Review: YSL's Volupté Sheer Candy (Glossy Balms)

Today's review will be on my favorite line of lip products. Honestly, you cannot go wrong with Yves Saint Laurent! I'll do a separate post on YSL's Rouge Volupté Shine, but for now, we'll focus on the Glossy balms.

The packaging: These come in a reflective gold box and the tube for the glossy balms is a reflective silver tube. I love, love, LOVE the feel of these. They invoke a very old-Hollywood glamour feel and the heaviness of the tube adds to this rich feeling. You'll just feel classy holding this in your hand.

The scent: Bad news for sensitive noses - this has a very distinctive mango smell. If smells bother you, there's no getting away from this. You'll smell it putting it on, you'll smell it when it's on, and it'll linger for awhile. I don't mind smells, and actually I love the smell of these.

The product: Every shade of these glossy balms glides on effortlessly. They don't tug or pull on your lips, you don't have to prep your lips beforehand, and you don't need a mirror for the lighter shades. When applied, the colors are true to what you see in the tube. 

The first shade I chose was 02 - Dewy Papaya. It's a very sheer, peachy tinted balm. It has a small amount of sparkle to it, but it's not too noticeable. This lasted about an hour or so on me. It's so sheer that after about an hour, I reapplied to get more color. However, if you like a very sheer shade that just adds a tiny bit of color to your lips, this is the shade you should start off with.

The second shade I chose was 04 - Succulent Pomegranate. I am in love with this shade - it's a very bright pink. I love this shade because at times when I feel like wearing hot pink on my lips, but don't want it to stand out too much (such as matte lipsticks or stains), this sheer wash of hot pink is perfect. This lasted longer than the first shade - a little over 2 hours (but during that time, I ate and drank). It's easy to reapply though - one swipe should give you a nice sheer wash of color while two swipes will give you a brighter, shinier pink.

The third shade I chose was 05 - Mouthwatering Berry. I was actually shopping for a thank you gift and chose this for the recipient...and ending up getting one for myself (this happens more frequently than it should)! This is a sheer reddish berry shade. The shade is similar to what you would look like after eating a bowl of blackberries. I like wearing this on nights when I know I'll be drinking red wine because if I have any wine stains on my lips, I can cover it up by using this! If you've always wanted to try a bit of a deeper berry shade, but feel nervous about going straight into lipsticks, try this first. It's sheer so you can build it up the saturation level to whatever makes you comfortable. This lasted about 2 hours as well.

Favorites: It's hard to choose because I love them all, but the one I wear most is Succulent Pomegranate (04). The shade of pink just makes me happier when I swipe it on, and I feel like it wakes my face up whenever I'm looking especially tired. 

Cost: $32 - very pricey. BUT I use at least one of these every day. Very worth it in my opinion, but choose your first shade wisely, so you'll get the most out of your money!

Natural lips

02 Dewy Papaya

04 Succulent Pomegranate

05 Mouthwatering Berry

Questions? Comments? Let me know what you think!

Review: Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Icon

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I've noticed that this page is garnering a few more hits every day, so I'm happy happy happy (in the words of Phil Robertson on Duck Dynasty)! Today's review will be on a product I picked up a week ago at Sephora. 

I had actually been walking around Sephora with this Hourglass Opaque Rouge in Icon because I was looking for a new red lipstick when a friend of mine who works at Sephora happened to drop in on her off day. She always wears red lipstick and I've always loved the shade of red she wore, so that day, I asked her what it was that she always had on her lips.

She pointed at the Opaque Rouge I had in my hand and said, "this." I had unknowingly picked the product that I had admired on her! She raved about it and gave me another tip - apply one swipe, let it dry, and then apply another because the resulting shade is the perfect red!

So here's my review - which I'm super, super excited to share!

Hourglass Opaque Rouge in Icon

The packaging: This comes in a silver box and the tube is oval-shaped (tapers at both ends). The only thing I don't like about the tube is that you don't get a lot from the amount you pay for this product. However, it is slim enough to put in your pocket or even the smallest bag when you're on the go.

The scent: If you take a very large sniff of this, it smells plastic. But once it's on your lips, there's no scent to this at all.

The product: Be prepared to prep your lips before applying this. If your lips are anywhere close to being chapped or flaking, this product will settle into whatever line it can find. Also, prep the area outside your lips with powder to help this product stay within the boundaries of your lips. This product glides on smoothly and dries fairly quickly, so mistakes must be kept to a minimum. If you look at the photos below, I swatched it on my arm for the photo, and took it off with makeup remover within 3 mins, and it left a stain. I actually scrubbed my arm to try and get it off and even after scrubbing, it left that stain on my arm! I didn't have trouble evenly distributing out the color like I've had with OCC's Lip Tar either, and you can build up the color as much as you like with these. One swipe will leave you with a brighter red, two swipes will leave you with a deeper red with blue undertones. Icon looks great on all skin tones (my friend who wears it has dark skin, I have medium skin with yellow undertones). The absolute greatest thing about Icon was that it lasted 6+ hours (even through eating and drinking) and probably would have lasted longer, but I took it off to go to bed! 

Favorites: I've only tried Icon out of the Opaque Rouge line, but am open to suggestions that yall may have!

Cost: $28.00 - pricey for such a small tube. If red lipstick is a signature look for you, it's worth it. Otherwise, you may want to look for less expensive options.

Natural lips

 

Opaque Rouge in Icon

Questions? Comments? Let me know what you think!

Review: Too Faced La Créme Lipstick

Today, I'm reviewing a lipstick that's been making the rounds on every beauty blogger's MLBB (My Lips but Better) list - Too Faced's La Créme Lipstick in Spice Spice Baby. 
 

Spice Spice Baby

The packaging: As with most lip products, this tube comes in a little box - very pink, very girly looking. The tube itself is a light gold color and fits well in your hands when handling. The tube does seem like it would dent easily if dropped, and the sides of the tube are very thin. 

The scent: There is some scent when you really sniff at these lipsticks, but it's so minimal that even sensitive noses wouldn't be bothered by it.

The product: These glide on so smoothly and feel pretty weightless when applied. Spice Spice Baby is a pinky brown shade, and with one swipe, you'll get sheer coverage. I usually apply about 2-3 swipes to get medium coverage with these. Because this shade is so near my natural lip color, it's easy to apply without a mirror too. Spice Spice Baby lasted about 2 hours on me with eating and drinking, and I had to reapply after. 

Favorites: I've only tried Spice Spice Baby out of Too Faced's line of La Créme lipsticks so far, but if yall have any recommendations, leave me a comment!

Cost: $21.00 - I think this is on the pricey side, but since I use it so often, I consider it worthwhile.
 

Natural lips

Spice Spice Baby - 2 swipes applied

Questions? Comments? Let me know what you think!

Review: Fresh Sugar Lip Treatments

For my first review on this blog, I've chosen Fresh's line of Sugar Lip Treatments.
I remember buying the original Sugar color several years ago, but it wasn't until about a year ago, that I fell in love with these all over again.

Fresh Lip Treatments (L to R): Sugar, Rose, Petal, Berry, Passion, Cherry

The packaging: I love how these are packaged. They come in their own little box, and the actual tube that encases the product is sturdy (I've dropped these several times and barely made a dent in them!). You have to slightly unscrew the tube to open it, and then you unscrew to push up the product. The only thing I don't like about the packaging is that it has a metallic finish, so when you accidentally rub two tubes together, it's reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard (this might just be me though). 

The scent: I love the smell of these! It smells like a very sweet lemon. I'm not sensitive to smells in cosmetics, so I don't know if others would think these are too scented though.

The product: These all go on very smoothly and you can build up the color as much as you would like. These products are not weightless, so you know you're wearing something on your lips though. The great thing about these lip treatments are that they are not sticky and they're easy to reapply without a mirror. They also left my lips feeling smoother and softer. They last about 4 hours on me and the darker colors leave a nice stain on my lips. If you're eating or drinking, you'll have to reapply after. 

Favorites: My favorite out of the group is Petal, although it's hard to choose a favorite! I only chose Petal because it's my go-to Sugar and the one I throw in my purse when I'm going out for the day. It's the closest to my natural lip color and enhances it just the right amount.

Cost: $22.50 - pricey for a balm, but you'll fall in love with them and they're SPF 15!

For comparison, here's a photo of my natural lip color

The original Sugar

Sugar Rose - sheer rose tint

Sugar Petal - sheer petal pink tinted

Sugar Berry - sheer raspberry tinted

Sugar Passion - sheer crimson red tinted

Sugar Cherry - bright sheer cherry red tinted

Questions? Comments? Let me know what you think!

A small hello to begin...

Hello to all who have stumbled upon my little blog! 

This blog is simply for those of us who are obsessed with lip products. I know I have to have some kindred spirits out there who cannot go a couple days without lusting over a new lip product like myself. 

Lately, I have been buying two or three lip products a week, and my close friends told me I should think about opening a blog to review all these products. They've also continuously reminded me that I only have one set of lips on my face and that my affinity for lip products is bordering on an unhealthy addiction at this point.

I wanted to start this blog because sometimes it proved difficult to find reviews for different products or the blogs that I found would only have photos of the products or just swatches done on arms. I found it difficult to find a variety of sites where the blogger would actually post photos of themselves wearing the product. 

So that's what you'll find here. I'll post reviews on balms, stains, lipsticks, lip scrubs, and whatever else I find...and I'll make sure to include photos of me actually wearing these products (well, you'll really only see my lips - but you get the point). 

Let me know what you think.

XOXO