Over the past few weeks I’ve been having a play with the majority of the Calico shades from the new No7 Match Made Lipstick Service, which you can read more about here. Calico is the palest foundation shade available, so if you’re pale then these are the shades that the Match Made service have declared most suited to our shade of complexion. There are 19 Calico shades in total, and I have 16 of them, so I thought it would make sense to break the posts down into a small series rather than try and cram them all into one post!
There are 6 Calico pinks, 3 of the Moisture Drench and 3 of the Stay Perfect. I find the shade grouping a bit confusing as there are four groups matched to Calico in total (Pinks, Corals, Plums and Reds) yet there are shades with the word ‘pink’ in the name that are in the Corals, just as there are berry names in the pinks, which is all a bit confusing! I did read other reviews complaining that the shades were all too bright but I would disagree and I think they’ve got a good mix of gentle hues alongside brights, however there don’t seem to be any true nudes which is a shame. Here’s a closer look at the Calico Pinks:
The Moisture Drench shades are Rose Berry, Rosy Ribbon and Pink Hint. Rose Berry is a relatively neutral mid pink, whereas Rosy Ribbon is a slightly darker and cooler shade of pink. Pink Hint is my favourite as it’s a young, pretty take on the pink shade – I worry that Rose Berry and Rosy Ribbon are a bit too stark and therefore could be a bit ageing.
Out of the three shades I’d say give Rosy Ribbon a miss. Rose Berry is a strong pink but it’s still relatively flattering and can create a polished look if you haven’t got much time for make-up and just want to go for the bare essentials.
The Stay Perfect shades are a good example of crossover shades as I would’ve put Raspberry Blush into another of the categories. The Stay Perfect colours are a lot more similar so you’d only really need one of them which is a case of personal preference.
Blushing Rose and Rose Kiss are virtually the same shade, with Rose Kiss being ever so slightly cooler, however they’re both bang in the middle of pink. Raspberry Blush is a much cooler, deeper shade most suited to those who like a berry finish. I’d say Raspberry Blush is a perfect autumn shade that’d work particularly well applied lightly and smudged for that infamous ‘bitten lips’ look.
There we have the majority of the Calico pinks. I’ll be doing two more posts on the shade breakdown (the Corals and the Plums and Reds) followed by a look at my favourite shades, so keep your eye out for those. For more info on the Match Made lips service head here – link.
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I want them all! They’re so pretty!
They are lovely pinks, although I think a few of them are a tad too similar! Definitely some keepers though xx