Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set – Mouldy Lipsticks?!

Pat McGrath Labs is such a super hyped beauty brand, and until very recently I’d never tried their products. The Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set was being promoted across social media as it was in the Pat McGrath sale for just £10, and with a discount code it meant it was only £9. I couldn’t say no that kind of deal and swiftly placed my first order along with a couple of her eyeshadow palettes.

Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set

The Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set is a three piece set of miniature lipsticks in their MatteTrance formula. £9 for three miniature sized Pat McGrath lipsticks is a great deal, and their full price was £20. I know it might still sound pricey for mini lipsticks, but each of the full sized MatteTrance Lipsticks are £36 each – pricey, right? The three shades in this set are;

• Omi
• 1995
• Flesh 3

You’ve probably read many, many Pat McGrath reviews until now. If you haven’t, her individual products come in ornate gold plastic pouches filled with golden sequins. It’s very luxe, and unlike any other brand but the amount of wasted plastic is unfathomable.

You can’t reuse the plastic pouch, and the sequins are just so unnecessary. It’d be way better for the environment to create more luxe cardboard packaging, and the price would obviously be lower too. Sure you can reuse the sequins, but I’m not entirely sure anyone would want to. 

I was so excited to try the Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set until I pulled the lids off the lipsticks. Two of the three lipsticks are covered in mould which is shocking, especially for such a super high-end brand like Pat McGrath Labs.

Only two of the three lipsticks are covered in mould, and it’s the two lighter shades in the trio. I looked online to see if I could find anyone else that’d had the same issue with their lipsticks, but I haven’t yet found anyone else.

The fact these lipsticks are in the sale and so heavily discounted is obviously because of their age, but even when purchasing makeup in a sale, the products shouldn’t be mouldy.

I’ve also looked into other possibilities that would explain the green tinged fluffy coating on the Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set, and it looks like some lipsticks can experience a ‘wax bloom’ but that would happen to all three if it was the formula that had an issue. It’s just on all three and when you press a tissue onto the bullet of the lipstick, the green fluff comes off onto the tissue.

There is absolutely no way I was going to use any of the three lipsticks on my lips as I don’t feel like it’s safe to do, but the formula is very gritty and lumpy. You can see in these swatches little gritty particles, they’re truly awful.

I’m so stunned that these lipsticks in the Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set would be so expired, yet on sale. I’m so disappointed as this was my first ever Pat McGrath purchase, but even for just £10, mouldy lipsticks should never be sold or used. 

You can find the Pat McGrath Mini MatteTrance Lipstick Set right here.

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