Shopping for lipstick can be daunting (so many options!) yet still relatively simple at the same time. Other than the usual self questioning of, “Will this color look good on me?” to pop up while out on your purchasing spree, not much thought goes into buying a new lip shade—unless you’re Reddit user Amy Oyler, of course.
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As PopSugar recently pointed out, Oyler (aka The Scientific Mom) is one of the few people who actually puts a lot of thought into her lipstick, wondering why certain shades look and feel the way they do. As a result, she decided to swatch 11 lip products beneath a microscope and share her findings with the world wide web, analyzing the colors, textures and general configurations of lipsticks up close. Her findings were beyond interesting, with the pictures looking more like those sparkling crystals seen in children’s kaleidoscopes than a smear of lipstick:
“Showing up with blues, greens, violets, pinks, yellows, browns, and reds, this shimmery gloss looks like unicorn paint,” explained Oyler in the post. “This is comprised mostly of color pigments and mica and bismuth crystals, which can produce a color-changing shine depending on how the light hits it.”
Fascinating, right? Luckily for us, Oyler examined 10 other lipsticks under the microscope and is planning on doing the same analysis on eye shadow, highlighters and blush in the future. Until those results are posted as well, here’s a look at some of our favorite images from Oyler’a lipstick findings:
MUA Extreme Shimmer Lipstick in Rose Gold ($7)
Wet N’ Wild MegaLast Liquid Catsuit Matte Lipstick in Berry Recognize ($5)
Tarte Lipsurgence Lipstick in Adored ($12)
