Maybelline Colorsensational Lip Polish in Glam 6

A girl in a class I was taking was wearing the most amazing plum lipcolor late last year. I liked it so much that I wanted a plum colored lip product of my own. To this day, I don't know what it was because we weren't close (it wasn't a block section) and she went on a leave of absence. I now suspect it was this color from Etude House, but that doesn't matter anymore since I'm very pleased with this plum shade from Maybelline.

Price: P349.00
Date Bought: December 2013
Location Bought: Watsons SM Megamall

These are called Color Elixirs in the Western hemisphere. I like that name better.

 Thankfully, it seems that the product names are the sole difference between the Asian variants and the US ones. Almost every review I've seen about these 3 in 1 lipstick/gloss/balm products sings nothing but praises, regardless of country of origin.

I won't dwell on the aesthetics of the clever "faux lipstick" packaging anymore because a lot of blogs have already covered that.

I do want to talk about the functionality of the design, however. Since the Lip Polish looks like an "upside down" lipstick tube, one is inclined to display it "right side up" on one's dresser, as in the first photo of this post. Because of this, the applicator is not oversaturated with the product.

Maybelline claims that the applicator is made of "exclusive smoothing angora."

I think that preventing oversaturation  is a good thing, since the applicator is extremely soft and absorbent. I have no way of knowing whether the applicator is truly made of angora wool, but I do know that it serves its purpose very well. The angled tip helps a lot too, especially around the lip corners.

The colored "lipstick tube" that you can see is not the product itself. It's just plastic accurately colored to reflect the lip color inside. Thus, you have no way of seeing how much you've already used up.

When swatched on the skin, Glam 6 is very true to the color presented by the tube. It is a lovely, dark berry color perfect for evenings, -ber months, and days when you can't be bothered or have no time to put on a full face of make up.

Regardless of whatever the applicator is made of, it does a good job of smoothing out the product.

On my lips, Glam 6 appears ever so slightly redder. The beautiful plumness of the color is still there though, so I'm certainly not complaining. I love how it contrasts with my skin - very "glam" indeed!

Not so sticky and not so heavy, but it tends to retain heat. Not good for summer. Especially not good for summer spent outdoors.

The formula does indeed capture the essence of a lipstick, a gloss, and a balm. It has the intensity and lasting power of the first, the shine of the second, and the emolliency of the third. Based on the lip products I own, it's not as sticky as a coating of e.l.f. lip shine or as heavy as a layer of Carmex balm. The color payoff is just as intense as The Face Shop's Rouge Extreme glosses. However, the formula feels hot over a prolonged period. This can get uncomfortable really fast, if you intend to wear this on a sweltering day outdoors.

Don't be alarmed, that's just the Lip Polish. It's not an infection. This gives me ideas for Halloween and for generally freaking people out though. >:D

Speaking of lasting power, the product can withstand being held under running water and rubbed vigorously without soap. It leaves a hot pink tint - another plus to its low maintenance nature. Once the product has worn down to the tint on your lips, you can either reapply if you feel like it, or leave your lips as is and still look like you're wearing lip makeup. Easy peasy.

You can also see the slight gloss it leaves behind in the picture above. This proves that it does have the moisturizing properties of lip balm, because lip balm behaves in a similar way once rubbed off.

Would I buy this again? Yes. Maybelline's Lip Polishes are the skinny jeans of 3 in 1 lip products. They're versatile and not fussy, but they can get uncomfortable to wear in the heat. Despite that, it's still sensible to own several pairs of jeans. I dare say that it's also sensible to own several Lip Polishes. (I'm thinking of a pink and/or a coral for next time!)