The Budget Fashionista

I know we’ve talked about this before, but I’m just here to vent my frustration with these so-called lip plumping glosses that are glutting the makeup market right now. Of course, I should know better, thinking they might work and all, but quite frankly I’ve read reviews that say they do—but for the most part, I have seen NO results at all—none, zip, nada—with the NYC and Maybelline versions I’ve tried. The only one that does anything (and sticks around for more than 13 seconds)? Wet n’ Wild’s—which is also the cheapest.

Whew, thanks for listening . . .  now I can move on with my life. Feel free to add your own venting posts here . . .

i have a solution to your problem but unfortunately it is a little bit pricey, at sephorah and sephorah.com they sell DuWop Lip Venom, it ranges in price from $16 for one tube to $21 for 3 mini tubes, to $20 for the “prime venom” if this is to much for you, Sephorah makes a lip plumping gloss for $10, if you do not have a sephorah near you or you just have something against it, put chapstick on your lips, take a blush or eyeshadow close to the shade of lip color you prefer, and get the blush or eyeshadow on your finger, and with that same finger, blot your lips. allow to set for 5 minutes then apply a clear or sheer lipgloss.

hope you have as much luck as i did

I feel your pain. I really do. I used to use LipFusion’s XL and although it seemed to work because my lips were hurting like crazy it was more the illusion of wearing gloss than anything else. The price was ridiculous though.

Currently I’m swearing by Isabella Pelle Extreme Pout Lip Balm. It has some sort of newer lip plumping ingredient that really does plump my lips up without any stinging at all. My lips are juicy, moist, and literally huge just a few minutes after I put it on. I usually go over my actual lip line for extra plumping. I layer on gloss over it and I’m all set.

I did some online research on their star ingredient: Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5. Apparently its one of the newer plumping ingredients out there. According to a supplier website (just google somerset cosmetics), it can boost your own collagen production by 350% (shown by clinical studies).

I am pretty impressed. Looks like we can expect to see a whole ‘next generation’ of lip plumpers to come.

Thanks for the thoughts! 12dragonflies, I just might try that Isabella version, being only $8, which isn’t bad at all. It’s not that my lips are super skinny, but since I don’t like a lot of color on my lips, I love the idea of just a little more plumpness and shine—and I get irritated with these companies that hawk products that do not work. Thanks again!