Dupe or Dud – Too Faced Melted vs Maybelline Color Jolts

It’s been a while since I shared my last Dupe or Dud? post, but when these Maybelline Color Jolts were released looking so similar to the popular Too Faced Melted liquid lipsticks…I knew I just had to put it to the test! Specifically my holy grail, Melted Chihuahua, against the shade Stripped Down. I saw a picture on Instagram that made them look identical! But are they really…

Dupe or Dud: Too Faced VS Maybelline

If you missed my previous Dupe or Dud posts, I’ve done three of them to date!
IT Cosmetics Tightline Mascara VS NYX Cosmetics Skinny Mascara
LORAC Front of the Line PRO Liquid Eyeliner VS Physicians Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Liner
Maybelline Color Tattoo VS E.L.F. Smudge Pot

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The Products

Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Melted Chihuahua | Retail: $21 | Get the staying power of a stain, the intense color of a liquid lipstick and the high shine of a gloss in one long-wear formula. (I reviewed this formula HERE and the Melted Chihuahua shade HERE)

Maybelline LipStudio Color Jolt Intense Lip Paint in Stripped Down | Retail $7.79-$9.99 | Go beyond gloss with Maybelline’s LipStudio Color Jolt Intense Lip Paint – glides on to deliver a jolt of intense color.

The Similarities

Packaging — The most obvious resemblance here is the packaging. They’re both in colored squeezable tubes that have a slanted tip that allows the product to come up when you squeeze. More on the tip later… 🙂

Longevity — To test the length of wear in comparison to each other I wore one on one side of my lips and the other on the other side. And they both gradually faded throughout the day at pretty much the same pace. Very impressed and pleased with both!

The Differences

Amount of Product – This is what I find hardest fact to get over when considering if this is a dupe. The Too Faced has .4 oz of product, while the Maybelline has .021 oz. That’s half of the product and depending on where you purchase the Color Jolts it’s also almost half the price. So….if you purchased two Color Jolts at Ulta, it’d be about the same price as if you purchased the high end option.

Consistency — The Too Faced Melted feels just like it sounds…a melted lipstick. It’s very opaque and buttery smooth and isn’t patchy at all. The Maybelline, on the other hand, looks/feels more like a thick, pigmented lipgloss. A slight difference, but something I noticed when I first opened it.

Dispense Tip — I didn’t get a good picture of this, but on the Too Faced you squeeze and there are several slits in the tip that allows the product to come through. Maybelline has a hole in the center of the tip that the product comes up from. It’s almost the same to apply, but with the Maybelline I find that if I let up on the pressure at all, the product goes back down into the tube. With the Too Faced, however much I squeeze up…it’ll pretty much stay on the tip when I release the pressure.

Color – I took a pole on Snapchat (if you’re not already following me, look me up at LadyKaty92! I share lots of wear tests and sneak peaks with you all there!) and more people said they could see a difference between the two colors when I work both on my lips. I’ve provided a picture (above) so that you can make the determination yourself. I did not edit the lighting in this picture at all, as i wanted the coloring to show up true to how it looks in real life. But in my eyes, the Melted Chihuahua is more brown/nude and the Stripped Down is more pink/nude. Slight, but a definite difference. Especially since the reason I love Melted Chihuahua so much is because it’s the perfect brown/nude for my lips.

So, Is It A Dupe?

I know some people won’t agree…but in my eyes it is NOT a dupe. And, honestly, it might come down to how pigmented your lips are as to how different or similar they show up. For example, ElleSees compared them on her blog and as you can see from her pictures, they look pretty identical.

So to sum it up, in my eyes I do NOT see the Maybelline Color Jolt in Stripped Down as a dupe, though it’s certainly a nice color I will wear. It just isn’t going to replace my Melted Chihuahua and when it runs out (which it almost is. sad day!) I will repurchase instantly. It is so worth the $21 in my eyes!

Now I would LOVE to hear from you! What do YOU think? Is it a dupe? Or can you tell a difference in the lip swatch?

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