Tom Ford Lips and Boys: Complete Swatches & Review

Ladies! Are you ready to ring in the new year! It’s going to be an exciting one… because we are starting with the global launch of Tom Ford Lips & Boys on 2 January 2015!!! This highly anticipated collection of 50 (yes FIFTY!!) lipsticks was initially only available on Black Friday in a special limited preview on tomford.com (which ships exclusively to US residents), and will be available beginning 26 December in select US retailers and Selfridges. Come January, it will be available in select international markets, Singapore being one of the lucky ones! This will not be a permanent release, but will be available for 8 weeks only, ending on 25 February.

The Lips & Boys collection features Tom Ford’s signature lip colors made from rare ingredients such as Brazilian murumuru butter, soja seed extract and chamomilla flower oil. All of these luxurious mixes result in luscious textures and velvety smooth application. The use of specially worked pigments ensure unique color balanced with luminescence. In particular, there are some very unique shades and some never-before-seen pearl finishes. However, not all 50 shades are brand new, 14 are re-promotes of existing and previously released limited edition shades. I suspect there are at least 1 or 2 more that are re-promotes of some previously Asia-exclusive shades, although these are not confirmed in the official press materials.

The seductive new line are named after men that have inspired Tom Ford throughout his life including collaborators and intimate acquaintances. Addison was Ford’s first crush; Tomas is Ford’s nephew, and Rory is his best friend. Richard is Ford’s husband, and Alexander their two-year-old son, although they fondly call their son Jack which is also represented in the collection.

“Why commit to one when you can have several?” – Tom Ford

To aid us in our conquest, and knowing how fickle women may be, these Lips & Boys are in a clutch-friendly, deluxe mini-size (2.0gm at SGD50/USD32 vs. 3.0gm at SGD80/USD50). Personally I’m very fond of these mini sizes as they feel more comfortable in my hands and I don’t feel bad having too many of them sit around unused. On the other hand, I do advise caution when applying directly on the lips as I broke one off accidentally while swatching!

I got to preview the entire 50, and here is the entire universe of swatches! Enjoy!

Nudes to Browns (from left to right):

• Holden – very pale nude with a sheer finish.  Re-promote of Vanilla Suede from the Fall 2013 collection, and a previously discontinued shade.
• Beau – light pinky nude with slight sheen.  Re-promote of Blush Nude, an existing Lip Color from the permanent collection.
• Henry – warm golden brown with a slight sheen.  Re-promote of Warm Sable, a previously discontinued shade.
• Gustavo – medium chocolate brown with slight sheen
• Pavlos – dark plummy brown with a lustrous sheen

Silvers to Black (left to right):

• Casey – sheer pale pearly white.  This is an interesting shade, and I imagine it would work paired with a darker lipstick for a pearlized sheen.
• Orlando – light golden beige with a sheer coverage
• Peter – light pink beige with a sheer coverage
• Stavros – dark eggplant with a sheer coverage
• Alasdhair – dark burgundy with a sheer coverage.  This is the most interesting lipstick of the collection as it appears black in the tube but actually turns out purple!

Metallics (left to right):

• Kyril – light silvery white with shimmer
• William – light-medium golden peach. Re-promote of Pink Dune, a previously limited edition Lip Color Sheer from the Spring 2014 Collection.
• Sebastian – medium warm copper with shimmer
• Omar – medium brown with orange tinge and a metallic finish
• Blake – dark brown with reddened base and copper shimmers

Light Pinks to Mauves (light to right):

• Ian – sheer light warm-toned pink with gold shimmers and a glossy finish
• Flynn – light-medium cool-toned pink with a satin finish
• Addison – medium warm-toned salmon pink with a satin finish.  Re-promote of Pink Dusk, an original shade from the permanent collection.
• James – medium coral orange with a satin finish.  Re-promote of Twist of Fate, a previously limited edition shade from the Fall 2014 collection.
• Richard – medium-dark plummy brown with a satin finish.  Re-promote of Negligee, a previously limited edition shade from the Fall 2014 collection.

Pop Pinks to Roses (left to right):

• Alexander – medium babydoll pink with slight shimmer
• Patrick – medium pinky-coral with lustrous shine
• Michael – medium warm-toned pink with frosted finish
• John – medium fuchsia with frosted finish
• Giacomo – medium warm-toned pink with shimmer

Fuchsia to Magentas (left to right):

• Preston – light cool-toned pink with slight sheer coverage
• Justin – light-medium fuchsia
• Cooper – medium fuchsia. Re-promote of Pure Pink from the permanent collection.
• Jack – light-medium magenta
• Francesco – medium reddened fuchsia with a satin finish and slight shimmer

Corals to Oranges (left to right):

• Luca – light golden coral with a frosted finish
• Matthew – medium peach with a lustrous finish. Re-promote of Naked Coral, a previously discontinued Asia-exclusive shade.
• Adriano – medium bright coral orange with a lustrous finish. Re-promote of True Coral from the permanent collection.
• Tomas – medium muted copper orange
• Rafael – medium bright orange with a lustrous shine

Reds (left to right):

• Rory – shimmery gold with a sheer coverage.  Shown in swatch is several layers to achieve this level of opacity.  This is interesting as a golden shimmer topper over any lipstick color.
• Diego – medium warm-toned orange-red
• Alejandro – medium cool-toned red with a pearl finish.  Re-promote of Slander, a previously limited edition shade from the Jasmine Rouge Collection.
• Luciano – medium neutral-red
• Leonardo – medium-dark cool-toned red.  Re-promote of Smoke Red, a previously discontinued shade from the original Private Blend Lip Color Collection.

Violets to Orchid (left to right):

• Olivier – pale pink with sheer coverage
• Julian – medium muted purple-brown with slight sheerness
• Pablo – medium brightened cool-toned pink-purple
• Xavier – medium-dark purple. Re-promote of Violet Fatale from the permanent collection.
• Liam – dark eggplant with slight sheerness

Plums (left to right):

• Collin – medium muted rose-brown.  Re-promote of Indian Rose from the permanent collection.
• Cary – medium reddened brown.  Re-promote of Casablanca from the permanent collection.
• Didier – medium-dark plum with shimmers.  Re-promote of Moroccan Rouge, a previously discontinued shade from the original Private Blend Lip Color collection.
• Guillermo – dark chocolate brown with a plum base which shows up more as it sheers out
• Wes – dark plum with slight sheerness and a lustrous finish

The finishes and level of opacity varies greatly across the entire collection.  Of the entire range, the reds, and some of the magentas and oranges have the creamiest finishes and strongest intensities and opacities.  There are a number of interesting shades that are unlikely to work on their own (e.g. Rory, Kyril, Casey) but offer lots of possibilities layered over another shade.  The Silvers and Blacks were the sheerest of the bunch, which may be intended to make their colors more everyday wearable.

If you were as caught up in the fever as I was, and cursing the fates for not being able to get hold of one of these boys during their initial launch, the silver lining in the cloud is, any 3 purchases at the stores will come packaged in a luxurious holder!

Which of these bad boys have you got your eyes on?