REVIEW: Rouje Paris 'Les 4 Rouge' Lipstick Palette
Back in 2019, I decided to try to do a full-year no-buy. Based on my past history of quitting things (cigarettes, credit card debt and other self-destructive coping mechanisms, etc. etc.) I should have known that it wasn’t going to be the utilitarian Bolshevik dream I imagined for myself; where armed with just one tube of red lipstick and a dark blue jumpsuit I’d suddenly become The Confident 21st Woman™. OVERALL, I’d say I did a pretty good job of cutting my spending and using up products — conservatively I spend at least half as much as I have in the past! — but I still fell victim to advertising and fantasizing about what XYZ thing would make me BE. I understand and appreciate all of the politics tied up in that and how f**ked up it is, particularly as a feminist (like, it’s very messed up that my gut reaction to wanting to feel more confident is to buy something!!!!) but also sometimes I think it’s ok if we give ourselves a break and don’t feel too bad for feeling things about ourselves that our whole lives the world has been telling us to feel. I’m not saying you should feel those things, stop feeling those things! But like, don’t beat yourself up if you do.
Anyway, I think all of this armchair blubber is just really a preamble to justify me BUYING SOME NEW STUFF AND WANTING TO WRITE ABOUT IT!!! I hope this is just a fun read and maybe if you’ve been eyeing this thing it will be a helpful point of information. I like to write reviews of things that before purchasing I had a hard time finding an … well, honest-sounding review for (i.e. that didn’t sound like the blog equivalent of Extra!)
💋: Rouje ‘Les 4 Rouge’ Palette in No. 1 Signature 💌: Ed van der Elsken, “Twins at the Nieuwmarkt” 1956, Nederlands Fotomuseum
Enter the makeup line of Jeanne Damas, a person that people like me love to envy with a fiery self-immolating rage. (Like, her name is ‘Jean’ but she gets two extra letters?! She still gets to smoke cigarettes and seemingly feel ok about herself?! She doesn’t wear mascara because her eyelashes naturally just look like that?! AAAAAAAAA) Really, I think I just envy people who don’t seem like most moments of their existence aren’t spent negotiating their own anxiety and terror, even though I objectively know that’s not fair or productive.
Anyway, Violet Grey continues their winning streak of writing copy that dupes me into thinking a product does something no other product I have does while simultaneously being such a beautiful piece of art. For this ‘Les 4 Rouge’ lipstick palette, the art part is pretty true. It has beautiful packaging with a nice heft with colors that look very appealing in the pan. I watched a couple of YouTube videos reviewing this palette, including this one from French Vogue where Jeanne uses it on herself. The clincher was when she used one of the shades on her eyes, cheeks and lips. Yes, this is possible with any lip product I already own, but somehow when my lizard brain saw this it exploded in fireworks of assured rationalization that I. needed. this.
Rouje has 3 versions of this lipstick quad palette. I opted for the first one they produced, ‘Signature’, because 1) it seemed to offer the most variety and 2) had shades that seemed like they’d be the most flattering for my skin tone. They don’t have any names, but broadly I’d describe them (going upper left clockwise) as a pinkish red, pink nude, deeper plum and pink berry. All of them seem pretty pinky, which works (for me!).
Texture / formula-wise, in the pan they seem like of waxy, but using them they are actually on the more emollient side. I find them more malleable and ‘soft’ than Besame or Lisa Eldridge’s formulas, but less pigmented. Because I’m not very skilled at putting on makeup, I tend to prefer softer colors, so another check in the ‘for’ column. These are really easy to apply and blend out — I used the pinky nude on my eyes, lips and cheeks, and it was really easy to push the color around on my cheeks so it went where I wanted it to go. I always struggle with blush placement, so I like working with something that’s easier to diffuse so I can experiment while putting it on and just add more where it seems to be working. I REALLY like this pink nude on my eyes — I recently watched an Into the Gloss Instagram story on “quick Zoom-ready makeup”, and the makeup artist just pushed some peachy nude pink cream blush in the crease of her eyes to ‘add depth’ and ‘tie it into the color on the cheeks’. I’ve been using this technique with an old Tata Harper cream blush in the shade ‘Very Nice’ and it worked but was a little too peach-y / orange-y for my eyes. I like this Rouje color a lot more — it adds some depth but is very subtle AND easy to use!
The lip color on the lips is a little less easy to apply — if you’re used to putting lipstick on with your fingers, you’ll be fine … if you are clumsy and uncoordinated like me, the good news is that this is subtle enough to be wiped away with a q-tip without leaving a weird stain. These are also really easy to mix together — I layered some of the berry over the pink nude and they complemented one another pretty nicely.
The more vibrant colors — red and plum — on the other hand, are a little less easy going. For the red, I think I might have tried to put too much on all at once so it was more difficult to blend out and looked a little patchy in some spots. I like the color, but I’m going to need to practice a little more to see how to apply it more effectively. Same goes for the plum — very pretty color, but because it’s more intense it’s a little less easy to just blot and go.
As these are less pigmented, they don’t have the best staying power. The nude color creased on my eyes and after an hour or two of regular wear-and-tear all colors faded. The red and plum did leave a little bit of a stain after they wore off, but I definitely would not call these long lasting!
All in all, I really like all of the colors. They are very pretty, different enough from each other that you feel like you’re getting value from the palette, but complementary enough that you can use them together at the same time. Particularly for the nude and berry, I found them pretty easy to use and blend out, and while you need to be a bit more careful with the red and plum, they are just so pretty I’m ok with that.
💌: Ed van der Elsken, “Twins at the Nieuwmarkt” 1956, Nederlands Fotomuseum 👯♀️
While I know myself far too well to say this is the one lip product I’ll ever need, it is really versatile and something I really like. My favorite red lipstick in terms of color and formula will forever and always be Violette x Estée Lauder’s Poppy Sauvage (now available as part of their permanent collection! Yaaay!) but the Rouje one is pretty close in terms of color AND while it is more difficult to just slap on compared to the other colors in the palette, it’s much easier and less of a commitment than a liquid or stick lipstick. And it IS very beautiful as an object, which is nice too!
