There’s no question that Queen Cosmetics makes my favorite lip glosses! I’ve blogged about them before in my reviews of the Stardom Collection, Holographic Glosses Part 2 and Sublime Hearts posts. Their holographic and color-shifting formulas are unlike anything else in my collection, so imagine my excitement when they announced three brand-new “tester” glosses!
The Tester Collection is a little different from a typical makeup launch. These three shades were created as ultra-small batch, hand-mixed glosses inspired by Queen Cosmetics’ early days. Rather than releasing all three permanently, customers get to help decide which shade survives. After purchasing and trying the glosses, customers can vote for their favorite, and the winning shade will eventually join the permanent collection. (Be sure to keep an eye on their socials to see when this will happen!)
As someone who owns far too many Queen Cosmetics glosses (and has backups of some of my favorites), I couldn’t resist picking up all three Testers to compare them side-by-side. In this post, I’ll be swatching Tester #1, Tester #2, and Tester #3, comparing them to existing Queen Cosmetics shades, and sharing which one I think deserves a permanent spot in the lineup.
You can purchase them at the Queen Cosmetics website, and on their TikTok Shop (on the TikTok app). Queen Cosmetics is sold at Ulta, but not the full line and not the Tester lip glosses. On their site, the lip glosses retail for $20, but look out for TikTok Shop specials and coupons because it’s usually cheaper! They have also mentioned, once they sell out, they are SOLD OUT. I thought I missed out, but they actually restocked! Get what you can, and keep an eye on any sold out ones because it might come back!
Swatched over bare skin and a black liquid lipstick to see the difference:
Please note, the black lipstick does have gold sparkles. It was the only black lipstick I had! It is Jeffree Star Cosmetics Malicious Kisses. I got it at the booth at Aftershock and they threw in a freebie of this lipstick!
Tester #1
I describe Tester #1 as Moonstone Squared. Moonstone itself is extremely sparkly,… but Tester #1 is even more an explosion of shimmer! Tester #1 has a lot more of that green sparkle, and the particles open up a lot more when spread out and it is more reflective.
Moonstone has more of a lilac base with a mint sparkle. Tester #1 has a bit more of a yellow-leaning spring green.
Comparisons with existing shades:
Tester #1 on top with the old (very well-loved) version of Moonstone, and a newer Moonstone.
I show an out-of-focus photo to show the intensity and color of the sparkle. You can see that Tester #1 has more yellow sparkle.
Would I vote for Tester #1?
Moonstone is one of my favorite glosses from Queen Cosmetics. Tester #1 is an elevated version of it and I am glad to have it. I wear it and it’s super pretty. I might get a backup. They’re different enough to want both. Do we need it in the permanent line, or should we choose something that doesn’t have a close dupe?
Tester #2
Tester #2 has a translucent icy pink base with a bright cool-toned sparkle that shifts between mint, blue, lavender and pink. In the tube the sparkle shifts from mint directly to pink. When swatched over bare skin, I mostly see the pink, but the official swatches we see more of the blue. Over black liquid lipstick, the sparkle leans more purple. In the tube we can see the whole array of colors.
I have two tubes of Tester #2, the packaging is different but that is probably due to the fact that they are filling these themselves instead of having a factory do it, so the tubes are likely what they had on hand. The color and formula itself do not seem to be any different.
Comparisons with existing shades:
Here, I compare it to the Stardom collection and Aurora 2.0. Nebula is the closest out of all of them, but different enough to stand on their own. Tester # 2 fits right in to the whole Stardom collection! If you liked that one, you might want to add Tester #2 to your collection.
The Stardom collection is from 2022, and is no longer being sold. I have a previous blog post about it if you want to see the photos. They’re milky duochromes.
Aurora 2.0 shade came about when the lab came back with a different result, as explained on their website. I call it a lab mistake, gone right! It was limited edition and currently no longer being sold.
Aurora 2.0 and Tester #2 may have been new this year. But they fit right into the 2022 Stardom collection! We have blue, coral pink and lilac! What a cute trio! But what I noticed was Nebula is the most purple of the Stardom glosses and I really needed a side-by-side comparison between that and Tester #2. You can see from 2 photos above that they are very different. But next to each other, they looked more similar. I am sure that is just due to angle and lighting, and that is why Tester #2 sometimes looks more blue…. because in that lighting, it is!
Nebula is the closest “dupe” for Tester #2, but they are by no means the same lip gloss. Tester #2 looks more like:
- Fine shimmer
- Pearlescent reflect
- Smooth glow
- The sparkle appears embedded within the base
Nebula seems to have:
- Tiny reflective particles sitting on top of the shimmer
- More texture in the sparkle pattern
- Occasional brighter flashes that catch individually
- A slightly “twinklier” appearance
Nebula contains at least some larger particle shimmer or micro-glitter mixed into the base. Not chunky glitter by any means, but enough that the light doesn’t reflect as uniformly as Tester #2. Though they look very similar in the photos, with the naked eye, they are not the same. In the daylight photos, Tester #2 and Nebula seem closer. Under direct flash, Nebula’s larger sparkle particles become much more obvious, while Tester #2 reads smoother and more pearlescent. But in the photos below, they just look the same. I swear, they’re not!
Will I vote for Tester #2?
I tend to favor cool tones so you’d think I’d be likely to pick this one out of the three. I even got two so I wouldn’t run out! But my favorite Queen glosses are the ones with major impact. Had Tester #2 has more of an in-your-face sparkle and blinding shift that was different than all of the other glosses, I would have voted for it. But I personally *chose* it for me, so I got two!
Tester #3
Tester # 3 is a champagne with a pink sparkly shift with additional flecks of gold.
Comparisons with existing shades:
There is clearly no dupe in Queen’s lineup of glosses. I don’t have Angel to compare it to, but I suspect that it’s also not even close since I think that one is gold with holo.
Below are comparison swatches of Queen Cosmetics Tester #3 alongside Aphrodite and Face Time in multiple lighting conditions. Although all three shades have warm undertones, Tester #3 combines pink, peach, and champagne reflects, creating a more multidimensional finish than the gold-toned Aphrodite or rosy nude Face Time. Aphrodite appears more yellow-gold and with multi-colored shimmers, while Face Time provides a rosy nude tint with holographic shimmer. They are in no way dupes, and if there is one, I don’t own it.
Would I vote for Tester #3?
Tester # 3 fills in a gap in Queen’s lipgloss collection. Although Tester #2 is more my style, and Tester #1 is an elevated version of one of my all-time faves…the more I compared the swatches, the more I appreciated what Tester #3 brings to the collection. While it may not be the gloss I reach for most often, it adds something genuinely new to the lineup and helps round out the collection as a whole. So my vote is going to Tester #3.
Voting
I do not know when voting starts or how the name of the winning shade gets chosen. I suspect we may hear more about it when all of the inventory sells out. I would follow and keep an eye on their TikTok and Instagram accounts.
Bonus: Digital Doll
When I saw this video, I thought all of my purple magical unicorn nebula holo dreams were coming true!
Oh.
It’s not that the sparkle didn’t deliver, it did. It’s the purple base…. it’s not there. Unless you add one yourself:
That’s more like it! It’s clear this Digital Doll is meant to be a topper. It’s best when layered over a pigmented base color. This is swatched over Jeffree Star Cosmetics I’m Royalty. The base isn’t purple, it just looks that way in the tube! The dark appearance in the tube comes from all those flakes suspended together in a small space. Once you spread the gloss out across your lips, the particles disperse and the base becomes nearly invisible. But they aren’t incapable of making a holo gloss with a purple base! They did it with Love Spell, for example. So I layered Digital Doll over it. Swatched below is is Love Spell by itself, and the swatch below is both together.
Digital Doll is worth buying if you want a gloss with big flakies of holo… and I do! But it will look more impactful when layered over a darker base color to really show off the rainbow sparkle. A liquid lipstick that dries down matte is a stronger choice as a base, it it doesn’t move around. But I personally just like a gloss by itself because it’s more moisturizing.
Lip Liners
Here’s an advantage to TikTok Shop: you get deals, free shipping and freebies! It depends on when the app wants to give it to you, or when the brand itself is running a special. From ordering Tester #2, I got a set of their lip liners for free!
Swatches of Queen Cosmetics lip liners Bubblegum, Shameless, and Passion on fair skin. Bubblegum is a nude pink-brown, Shameless is a medium brown, and Passion is a vibrant red-orange. Heart-shaped swatches show the full liner color payoff.
My All-Time Favorites
I discovered Queen Cosmetics on TikTok in 2022. It was a video of Ellie making the Euphoria shade. I have since been collecting them after seeing the holographic glitter gloss! I like all the bells and whistles, so the glosses from the Enchanted Garden collection are some of my favorites! They are extra special because they have duochrome bases with holographic glitter! I want to see MORE of this in other colorways.
My favorites as shown on the swatches below: Euphoria, Supernova, Wanderlust, Bad Witch, Magic Potion, Moonstone and Virtual Reality. I typically wear these glosses is just with a lip liner, (I like using Mac’s Stone or Greige) or dabbed in just the middle of the lip over a lipstick. I also get asked if these are long lasting. It’s a lip gloss. It’s not magic. Take it with you in your purse and re-apply as needed.
I am also asked if they are gritty. They’re not. If you mash your lips down together and rub, then you might feel the fine glitter, but you’re also rubbing your lips together… so…of course you’ll feel it.
If I had to pick my ultimate favorite… the proof is in how used my tubes are. I am on my 3rd tube of Supernova. I also have backups on Euphoria and the Enchanted Forest collection (Bad Witch, Wanderlust and Magic Potion) and they are all getting pretty low. It’s a shame I cannot re-purchase them as they are discontinued.
Here is something interesting: I have 3 Supernovas, shown above. Starting from the super worn off cap! Between Nebula and Moonstone. I have two Supernova glosses in rotation, and one brand new in a box. They’re all different colors! I believe it’s due to contamination (air/oxidation and being mixed with other lip products) and age. But weird how it got whiter! I have an old photo of the most worn tube (the one where the pink is coming off the cap). It was definitely the same color as the unopened one shown here. It changed color over time and heavy use! Supernova is very well loved and I kind of never want to touch the unopened one because I cannot buy another. Now if I could find my other Euphorias and see how different they are from each other!
This isn’t even my whole collection! I am missing Astral Projection, Stargazing a couple of Euphorias and 1 set of Enchanted Garden glosses!
Disclaimer:
The products featured in this post were purchased by me unless otherwise noted. I am not affiliated with Queen Cosmetics and this post is not sponsored. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my personal experience using and collecting Queen Cosmetics products over several years.
The tester glosses shown in this article were prototype shades provided for customer feedback and may differ from any final products that are eventually released. Colors, sparkle, shifts, and formulas may or may not change before production.
Swatches were photographed in a variety of lighting conditions, including indoor lighting, direct sunlight, and intentionally out-of-focus “bokeh shots” to better capture reflective particles. Colors and shifts may appear differently depending on lighting, skin tone, base lipcolor shade, monitor settings, and camera equipment.
The poll on this page is not affiliated with Queen Cosmetics and will not affect the outcome of the final results.
