Add some gloss

| Sep 27, 2006

I llhhaaaaave lipgloss. I'm not a fan of lipstick at all any more, it's got to be bright, shiny and gloopy and come in some form of squashy tube or pot for me to be interested in slapping it on my face. And with such a huge variety of glosses out there, well, I'm practically in heaven. Rest assured I've tried many, many brands and these are my faves:

Pout Lipgloss & Lip Polish
Yum yum, before Pout came to Ireland I used to have to wait until trips to London to stock up. Happily Pout is now ensconced in Brown Thomas and I can go and get my fix when I want. My favourites, and the ones I buy time and time again, are Cute Girl, Horny Hilda, Pop My Bubble and Frumpy Fran - all variously glittery, pink or beige shades. Or all three. Pout glosses are just really nice, slick without being gloopy and they always taste and smell gorgeous too.

Dior Kiss
Round about the same price as Lancome Juicy Tubes, you get slightly more gloss for your money - about 2mls more, in fact. I definitely prefer Dior Kiss to Juicy Tubes because the gloss isn't as sticky. I'm not too keen on that whole 'my lips are welded together' feeling. Not available in as many shades though, but I have fab slag pink one in Red Currant that I am very fond of.

Clinique Glosswear
These are the first glosses I think I ever used - glosswear comes in a little pot with a brush, which makes it kind of messy, and inevitably the brush goes AWOL and you end up sticking your finger in the pot and then having to wipe it off on something. Preferably not your skirt. Great coverage though, and lots of nice nude shades.

Chantecaille
This, could I afford it, would be what I'd use all the time. And when I win the lotto, I will. Just gorgeous gloss, fabulously luminescent and shiny on. It comes in a little silver compact with a mirror and you'd ideally put it on with a proper brush. I however, put it on with my finger. One disadvantage - you can also only get this stuff in Blue Eiru in Dublin, I'm not aware of any other Irish stockists.

MAC
Like so much else, MAC do my absolute favourite glosses. I'm particularly fond of the Lustreglass and Lipglass products, less keen on Lipgelee because it doesn't seem to be strong enough colour-wise. MAC wins it for me on loads of fronts - goes on well, stays on, it's not too sticky and it comes in great vibrant colours. Perfect! I particularly like their strong pinks and oranges - I'm dark haired and orange seems to suit my complexion well.

Not so great...

Advertised

Juicy Tubes
Suckered by advertising and magazine spreads, I have about ten of these things, and tellingly, I've never finished one. They're really sticky and they just don't have enough colour. And I don't want my lips to be subtle, especially not on a night out! I rarely reach for my collection of JT's.

Rimmel & Maybelline glosses
I think these are probably better for day wear, particularly Maybelline's Shinylicious Fruity Gloss and Rimmel's Jelly Gloss - they look lovely in the tube but are completely insipid on. Cheap though!