Product Reviews

This season, Nars released a lone lipstick with their holiday collection, a shimmery reddish brown shade named Canaille ($24). Unlike the bold reds, deep plums and sparkle-heavy lip looks we’ve been seeing from MAC, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Givenchy and Dior, Canaille delivers a delicate whisper of color. While most of this year’s holiday lip shades take you to da club, Canaille takes you to the library. Shhh…

A Subtle Holiday Lip Color

In the tube, Canaille bears a strong resemblance to another reddish brown shade I’ve been wearing for years, MAC Paramount. But while MAC Paramount offers intense, full-color coverage and a matte finish, Canaille bestows a sheer layer of barely there, semi-glossy mahogany.

It’s a quiet look for the holidays, and I’m a bit surprised that NARS decided to go so low key. NARS is famous for their amazing colors, so I was hoping for a lipstick with a bit more oomph, ya know?

All the other elements of Canaille excite the lipstick lover in me: minimalist packaging, sheer coverage and a moisturizing formula free from taste or scent. But, ultimately, the color just doesn’t have enough *WOW*.
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For once Tabs wasn’t the sexiest thing in the house.

Today the honor went to Givenchy Pop Gloss Crystal in Plum By Night ($23.50), one of two limited edition glosses from the Givenchy Holiday 2008 collection.

A dark, shimmery berry shade with multi-colored glitter that’s oh-so-very fine, this cream gloss not only looks pretty, but also feels fabulous on the lips. Its thin, non-sticky and moisturizing formula is a dead ringer for Dior Creme de Gloss.

Like Dior Creme de Gloss, Pop Gloss Crystal is highly pigmented, with *hella* shine and full color-coverage. I’ve found that using less is the key to getting Plum By Night looking its best. 🙂

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Just uttering the words Nars Super Orgasm Blush ($25), makes my cheeks flush with embarrassment. Maybe it was all those Sunday morning Catholic masses, LOL. All I know is when I say the name of this blush, I feel the need to cover the ears of small children (and pets) within the vicinity.

All awkward name issues aside, I have to give Super Orgasm props. It begets cheeks with a perfect, just-pinched, shimmery peach color. Super Orgasm Blush would totally be the stuff of legend if it weren’t for one flaw — massive, meteoric, chunks of golden glitter.

Nars Holiday Collection 2008

Rich, Pigmented Color… YES!

Released as part of the Nars Holiday 2008 collection, Super Orgasm is the amped-up version of Nars’ best-selling Orgasm Blush, touted for years in beauty mags as a universally flattering shade for a boom-chicka-wah-wah glow.

Unfortunately, the light, peachy-pink color never worked on my tanned skin. Instead of a post-O flush, my cheeks looked candy-colored and clownish. Eeek!

But Super Orgasm’s darker, more intense pigmentation works for me. It’s so saturated with color that just one layer produces a beautiful, golden, peachy-pink glow. Oh yes, yes, yes!

Big, Chunky Glitter… NO!

But then comes the glitter.

Sigh.

There’s lots of it. The pieces are very big and unevenly shaped, so they don’t sit on the skin well. Most of the time I see flecks sticking up on my cheeks!

Also, the glitter pieces migrate like a flock of Canada Geese, flying off my cheeks and landing on my nose, chin and forehead.
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If a tube of glitter lipgloss looks like something a gang of tween girls would wear to a Miley Cyrus concert, I usually stay far away. It’s just when glitter goes wrong it can go *really* wrong, you know?

There are those rare times, though, when a truly dynamic glitter gloss takes my breath away. That magical feeling swept over me when I first marveled at Dior Sparkle Shine Glitter Top Coat for Lips ($24.50), a limited edition lipgloss from the Dior Night Diamond holiday collection.

Imagine sucking on a disco ball lollipop for hours; that’s the effect Sparkle Shine gives lips. Infused with a plethora of large green, blue, pink, gold and silver glitter pieces, this bad boy is the mutha of glitter glosses.

Girrrrl… This Is GOOD GLITTER

Dior really should call this stuff glitter with a touch of gloss.

While there are many elegant glitter lipglosses out there, like Chanel Galactic Glossimer, Sparkle Shine stands out because it contains an abundance of glitter (I’m guessing double the average amount).
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Dual Tip Wands from top to bottom: Luscious Lilac/ Double Plum, Strawberry Burst/ Peppermint Patty and Blackberry Bloom/ Pink Champagne

Hey, so how do lip plumpers work? I didn’t know, so I did some digging this afternoon.

Lip plumpers are supposed to give lips a full, plump look. Some of them contain mentholatum (think Ben Gay). The tingling causes blood to rush to the lips, aka making them plump.

Other times the plumping agent comes from peppermint or capsicum plants — basically peppers, again, that trigger inflammation in the lips, causing blood to plump ’em up.

I haven’t had much luck with plumping glosses. They either feel like bees stinging my lips or just generally don’t work well or look good at all. But these Clinique Full Potential Lips Plump and Shine lipglosses get a big kiss. Not only are they allergy tested and pain- and fragrance-free (yea!), but I swear they actually work.

Score all six Full Potential Lip Shades this holiday season in a single swoop with the Clinique Kissable Six lipgloss set ($35, available December). The limited edition set comes with three dual tipped lipgloss wands (effectively two for one) in a cute silver trimmed zipper pouch.

Each of the six sheer shades feels thick and moisturizing and has a light minty taste. Yes, they’re sticky, but wear time seems a little better than average for a gloss, lasting about three hours between applications.

As for their plumpability … plumposity … plumping potential … the effect isn’t dramatic, but I can see a difference in the mirror. My lips do look a little plumper than usual, at least I think they do. It must be due to the capsicum, peppermint AND menthoxypropanediol (a synthetic menthol) these glosses contain.

The Clinique Kissable Six

Luscious Lilac: shimmery light purple
Double Plum: shimmery plum
Blackberry Bloom: shimmery berry
Pink Champagne: shimmer pink with golden pearl
Strawberry Burst: shimmery red
Peppermint Patty: shimmery white

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