Physicians Formula is a brand that often catches my eye. But I’ve had some favorites and some fails. I still adore the heart Happy Booster Glow & Blush that I bought several years ago (reviewed here). It’s the cutest of the cute.
The PF Butter Highlighter is still my favorite highlighter because it feels so good on my skin, it’s so easy to apply and the rose gold color I chose out of a nice variety of shades is so lovely (reviewed here).
But I had a fail too. Sadly, the Butter Blush in Deep Plum that I tried was awful. The color didn’t show up at all. It was like wearing nothing. I returned it.
Nevertheless, the consistency and skin feel of the Butter products was so good for my dry skin that I was very excited to hear about the new Butter Lipstick and Butter Eyeshadow Palettes.
Butter Lipstick SPF 15
I’m always on the lookout for hydrating lipsticks for my dry lips. So when I noticed Physicians Formula Butter Lipstick, I knew I had to go home with one. In addition to the Butter formula, it also contains SPF 15 which is great as the weather warms up and I spend more time outdoors.
I decided to choose a shade for everyday, and mauves have become my go-to. I bought Mauvin’ to Brazil. The shade is a pretty pink-mauve.
What I didn’t realize but what I shouldn’t be surprised about is that it’s more of a tinted balm than a lipstick. The shade is semi-sheer or translucent. It doesn’t have a lot of color pay-off.
It is very buttery and has a lot of slip. It feels lightweight and hydrating on my lips. The following are the key hydrating ingredients: Moisturizing Tucuma, Cupuaçu and Murumuru Butter Blend, Conditioning Essential Fatty Acids.
In order to keep the color visible and the buttery feeling, it’s necessary to reapply it every couple of hours. It definitely comes off when eating or drinking.
It has no flavor or scent.
Another couple of annoyances were:
- When I was trying to take off the plastic that protects the lipstick from being opened off of the tube when I got it home, it was on so tight that I had to use a knife. I just couldn’t get the plastic wrapping off completely – maybe it’s not supposed to come off? At any rate, my knife cut the tube and left a big gash. Meanwhile, some of the plastic wrap is still on the tube.
- The bullet twists up out of the tube. Sadly, it doesn’t always twist back down so I have to push it down with my lips.
In sum, if you have dry lips and are looking for a hydrating lipstick or a tinted lip balm with some SPF, you will most likely be happy with PF Butter Lipstick SPF 15. There are 12 shades in total in a good variety of shades. The price is about $8.49.
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:
AVOBENZONE, OCTINOXATE, OCTOCRYLENE
INACTIVE INGREDIENTS:
POLYBUTENE, SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS (JOJOBA) SEED OIL, DIISOSTEARYL MALATE, POLYETHYLENE, TRIDECYL TRIMELLITATE, OCTYLDODECANOL, PUNICA GRANATUM STEROLS, ISOSTEARYL HYDROXYSTEARATE, TRIMETHYLOLPROPANE TRIISOSTEARATE, CAPRYLIC/ CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, EUPHORBIA CERIFERA (CANDELILLA) WAX/ CIRE DE CANDELILLA, HYDROGENATED POLYCYCLOPENTADIENE, ASTROCARYUM MURUMURU SEED BUTTER, ASTROCARYUM TUCUMA SEED BUTTER, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA) BUTTER, THEOBROMA GRANDIFLORUM SEED BUTTER, TRIISOSTEARYL CITRATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, FLAVOR/ AROMA, STEVIA REBAUDIANA LEAF/ STEM EXTRACT TETRAHEXYLDECYL ASCORBATE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, COPERNICIA CERIFERA (CARNAUBA) WAX/ CIRE DE CARNAUABA, TOCOPHEROL, BHT. MAY CONTAIN/ PEUT CONTENIR: BLUE 1 LAKE (Cl42090), CARMINE (Cl 75470), IRON OXIDES (Cl77491, Cl 77492, Cl 77499), MANGANESE VIOLET (Cl77742), MICA, RED 7 LAKE (Cl 15850), RED 28 LAKE (Cl 45410), TITANIUM DIOXIDE (Cl 77891), YELLOW 5 LAKE (Cl 19140)
Butter Eyeshadow Palette: Sultry Nights
There are two palettes to choose from: a warm toned palette called Tropical Days and a cool toned palette called Sultry Nights. I went with Sultry Nights.
When you open the palette, it has a noticeable coconut scent. Since I love coconut, I like that.
A dual-ended foam brush is included. There is no mirror. The palette is made from heavy plastic, and the hinges on mine squeak when I open it.
The palette has 12 pans, a mix of 6 matte and 6 shimmer shadows. Half of the pans are embossed, and half are smooth.
The shades are:
- Bae-cation: pale peach matte
- Coconut Kiss: champagne shimmer
- Beach Beige: cafe au lait matte
- Off the Coast: milk chocolate matte
- Sun Down: coppery gold shimmer
- Sunset Vista: copper shimmer
- Rainforest Queen: bronze shimmer
- Below the Horizon: aubergine matte
- Moonlight Beige: peachy beige matte
- Reservation for Two: gold shimmer
- Midnight Stroll: lavender-grey shimmer
- After Dark: black matte
In the palette, I thought the shades were very pretty. Lots of neutral-ish shades with a very attractive bronze, copper and aubergine.
Here are the swatches of shades 1-5 in bright sunshine and in daylight:
Here are the swatches from pans 6-12 in sunlight and natural light:
As you can see in the swatches, some of the lighter shades don’t show up since they are so close to my skin tone. That’s why I showed swatches in both sunlight and daylight because some shades showed up better in bright light and others in cool light.
Quite a few of the shades look beautiful, smooth and highly pigmented in the swatches, but some look chunky and that’s how they look on my eyelids. The black swatch was quite powdery and migrated onto my skin.
I was very excited about trying this palette because I assumed it would have a creamy (almost greasy but in a good way) consistency like the Butter Highlighter that I love. Plus you know that I adore cream eyeshadows.
But the shadows are exceedingly powdery. I didn’t expect that in eyeshadows that I thought would be closer to cream than to pressed powder. If you put your finger on the pan, it has that PF Butter feel, but when you put your brush on the pan, it’s quite different. There’s powder in the pan when I dip my brush in, and the powder flies around into neighboring pans sometimes. I try to remember to tap my brush to make sure there isn’t too much loose powder on the brush because I have gotten a lot of fallout. Ugh.
In spite of the fallout, the shades blend quite well.
I wear Sultry Nights over eye primer. Yet, some of the shades – particularly the lighter ones – look kind of awful on my lids. The shimmer shades look like they’re “broken” on my lids. Very unattractive. I’m wearing Coconut Kiss on my lids. Awful.
Today, I wore Midnight Stroll, which has a lighter shimmer than the other shimmer shadows, with aubergine Below the Horizon in the crease and V, and that combo was fine. The mattes are less problematic.
So PF Sultry Nights Eyeshadow Palette is not my favorite, not by a long shot. I hoped this would be a good palette for everyday or for quick looks because it has a nice variety of shimmers and mattes in wearable shades. But between the powdery fallout, the fact that some shades don’t show up on my skin, and the unattractive look that I get from some of the shimmers, I have a hard time giving this palette an enthusiastic recommendation.
The eyeshadow palettes are cruelty-free, gluten-free, paraben-free, and oil-free. They are priced around $17.99. They’re available at Ulta Beauty, CVS, Walgreens, Target, Walmart, and on the Physicians Formula website.
Have you tried either of these new Butter makeups from Physicians Formula? If so, what was your experience?
Ingredients: MICA, SYNTHETIC FLUORPHLOGOPITE, TALC, BORON NITRIDE, DIMETHICONE, SILICA, TRIMETHYLSILOXYSILICATE, MAGNESIUM MYRISTATE, ETHYL MACADAMIATE, LAUROYL LYSINE, ASTROCARYUM MURUMURU SEED BUTTER, THEOBROMA GRANDIFLORUM SEED BUTTER, ASTROCARYUM TUCUMA SEED BUTTER, PHENOXYTHANOL, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, FRAGRANCE/ PARFUM, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, HEXYLENE GLYCOL, CALCIUM TITANIUM BOROSILICATE, WATER/ EAU, 0-CYMEN-5-0L, TIN OXIDE, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE. MAY CONTAIN/ PEUT CONTENIR: BLACK 2 (Cl 77266), CARMINE (Cl75470), FERRIC FERROCYANIDE (Cl 77510), IRON OXIDES (Cl77491, Cl 77492, Cl 77499), MANGANESE VIOLET (Cl 77742), RED 40 LAKE (Cl 16035), TITANIUM OXIDE (Cl 77891), ULTRAMARINES (Cl 77007). [1806-1]
What a huge shame about the palette because the shades look amazing!
I will pick and choose among the deeper less shimmery shades and tap my brush and use those shades. But I was very disappointed. Maybe I got a weird palette???
That’s a shame. Both of these sound like a hard pass for me. I’m not a fan of their butter line – I tried and hated the butter highlighters, but I do like PF in genera!
I think the Butter line is for us with desert-dry skin, and that’s one reason why the palette is such a disappointment – it’s not even creamy or hydrating, but powdery, flaky and dry. Ugh. You are right: hard pass
Yeah I’m with Judy on the hard pass but that’s why I love blogs that are honest!
Thank you for such an honest review. I want to spend my money on things I’ll love. The palette is so pretty but boo on the formula.
I tried yet again today with the gold/copper shimmer. I tapped the brush and nothing comes off. I applied it to my eyes, and fallout all over my cheeks. Sadly, no to this palette.
I don’t trust PF because of the fragrances. I’m surprised the balm isn’t though. I don’t see the point of fragranced eyeshadow like the Too Faced ones that I can’t bare to apply. I’m not missing anything even though the colors are pretty.
Yes, the Butter “lipstick” isn’t fragranced, but it certainly isn’t a must-buy. The fragrance in the palette is really for fragrance-freaks like me. You smell it when you first open the palette, but you don’t smell it after that. Still no reason to buy this. I tried using the palette again today – the gold-copper shade – and tapping the brush doesn’t help, again powder all over my cheeks. Just no.
I’m not impressed with the eyeshadow palette–so many dark shades!
There are 3 dark shades: dark brown, aubergine (gorgeous) and black. The light shades are so light they don’t show up on my skin, and I doubt they would on yours either. The real problem is the powdery formula so all of the shades have fallout. Tapping the brush doesn’t help at all. And the weird ugly cracking of some of the shimmers. This palette is a hard pass.
I need that beautiful Lip Butter! What a bummer that the gorgeous e/s palette was a disappointment!
The Butter Lipstick is very hydrating – nice for wearing around the house or for errands. Yes, I was disappointed by the palette though there are a couple of shades that I wear because I like the shade, in spite of the serious fallout
I agree with you about Butter Highlighters. That creamy texture feels so nice on the skin, and I really like the coconut scent 🙂
For me, the Butter Highlighters are the winners among the Butter range of products
Those shadows look nice! I like the lip too especially with the SPF in it! That is nice, and a good shade for a everyday quick run out!
I have to admit I have never been interested in Physicians Formula makeup. Some of their products, like that blush, look pretty, but I just don’t buy the brand. Sorry there were some fails for you with this lot.