Review: EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balm in Fresh Watermelon, Pomegranate Raspberry, Summer Fruit, and Strawberry Sorbet

I usually don't do reviews on drugstore lip balms because I honestly don't feel a need to do so. I think everyone has their go-to favorites (I'm looking at you, Nivea Kiss of Moisture!) and that's about it. However, more drugstore brands have released fancier balms with more eye-catching packaging, like EOS. 

The packaging: These balms come housed in a sphere-shaped tub. The cap is a twist-off cap, and there is a flattened indentation on one side to rest your thumb on when you're applying the product. The product itself is dome-shaped. I know people who love the shape of this product, and I admit that it's cute. However, if you have a tiny purse/clutch, there is no way to slip this into it without making your purse bulge. Want to slip this into the pocket of your jeans? Great! But it'll look like your thigh grew a goiter. EOS does have a few of these balms that come in the standard lip balm tube, so this is good news!

The scent: These are scented, obviously. To me, they're pretty heavily scented and tend to linger for a long time. 

The product: The four balms I picked up are Fresh Watermelon, Pomegranate Raspberry, Summer Fruit, and Strawberry Sorbet. They contain shea butter and jojoba oil which help keep lips soft and smooth. These balms go on with a thin-medium consistency. They don't feel heavy or goopy when applied and last about 2-3 hours. They keep my lips fairly hydrated, but not as much as I would like. I found myself continually reaching to apply more to try and hydrate my lips. The shape of the product make application very easy as you literally just roll this around on your lips. The product itself is very hard, so applying pressure won't make a dent in this. 

The bottom line on these are that they're cute to look at, but not as hydrating or moisturizing as I would like.

Cost: $3.29 - at this price point, there are much better balms on the market.

Questions? Comments? Let me know! 

Review: Loreal Colour Extraordinaire in Blushing Harmony and Rouge Allegro

Another great drugstore find!

The packaging: These come in shorter, stumpier versions of lip gloss tubes. The applicator is a bit wider than most applicators which helps apply more product at once onto lips. 

The scent: There is a sweet peach/mango scent to this. It did linger for a few minutes on my lips, but faded after a bit. 

The product: These glided on smoothly and delivered a semi-transparent wash of color to my lips. They weren't drying, but didn't hydrate either. It did leave a shine on my lips and also left a stain. The color lasted about 3+ hours, and there was a slight tackiness to the product towards the end. Reapplication was simple, and I didn't need to prep my lips when reapplying. The only downside to this product was that when I ate/drank, it transferred off my lips, so I was constantly having to reapply. 

Blushing Harmony (103) is a muted light-to-medium rose. This shade was great for every day wear. 

Rouge Allegro (303) is a red that borders on the lighter, pinker side. This shade was perfect for Saturday brunch. 
 
Cost:  $7.99, but you can probably find it for cheaper with coupons.

Questions? Comments? Let me know!
 

Review: Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Embellished

I was walking through a Kroger a couple weeks ago picking up some groceries, when I found myself in the makeup aisle. Revlon has a little set-up for their new Evening Opulence collection, and I saw this lip gloss and though..."why not?"

The packaging: Just a clear tube with a black quilted cap. The clear tube allows the shade to show through, and the applicator is a doe foot applicator. 

The scent: No detectable scent here!

The product: I have yet to find a lip gloss that I can't live without...and the search continues sadly. I purchased this product in Embellished which is a deep burgundy with purple glitter flecks in the tube - but it didn't translate to my lips. On my lips, it went on smoothly, but as a red-brown tint. It also went on unevenly and settled into some of my lip lines. It also felt a bit sticky, and I ended up wiping it off within the hour. 
 

Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Embellished

Favorites: This is the only shade I've purchased in this line, but I've heard great things about Adorned (a hot pink shade) in this collection.

Cost: Around $7.59, but I'm sure you can find it for cheaper or get some coupons for this. I wasn't very impressed with this product, so I wouldn't recommend buying this.

Questions? Comments? Let me know!

Review: Maybelline Color Whisper in Berry Ready & A Plum Prospect

So I'm late to the game on picking up and trying Maybelline's Color Whisper line, but better late than never! The two shades I chose were #85 Berry Ready and #100 A Plum Prospect. 

Drugstore lip products are getting better and better nowadays, and we're all the better for it. In the last 5 years, drugstore brands have really upped their game and it's getting easier to find dupes of brand name products. Maybelline's Color Whisper line makes me think of YSL's Rouge Volupté Shine products...and they cost way less.

The packaging: This product comes in a silver tube with a cap that matches the shade of product inside. I like the slimmer design of this product. It's easy to slip into even the smallest of clutches. I wouldn't choose one of these based on the color-coded cap though. The color inside is not very similar to the cap - I learned this the hard way with these two shades.

The scent: If you sniff hard enough, it smells like...lipstick. The scent isn't noticeable though, so no worries here.

The product: These went on very well. You get a lot of pigmentation with one swipe and it's very moisturizing. These both lasted about 4 hours on me and left a nice sheer stain behind. I don't know if the lighter shades would leave a stain, but these two darker shades did. 

A Plum Prospect is a brighter raspberry shade - I honestly thought it was going to be deeper or darker due to both the name and the color-coded tube, but it was a lot brighter and lighter than I originally thought. It's more of a magenta color that I would want to wear in the summer than the Fall.
 

A Plum Prospect

Berry Ready is a deeper raspberry shade. Again, based on the tube, I thought this would be redder, but it turned out to be darker and more of a bright plum (if that makes sense). This color could be worn in the Fall to brighten up a dark outfit. 
 

Berry Ready

 In both photos, I only applied one swipe to get this amount of pigmentation on my lips.

Favorites: Out of these two, I prefer A Plum Prospect more because I tend to lean more towards brighter shades. 

Cost: $7.49, but there's always sales going on! I got these at Ulta in a buy 1, get 50% off the other deal. Definitely worth it, because you're paying 1/5 of the price for a brand name version of this.

Questions? Comments? Let me know!

Review: Flower's Kiss Stick Velvet Matter Lip Color

I've been having such good luck with all the products I've bought and reviewed...up until now. Today's review will be less than stellar, but I know other bloggers who have liked this product, so maybe it'll work better on you than me. This product is from Drew Barrymore's Flower line.

The packaging: This comes in a white tube with the brand name embossed in rose gold on the side. You can see the color of the product on the bottom of the tube also. It feels pretty sturdy for a drugstore brand, so I was pleased with the packaging. 

The scent: There is a slight "lipstick" scent to this product, but it's barely noticeable. When you apply, you can't even smell anything, so that's a plus for sensitive noses.

The product: The shade I bought is LS7 So Gladiola which is a medium peach, almost coral color. There is no shine, but it's not matte. It wasn't very pigmented and did not apply evenly. The worst part of this product was that it was SUPER drying. Right away, it was pulling at my lips and already drying out my lips. It lasted less than 2 hours, but I was just so uncomfortable with this on my lips. I kept applying lip balm over it to moisturize. 

Favorites: As this is the only one I've tried, I don't have any favorites from this line. Sadly, I would not try this line of lipsticks again and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Cost: $6.98, which for the quality of the product is absurd. You can find WAY better drugstore lipsticks from other brands that are of better quality for this price.

Questions? Comments? Let me know what you think!