Half-term Happenings - a new look for lips

My second blog post in less than a week?! Wow, it really is half term! I suppose I should be marking exam papers, but what the heck, I'm a little too obsessed with some new make-up purchases that I've made to sit there with my red pen for hours on end. Oh and before any of my girlfriends start shouting at me for spending more money on stuff that I really don't need (you know who you are!), the make-up splurge was courtesy of my Boots advantage card balance... so there!

Amongst my purchases of (yet more) foundations/primers/powders, I picked up the new L'Oreal Paris Studio Secrets Universal Lip Glow, which was on a £2 off offer at £6.49.

I'm not usually a fan of L'Oreal Paris products but I'd seen this reviewed in Look Magazine a month or so ago and was intrigued by its claim to 'adapt to your lips to give a bespoke colour'. With colour-matching foundations being a hot trend at the moment, I thought, well why not try it for the lips as well? The L'Oreal Paris website claims that the lipstick 'adapts uniquely to the moisture of your lips to form...a tailor-made shade of pink with a subtle finish'. Well, first of all, I wouldn't call this a lipstick, it's more of a lip balm, but it really does adapt to your tone and gives a really nice dewy look with a moisturised balmy feel.

The strangest and most fabulous thing about this product is the look of the lipstick/balm itself - it actually looks like a fake tester product - it looks plastic!?! (And nothing like the picture on the website). It is a very bright looking orangey-pink colour that is completely transparent. It looks like a really bright colour, but when I swatched it on my hand, at first it was completely clear and then a few seconds later it developed into a soft, light pink tone.

It glides on really easily and feels exactly like a lip balm. It's not sticky and it does leave your lips feeling soft and moisturised, you can feel it sitting on your lips but no more so than your average lip balm. You also notice, that like many lip balms, there is a slight scent to the product too - citrus I think - which makes it even more pleasant to wear. On the lips it gives that 'just bitten' look that a lot of brands (like Revlon and Maxfactor for example) are marketing products in at the moment. On my lips, I found it enhances my natural lip colour, without making it look like I'm wearing any make-up and overall I'm very pleased with the result.

I'm not sure if I would have paid full price for the product, as it is a little steep for, essentially, a glorified lip balm. And the packaging does look quite cheap and tacky, as I find most L'Oreal Paris products do. I think the price that I paid though is an acceptable value for the product and I may consider using this as a replacement for my plain old Boots lip balm in the future. In all, I'd give it 7/10.


Have you tried it? What do you think? Let me know your thoughts.


L'Oreal Paris Studio Secrets Universal Lip Glow is available in most health and beauty stores at around £8.49.