Thank you humble crayon, for making life so much more easier and being an inspiration to companies! Every company that manufactures makeup, has their own version of lip crayons and these lip colors in the form of crayons are a boon for a lazy girl like me. Seriously, you cannot go wrong using this one! And of course, the latest to jump on the bandwagon is L’Oreal but unlike their other drugstore counterparts, they’ve come up with a Balm Shiny Gloss instead of a Lip Stain.
Product Description (as on the L’Oreal site):
PRODUCT BENEFITS
L’Oréal Paris introduces its first glossy crayon format for that looks after your lips. Balm and Gloss finally combined in an playful crayon format for mirror free application. Lips feel moisturised, look shiny with a sheer fresh looking colour pay off. 6 sorbet shades.
INNOVATION
• Balm and gloss in one crayon format
• Enriched with flower extracts
• Not sticky.
• Ultra light feel
• 6 fresh sorbet shades
Price: 400 INR for 2.5g (the most affordable one in the Indian drugstore market yet!!)
Packaging: If you’ve skipped the first paragraph then this is for you: The Glossy Balm comes in the form of a chubby stick, with the lipstick shaped more like a crayon which offers more precision and control while application. The color of the stick is that of the shade so it is convenient to identify the shade. Again, this is a common feature when it comes to these lip colors that come in the chubby crayon form.
The only thing I did not like with respect to packaging is that the details are given on the outer cover which obviously needs to be removed if the product has to be used!! Every single detail from the ingredients, manufacture date to the price and quantity is given on the cover.
Color: The name Peach Pleasure is a misnomer. Peach?? Where?? Do not go by the name while deciding on whether to pick this color or not. The color is a mauve-y n*de with an overdose of silver glitter.
The lip color glides on the lips without any tugging or pulling. Basically it is like applying a really good tinted lipbalm.
Pigmentation: The L’Oreal Glam Shine Balmy Gloss is decently pigmented. For a balm cum gloss it is good and when swiped twice there is just enough color for a medium coverage provided your lips are not crazily pigmented.
Staying Power: There is a lovely shine when the product is applied and my lips feel moisturized when the Balmy Gloss is applied. Sadly, the shine disappears in an hour and since this product is a combination of a lip balm and a gloss (lip balm for its moisturization and gloss for its shine), the color disappears in less than 4 hours. It lasted for about 2 hours on me with all the munching and crunching in-between. The good part is, my lips still felt moisturized despite the glitter after 4 hours.
Now, coming to the most important, most disappointing part.. the glitter!! Like I had mentioned earlier, there is an overdose of glitter which shows up here and there on the lips and refuses to budge from the lips even when the color disappears. And mind you, if you try wiping the color from your lips with your hand, the lower half of your face will look like a disco ball! Not kiddin’ here peeps!
Strangely the color looks different on different people. On my mom the mauve dominated the n*de whereas when I wore it, it looked more of a n*de than mauve!! So really, whether the mauve or the n*de dominate depends on each individual.
Final Word: The L’Oreal Glam Shine Balmy Gloss in Peach Pleasure is a mauve-y n*de which excels in terms of moisturization and is decent in terms of staying power (for a balm + gloss). The two things that disappointed me were the packaging and the overdose of glitter! Get it only if you like the color or else there are prettier shades to try from this range and not to forget, these come at a great price! I’m dying to get Bite the Maracuja!!
