Lancome Pout-a-Porter Colour Fever Shine lipstick in Pixel Pink.

I like to think before I make a purchase. I think and I think and I think, then I return to the store to contemplate the product in person, decide against it and go home to think some more. My resolve eventually collapses under the weight of my lofty thoughts which impels my body to go forth and buy the damn thing already. This often means whatever I coveted would be sold out. So, I've never been fond of shopping really. It's way too cerebral to be therapeutic or enjoyable for me.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I learn my lesson. So when I found myself in a Lancome boutique and the limited edition Colour Fever Shine lipstick in Pixel Pink was available, I suppressed my natural instincts and bought one immediately. It was the fourth and final lipstick from Lancome's Pout-a-Porter series -- a collaboration between makeup artist Gucci Westman and several fashion designers she worked with. I didn't really care for the chalky pink Proenza Pink, but I was really sore about missing P.S. Kiss, which is frankly more to my taste than Pixel Pink. As for the first PaP lipstick, Behnaz Red, lipstick wasn't even on my makeup radar then.

So, the cardboard box is different...

But enough with the regrets! What about Pixel Pink? Briefly speaking, Pixel Pink was sighted on the runways during Thakoon's Spring 2008 show, and the sheer raspberry shade is intended to complement warm, sun-kissed skin. (See video for Thakoon's inspiration for his collection) The lipstick strikes me more as a mid blue-toned pink which was closer to my MAC Electro-Lush lipglass than anything berry-hued in my stash.

Look, I've eaten many raspberries...


... and this is NOT a raspberry colour.

Like other Color Fever Shine lipsticks, Pixel Pink goes on like a gloss lipstick -- slick, shiny and weightless. As my lips are pretty pigmented to begin with, Pixel Pink wasn't the most dramatic colour to grace them. It took on a darker, slightly bruised magenta hue on my lips, though it's likely that the colour isn't being shown off to its best advantage since I lack a tan. Unlike Thakoon's inspiration, I'm a girl who quit her day job to hibernate in a cave.

I wouldn't fret too much about not being able to get a tube, especially if you already own a pink, "your lips but better" lipstick. If you want to collect it, it's still available on the Lancome USA website but you'd better hurry if you don't want to fork out a hundred bucks for it three months later on eBay.