I purchased Makemania's Curvy Lip Silicone lip gloss a while back at Mitsuwa for a jacked up price of around $16 (oh, those impulse purchases...). I've been looking around for a nude lip color for a while and thought I'd give this one a try since it looked like such a nice pinkish-nude. Turns out, it's supposedly a bestseller in Japan because of it's inexpensive price and great "plumping effects!" I honestly had no idea from the packaging (due to limited knowledge of the Japanese language) that it was supposed to plump your lips or else I'd have not purchased it since I don't really care to plump my lips any further. I just purchased it simply for the nude color.
The packaging for Makemania's Curvy Lip Silicone lip gloss was revamped and re-released in 2010. This new packaging is fairly attractive to me but I still think that the actual lip gloss tube could do with some revamping itself, imo.
Makemania's Curvy Lip Silicone has a plastic spatula applicator instead of your normal brush applicator. It's an interesting concept. I'm not sure exactly why they chose this type of applicator but one thing I do like about it is that you are able to easily wipe it clean. Say you already have color on your lips and then you apply this lip gloss: the [plastic applicator can be easily wiped off and it won't contaminate/stain the rest of your lip gloss! Nice!
Ingredients include: collagen, hyaluronic acid, grape seed oil, soybean seed oil, and chamomilla.
The lip gloss itself is thick but surprisingly not sticky, which I absolutely adore. Too many times have I found myself with a lip gloss that was so sticky that it made my lips strangely stick together (Stila Lip Glaze, anyone?). After a while, I started feeling a slight tingling sensation on my lower lips, nothing that was too bothersome. I would attribute the "plumping properties" of this lip gloss to the hi-shine and hi-gloss rather than any stinging effect, which is a nice change from your traditional plumping methods. I tried this one Sally Hansen plumping gloss once and I'm not kidding when I say it felt like it was literally burning my lips. What the heck.
The smell strangely reminds me a lot of Kokuryudo's Privacy UV Face Mist. Not that I can really put that into words unless you know what it smells like yourself. Apologies for that. It is nice though! :) As for the color, there was no real color payoff for me. The gloss is sheer with very minimal tint, if any. Keep in mind, my lips are quite tinted so it's difficult for anything to really show up unless it's darker than my natural lip color.
All in all, I quite like this lip gloss for what it is. It's extremely hydrating and moisturizing. Unlike other glosses that just sit on top of your lips, this one feels like it actually penetrated my lips and moisturized them. There is no sparkle, shimmer, or glitter which I also like since I'm not into blinged out lips. I'd recommend it if you like a very hi-shine and very moisturizing lip gloss but not if you're looking for some kind of color payoff too.
Question: What do you use on your lips to get other colors to show up as they really are? My lips are pigmented and I have a difficult time getting colors to show up. Time to invest in a nude lipstick? Suggestions? :)
Got in another Spell Cosmetics
For their July 4th special, Peacekeeper was offering a B1G1F along with free shipping on certain lip products, so I finally bit. I have been trying to buy their popular nailpolish remover for 2 months now and I can never catch it in stock, so I figured I would try something else in the meantime.
