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?

Posted in Friday Flops: Products That Suck Tagged: Benefit cosmetic, Friday Flops, lip gloss, lip plumper, lip plumpers, lips, Sephora