it's fine with the original formulation but even on my full lips it was a bit difficult to apply the intense shades particularly on the cupids bow area without the need for a little bit of a clean up. It's not a serious problem you just have to be a bit careful, and you could of course use a brush for neater application

Finally as you can see these are the 1g size which is around half the size of a regular Chubby Stick, the components are probably a little bit more plastic based but they look pretty similar to their bigger cousins. The biggest difference though with these is that you can't twist them up or down so I can imagine it will get harder to use the more you use it and you will probably will end up using a lip brush to get the last bits out. Hassle ? Maybe but if you're anything like me you'll want to use every last bit of all of these colours.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm - 05 Plushest Punch

Plushest Punch is one of the Intense shades which are a lot bolder and a lot more pigmented. Plushest Punch is one of my favourite shades in the kit, I love pinks, and this is a gorgeous deep pink. For such a pigmented shade I was really impressed with just how moisturising it was and just how glossy the finish was. Given the moisture content it wasn't surprising that this colour transferred onto onto other humans, and of course glasses and mugs but considering the texture and finish the wear time was still pretty good. You can see it on my lips in the picture below and I am also wearing it my October Pink Parcel video that you can see here x

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm - 03 Mightiest Maraschino

If you're looking for a lip colour for that Christmas party then Mightiest Maraschino could be the one, it's a lovely bright cherry red, with the merest hint of pink, so it's perfect if you normally shy away from reds. Again it's from the Intense line so the pigmentation is superb, it applies well, and it feels smooth and creamy on the lips. There was a bit of transfer again, and it did bleed and travel over the lip line a little bit so touch ups and careful application was needed but again it wore well, and once the gloss had faded it almost seemed to leave a stain on the lips

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm - 08 Grandest Grape

One good thing about kits like this is that they give you the opportunity to try out both products and colours that you wouldn't normally try, and one such colour is Grandest Grape. I'm not that experimental when it comes to lip colour but after trying this I think particular shade I think I need to expand my horizons. Grandest Grape is a deep plummy, berry shade again with some pink undertones. The pigmentation and colour payoff again was superb, and if anything this particular colour seemed to even more pigmented and more moisturising. It was probably the hardest shade to apply neatly, because it's such a deep shade the application needs to be spot on and given the creamy texture that wasn't that easy with such a chunky applicator, throw in the fact that it was prone to transferring and smudging then you'd think that maybe it wasn't worth the effort. Well let me tell you that it was, I've had several compliments on this lip colour, and if you can get past the need to clean up every now and then, it actually wore really well and again it seemed to almost leave a moisture filled stain on the lips, when a lot of the gloss had disappeared x See what you think in the pic below x

Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturising Lip Colour Balm - 13 Mighty Mimosa

Now if intense bold colour isn't your thing, then this kit also contained 2 shades in Clinique's original Chubby Stick formulation. These shades are all about the treatment, and less about the colour, they impart all of the moisture only with a sheer, more natural colour, that for some is a lot more wearable for every day.  Mighty Mimosa is the perfect peachy, nude, pink shade, obviously the pigment isn't quite as intense as the other 3 shades but there is still a bit of colour there. You obviously get the same burst of moisture, but you also get a hint of sheer glossy colour.

Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturising Lip Colour Balm - 07 Super Strawberry

Again Super Strawberry offers intense moisture, with just a hint of glossy light strawberry pink colour. Both this and Mighty Mimosa are shades that will suit everyone, the colour doesn't last quite as long, but with these less pigmented shades they are really easy to reapply even with the chunky tip, and you needn't worry as much about bleeding, smudging or going over the lip line.

I am so so pleased that I picked up this kit, I have been pretty impressed with a lot of the Chubby Stick dupes, but now I've tried the real thing I can now say that I completely understand the hype! and Plushest Punch is definitely on my repurchase list. As I say this particular kit is not longer available but all of these shades are available in the full size for around £18.50 each. If you want to experiment a bit or if you're already a Chubby Stick fan then there are a number of limited edition kits around at the moment that may fulfil your Chubby Stick fantasies (that sounds so wrong but I can't resist lol). If you are already a fan of Chubby Sticks then the Clinique website is selling a kit called The Chubbettes which contains 20 x 1g shades, it's an investment at £68 but you probably wouldn't need to buy any more lip colours for a long, long time. If you're after something similar to what I picked up last year though then Boots are currently selling the Clinique Lip Out Loud set which contains 3 x 1g colours for just £15.50 which would a fab stocking filler, and if you want something that gives you the chance to try 5 shades, then you can get the Clinique Chubby Colour Make Up Gift Set from various retailers including Boots, Debenhams and John Lewis, for £25 and it contains 5 x 1g Chubby Sticks. There are loads of options out there if you're a fan of these and I have to say I'm now a convert so if you have any colour recommendations then please let me know in the comments x