Lily Lolo is a luxury nontoxic makeup brand made in London that has taken the Internet by storm. With trendy colors and wonderful textures, it is the green best friend of the beauty hoarder who loves to follow the trends—without the chemical charge. Pedal to the Metal is one of their bestselling palettes, so I wanted to share my experience and some swatches with you.
If you follow my nontoxic beauty articles regularly, you may have noticed I have a thing for The Choosy Chick for a good reason: Margot and her husband have an impressive array of hand-curated brands to cater for every single need, and that deserves all the praise they can get. Believe me, this wonderful team does its homework and knows every single thing about the products they sell on their website.
So when they told me that Lily Lolo is one of their bestsellers, I knew I had to try the brand. This Choosy Chick knows that if green consumers are voting with their dollars, there must be a truth behind the buzz.
The Eyeshadow Palette: Pedal to the Metal
One of the most difficult textures to create in green cosmetics is eyeshadows. Regular pans are filled with talc and binding agents that make it easy for the pigments to stay put together and last long hours. Usually, the natural counterparts have lesser color pay off, which in my opinion is a small price to pay if you’re looking to go green for health reasons.
The Deets
Lily Lolo Pedal To The Metal Eye Palette is the best friend of the eco-conscious smokey eye. It includes eight highly pigmented shadows, including five matte shades and three metallic hues. The 100% natural and vegan formula contains pomegranate oil, which is a powerful anti-oxidant, and manuka oil for its antibacterial properties. As it contains no talc or dyes (such as FD&C, Lake, and other nasties), it is suitable for even the most sensitive lids.
Pedal to the Metal includes the following shades (see swatches above and below): Photo Finish (a matte, creamy nude that is excellent as a base and blending color), Fueled (a shimmery and sparkly beige), Pole Position (a matte soft brown), Silver Bullet (a shimmery bright silver), Gold Medal (a shimmery light gold), Carbon (a matte dark grey), Hook Up (a matte light beige, great as a transition color), and Black Zinc (a matte, almost black shade.)
Price: $34. Available at www.thechoosychick.com.
My Experience
To start with, my first impression of the Lily Lolo Pedal to the Metal Palette is that the texture is extremely comfortable on my sensitive lids. As I wear glasses, to me it’s very uncomfortable to wear some shades that have glitter because they end up irritating my lids and getting into my eyes (oh, the wonders of being far sighted!) However, Lily Lolo’s shadows have stayed in place without the familiar itchy feeling that I get every time I go for a smokey eye look. Bravo!
Second, the color payoff is excellent. Aside from being a really balanced palette of cools and warms with matte and shimmery textures, the colors are buildable so you can go from a subtle daytime wash to a full-on night smokey eye depending on your needs. The colors are beautiful and bright, and if you only use the matte ones it’s very easy to create a day look that you can easily transition into the night. Plus, I used a bit of RMS concealer as a base and the shadows stayed for hours without looking washed out. No raccoon eyes. Phew!
Third, the palette is compact enough to carry in the smallest of handbags. I don’t know about you, but I have started to invest in palettes with smaller pans as I never seem to finish them, and part of becoming a more eco-conscious consumer is to avoid waste. I really appreciate that this palette has reasonably-sized pans that aren’t impossible to finish. Plus, with eight different colors, it really has enough variety to keep beauty folks like me busy for quite some time.
Finally, I for one privilege the pressed eyeshadows vs. the messy loose powders. As I live in a dignified wardrobe (aka the wonders of living close to the city), I need products that are easy to use, easy to keep, and that won’t fly everywhere.
This product definitely ticks off all the boxes on my green beauty list.
Lily Lolo Natural Lip Gloss: The Perfect Companion
Although the Lily Lolo Pedal to the Metal Palette works perfectly well on its own, The Choosy Chick suggests pairing it up with a pretty pink gloss to round up your day or night looks. Turns out, Margot is once again right. Damson Dusk is a deep dusky pink mauve that compliments my summer skin by playing subtly with my olive undertone.
The Lily Lolo Natural Lip Gloss in Damson Dusk ($16) works wonderfully with any day or night looks that you create with the Pedal to the Metal palette. It is deep enough to bring out the fullness in your lips, but subtle enough that it doesn’t distract from the pretty shimmer going on in your eyes.
In terms of ingredients, the formula is packed with natural oils to moisturize the lips and has sucrose acetate, a natural ingredient derived from sugar that gives natural glosses their mirror appearance. However, it does contain mica and might have some traces of carmine, so if you are looking for a vegan or mica-free option for your lips, Margot will be able to point you to a different product.
This gloss is long-lasting, provides a beautiful yet natural nude color, and is not sticky (plus, to me it tastes like a vanilla chocolate shake!) Highly moisturizing, my naturally dry lips didn’t feel chapped after 2+ hours (which is rare, because I go through lip balms at the speed of the light.)
The Curator: The Choosy Chick
I strongly believe that opening a green store is an act of love for yourself, your clients, and the planet. It takes a long time to read through all the ingredient list and educate yourself if you haven’t been in the industry for years, and I applaud the effort of The Choosy Chick in curating a comprehensive online store where you can find literally anything for everybody. The transparency in their descriptions, their educational pages, and their incredible customer service really deserves a praise.
The Choosy Chick sent me Lily Lolo products to test for editorial consideration, which means they didn’t pay me to write this review nor expected to see the opinions that I’m sharing here. What they didn’t know was that I had a secret mystery shopper to try their service. She is so happy with their customer service (she asked them a lot of questions before making her purchase) that I’m sure she’ll come back again and again. So, in case you were wondering, they provide an excellent service to all their customers, not only reporters.
To see the full Lily Lolo range available at The Choosy Chick, you can visit their dedicated space by clicking on the pink link above.
Have you ever used Lily Lolo?
Disclosure Level 1: The author received NO compensation to write this post. The author received a sample of the products mentioned here for editorial consideration, no strings attached. The sample didn’t influence the decision to feature the brand, nor the opinions expressed here.Links are provided only for informational purposes and aren’t part of an affiliated marketing campaign.
