Luca Lip Color from Tom Ford's Lips & Boys

My first Tom Ford product.  Let's mark the occasion with a moment of silence.  Okay, now on to Luca from the Lips & Boys limited edition lip colors, which were released right around the holidays to the usual fanfare that surrounds Tom Ford.

I looked at pictures and reviews of these for what seemed like forever before I decided on the peach frosted Luca.  Something about it appealed to me, although maybe it was just the whoopla going in the beauty blogasphere world over these.

Cause honestly?  It's just okay.  I want to love it, especially since I paid $32 for what is larger than a sample sized but smaller than a full sized lipstick.  The packaging is definitely high end, but the color just isn't hitting that sweet spot for me, despite how pretty it looks in the tube.  It's a bit too light for my preference, and the frosted finish is not the most forgiving.

It has a tendency to settle in lip lines, although from a distance it's not that noticeable.  Perhaps the color just isn't working with my winter paleness and will look better once I get some sun (or Clarin's Golden Glow Booster, which I should probably just wear year round). 

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Luca.  I'm just a tad underwhelmed.  The formula is okay, neither hydrating or drying to my lips despite the "rare and exotic ingredients including soja seed extract, Brazilian murumuru butter and chamomilla flower oil to create an ultra-creamy texture with an incredibly smooth application", and I can get about 3 hours of comfortable wear.  I do like how there is an underlying pink tone to the peachy melon color, which makes it more unique.  I also have nothing quite like it in my collection, so there is that.

In these photos I was testing out a too dark BB cream, Smashbox's Camera Ready in medium, which probably doesn't help with the overall effect:  oompa loompa with pale frosted lips.

This inside shot show Luca's peach tint a bit better, although I'm still oompa loompa as I decided to try out the too dark Smashbox BB cream a second day, apparently thinking it would magically look better this time.  I'm persistent like that:

Then, I decided maybe I'll just use Luca as a layering lipstick.  Here I've layered it over Le Metier de Beaute's Dualistic Lip Pencil in Rouge, and my face is finally a more appropriate color:

Luca over LMdB's Rouge lip pencil

Rouge lip pencil only

Finally, I tried Luca with Chantecaille's Brilliant Gloss Lucky on top, hoping that would hit the sweet spot.  Which it did. 

So there ya go, my first Tom Ford lipstick, mixed emotions here.