THISISFEB12: 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!