Balm | Girl Gloss

L’Oreal Infallible Stars Never Fail Celebrity Shades and Swatches

L’Oreal Paris has new infallible shades endorsed by celebrities. The L’Oreal Infallible Stars Never Fail Collection has 6 shades elected by Beyoncé, Andie MacDowell, Diane Keaton, Eva Longoria Parker, Kate del Castillo, and Linda Evangelista.

Below are swatches of Beyonce’s Red (my favorite), Diane’s Tuberose, and Kate’s Plum:

If you haven’t tried L’Oreal Infallible, it comes with a thick long wear stain with a sponge applicator and also a balm to wear over the stain. This stuff does indeed stick around! I couldn’t get it all washed off of my hand after swatching and still had a tiny bit on after my shower the next day. However, it does wear off lips quicker, and it will feel drying, so the balm is a necessity. Be sure to let the stain completely dry before applying the balm.

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Whole Foods Organic Tangerine Lip Balm

I picked up a Whole Foods Market Organic Tangerine lip balm on a whim. What can I say? I’m a sucker for orange flavor and I tend to fall for in store marketing! So,I have yet another lip balm added to my massive collection, and it is a good one!

The texture is fairly buttery, which I prefer over oily. I like my balms to have some thickness to them, with waxy for outdoors and buttery for regular wear. Ingredients are coconut oil, beeswax, extra virgin olive oil, shea butter, tangerine essential oil, cocoa butter, orange essential oil, hemp seed oil, and vitamin E. All are organic.

The balm is lightly scented and flavored. It also was quite affordable at $1.99. Usually I complain that Whole Foods is overpriced, but this one is a good value.

The pic isn’t the greatest (taken with the iphone, sorry). But it looks like a standard lip balm–nobody is likely going to buy this one for its packaging appearance!

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Chapstick to the Rescue!

So, my lips have been super dry lately, even though I constantly wear lip balm or gloss. I kept trying my many favorite balms and nothing was curing the dryness. Those favorites seem to be best for prevention rather than for cure.

So, what has helped the most? Good old Chapstick, specifically, Chapstick True Shimmer (link is to previous review) because it was what I had around and is my favorite from that brand anyway (although the Chapstick Fresh Effect line is nice too). Plenty of folks complain that Chapstick isn’t all natural, and it contains petrolatum, not to mention a bunch of other ingredients that don’t appear to be natural. But right now it is what is working!

So I figured I would give it shout out. With all the fancy balms out there these days, sometimes going to back to basics, despite all the non-natural ingredients, is a bit refreshing.

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NARS Lip Treatments and NARS 2010 Summer Collection

I had the pleasure of meeting with representatives of NARS Cosmetics last week and viewing the new NARS Summer Collection for 2010. Among the lip items were a set of NARS Pure Sheer SPF Lip Treatments which are wonderful little tinted lip balms. These thin balms include sun protection and are made with Wild Mango Butter, Vitamin E, Polar Berries and Açai Oil. Texture is that of a medium balm. So it is buttery and lasts fairly well.

There are six shades—one clear and 5 tinted. The NARS Lip Treatment Balms are quite sheer, so they don’t all show well in my swatch below. However, they do build a bit, so if you get one of the highest tinted ones (such as Angelique), you will see more color from it. Swatches are below, but I lost track of which are which. Angelique is the brightest one to the right though.

New lip shades for the Summer Collection include NARS Lip Gloss Coup de Coeur and NARS Lipstick Love Devotion. The lipstick is a coral shade that is rather sheer. It can be built up for more color, but I prefer it on the sheer side. The gloss is a richer shade that pairs nicely with the lipstick to darken things up a bit. NARS’ gloss tends to wear well and is not sticky.

For more on the NAR Summer collection, head on over to Beauty and Fashion Tech to see eye shadow and blush swatches and the new NARS multiple: NARS Makeup Summer Collection. I will also be reviewing the new NARS Multiple Tints and new primers there over the next week or two.

Note, this review is based in part on products provided to me by a representative of the company and contains affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

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Votre Vu Lip Balm and Hand Creme Combo

How cool is this? Votre Vu, a luxury French skin care company, has a combination lip balm and hand creme in one package. Considering that I am addicted to both, I immediately loved the idea! I also ended up loving both items.

The Duo is backed in a regular sized tube of hand cream with the balm inside the cap. The hand creme is wonderful. It is quite thick and luxurious and has a nice almond and coconut scent I’m not usually a fan of almond scent combos, but for some reason I adore it in this particular hand creme. I must be the coconut that I like so much. As a bonus, the hand creme also has both UVA and UVB sun protection. I would consider purchasing this product for the hand creme alone, but having the balm is a welcome perk and is why I decided to review the product here on Girl Gloss.

The lip balm is a nice medium texture balm with no real discernible scent or flavor. It is untinted. The balm’s primary oil is coconut oil, with the primary butter being shea butter. It lasts well and is quite nice to wear. I find it to be a good basic daily wear balm.

The Votre Vu Lip balm and Hand Creme combination retaiIs at $38, which is a bit high, but not all that bad for a luxury brand. I love the idea of this product and already am thinking that I need several of these. One for the office, one for my bag, one for home, etc. I am rather amazed that more companies haven’t made such a simple and obviously utilitarian combo! I’m guessing that this one will make my best products of the year list.

Votre Vu is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sell through consultants, but it appears that you can also order their items online without dealing with a salesperson, which is almost always my preference with such things.

Note: This review is based on a product sent to me by a representative of the company. For more, please see my disclosure page.

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Intelligent Nutrients Organic Lip Balm

Somewhere along the way, I picked up an Intelligent Nutrients organic lip balm. I’m guessing that I got it at Ulta, although it might have been sent to me from a company representative and I forgot to write it down. Anyway, this big, fat balm is on the lighter/oily side, so it moisturizes quite well, and gives the lips a bit of nice glossy look, but I tend to find myself reapplying it more often since it isn’t as waxy. Here is the company information on the balm:

“Our super-antioxidant Intellimune® Seed Oil Complex—an anti-aging, synergistic blend of black cumin, pumpkin, red grape, red raspberry and cranberry seed oils—comprises 20% of the total composition of our lip balm. The other nutritious food ingredients are coconut, sunflower seed, castor seed and palm kernel oils. Lip Delivery Nutrition® — providing nutrition and antioxidants both externally and internally every time you lick your lips.”

I’m not really buying that internal nutrition line, but I do like the ingredient list. If you like lighter balms and are looking for certified organic products, Intelligent Nutrients Lip Delivery Nutrition may be of interest to you.