Friday Flops: Lip Plumper. Ouch
Posted on April 24, 2009 by Miss Britt in Friday Flops
The idea of a lip plumper is intriguing to me.
According to commercials and reviews, a cosmetic lip plumper is a product you apply like lip gloss and it makes your lips appear fuller.
Like collagen, but without the needles or doctor appointments.
Now, I am blessed to have fairly full lips. My face might be round and I might be severely lacking in the cheekbone department – but I’ve got good lips. The only thing my lips need is regular moisturizing and a little bit more color. Lucky me.
Of course, that didn’t stopping me from playing with a few lip plumpers the last time I was in Sephora.
I poked around and located the most expensive product – because that’s usually an indication of a product that should work. At least, that’s what cosmetic companies tell us. That’s how I discovered Lip Injection Extreme by Too Faced.
The name should have been a warning.
The name says injection and there is a picture of a needle on the bottle. And yet – I was completely surprised to find my lips tingling seconds after applying a little of the lip plumper to my mouth.
I was horrified to find my lips on freaking fire within a minute of applying it.
Holy. Crap.
My lips were, indeed, plumped. So were the lips of my beautiful friend, Finn. In fact, hers were not only slightly fuller, but they became more and more red by the moment. In less than five minutes she looked like she’d been punched in the mouth. Hard.
Does that sound sexy?
Maybe. The good news is that the Lip Injection Extreme lip plumper did something. The bad news is that it hurt like hell. We’re not talking about a little bit of pain in the name of beauty. We’re talking about a swarm of bees stinging your delicate lips over and over and over again. I couldn’t wipe it off fast enough.
Later, my beautiful but clearly crazy friend suggested Soap & Glory’s Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Gloss. At only $9.99, it’s considerably less expensive than the lip plumper injection from hell – and it’s available at Target.
I wanted to love it. Truly.
I adore cheap products that work. Really.
Unfortunately, this also made my lips tingle in a bad way – and they didn’t seem to flush with color as much as they did with the Lip Injection Extreme. While Finn insists that she loves Sexy Mother Pucker, there’s no way I could let this lip plumper sit on my mouth for more than 2 minutes at a time.
I’m not that into pain.
Fortunately, I was able to track down a lip plumper for wimps. Like me.
Benefit Cosmetic Lip Plump and Primer
I tried Benefit’s version of a lip plumper when I was at Sephora as well. It went on nude – a nod, I suppose, to the fact that it doubles as a primer.
It didn’t tingle.
It didn’t burn.
It didn’t turn my lips the color of cherry red Kool-Aid.
To be honest, I’m not exactly sure if it did much of anything. I thought maybe my lips looked a little fuller – but it’s difficult to tell because I already have decent lips. But this lip plumper isn’t designed to make your lips swell.
Instead, it works similar to how a primer would work on your face. It fills in the little lines that we get in our lips and builds up the countour of your lips better – which not only makes your lipstick last longer, but makes your lips looker fuller and healthier. This is a much better option for me.
Has anyone else tried a lip plumper?
If not, do you think you will after reading about the searing pain?
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Posted on April 24, 2009 by Miss Britt in Friday Flops
In my attempts to be more girly, I want to try the Motherpucker, but the reviews all talk about what you did, where it burns and stings, and I don’t think I want to do all that for beauty.
I would rather get a pair of heels and then come visit you so you can show me how to walk in them.
Ohh, the horror stories of lip plumpers. I happen to have pretty lovely lips myself, but I am obsessed with the Soap And Glory Sexy Mother Pucker clear gloss. It kind of smells like chocolate, and I like the tingle.
Sally Hansen has a good ‘wimpy’ one. It’s more minty than fiery.
So yeah, I’m kinda curious, but everything that says ‘when it tingles it’s working’ is enough to make me scream no way! Yeah, guess I’m too much of a wuss.
i would like to take this time to thank god for my parents, who gave me lips that don’t need that insane burning crap. thank you, lord!
I have full lips, too – and they’re naturally kinda reddish, so I am generally just a chapstick kinda girl. But one night, my drunk ass friend forced me to try her lip plumper from Sephora – and I HATED it. It tasted like cinnamon, and it STUNG. I spent 10 minutes trying to then get it OFF.
I don’t really need to try any others.
I love Bare Escentuals Buxom babes lip plumper. There is no sting, it moisturizes well and is a good lip gloss. That is my recommendation!
@Casey, OMG I just bought that this weekend and LOOOOVVVVEEEEEE it!
Love.
I don’t really need lip plumpers either but I can’t help myself. I guess it’s some innate desire to be Botox Barbie.
I’ve been given samples of the Lip Injection Extreme and was equally horrified by it. I mean, I know it’s supposed to tingle a little bit it huuuuuurts.
I bought the DuWop Lip Venom trio from Sephora awhile back and it’s alright. ($21 for three itty bitty glosses? Seriously?) I’ll probably try their colored glosses next time. I believe their plumpers rely more on reactions to cinnamon and mint essential oils to increase circulation, so it’s not like a chemical burn.
I’ve been hearing good things about the BE Buxom plumpers but haven’t tried them yet.
@steen, I know you live by me so let me tell you this:
GET THEE TO THE FLORIDA MALL. There is a Bare Escentials store there that is amazing. The staff is fantastic. And you can sample everything to see how you like it.
That place makes Sephora look like a Walgreens. Seriously.
@Miss Britt, I need to hit up the Florida Mall anyway; Lush has this awesome $20 face kit and I’ve always wanted to try their skin care: http://www.bellasugar.com/2923471
I’ve walked by the BE store and it always looks so pretty! I loooove it. I don’t actually use anything of theirs but I may have to go in and play around with their products; I didn’t know about the sampling!
Seriously, there should be a Florida Mall meetup. All of us gals can get together and SHOP.
@steen, a $20 face kit? Shut. Up.
@Miss Britt, TOTALLY. They sell it online but you don’t get nearly as many choices, especially for the face masks since those are made fresh in store. Plus, you can usually con the LUSH sales people into giving you samples of other stuff.
OMG. I’m going to see how many samples I can get from all the beauty stores in the mall!
I was just thinking about this as I was putting on my makeup this morning! On Saturday when I put the Sexy Motherpucker on, it hurt. But when I put it on this morning there was only a little tingle. I think my lips were still tender from the Lip Injection. Ouch.
Did you buy the Benefit? I’m curious if it helps the lipstick stay on.
@Finn, uh – I’d just spent $133 at BE, remember? LOL
@Miss Britt, Just wondering if you’d gone back and gotten it. It sounded as if you had.
I’ve tried the plumpers and I’m not into pain either! I might try the BE stuff, though, if it’s not going to feel like fire on my face. I’m allergic to their foundation, which is sad because I like how it looks, but the rest of their products I like.
A store that makes Sephora look like Walgreens?? Must look into this immediately. I’m kind of partial to The Balm Plump Your Pucker in Crush My Grapes. Not painful at all. Apparently, something magical happens in 30 days. I just like it. I’m almost out – just looked it up and it seems that color is discontinued. Now I’m pissed.
@Laurin, Link? Where’s the link?
@Finn, http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P39001
Some of the other colors look tasty.
I love Benefit products. My fav (for undereyes) is Ooh La Lift.
I tried a Too Faced lip plumper a while back. Yeah. That went back to Sephora. I thought the clove/cinnamon combination was either going to kill me or make me vomit. I tend to play up my eyes more anyway … I currently wear the same lipstick pretty much daily (metallic seduction by Rimmel … like $3 at Walmart).
I think I have fairly good lips as well, but I guess we all wonder what it would be like to be a little Angelina every now and again. And, @steen is actually right about the way they work by activating circulation with cinnamon or mint oil compounds.. i think it’s partly why I like a little plumper.. you end up smelling kinda nice too
of course, it’s all good when it just tingles, rather than burn up!
I use a pretty cheap Wet’n'Wild that smells cinnamony and tingles a little bit, not much.. but then again, I’m not entirely sure it does much
It’s all I can do to shower these days. I don’t think I’ll be adding plumping lips to the routine anytime soon. Besides, I avoid pain whenever possible.