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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Crystal Water

I usually just have eyes for nail lacquer when browsing the drug store, but last week a lipgloss in a new Revlon display caught my eye. I think the new collection is called "Escapism". I'm not sure how I feel about that as a collection title, by the way. I feel like there is a snide comment to be made about the psychology of consumerism there...

Anyways, Revlon Colorburst Lipglass in Crystal Water caught my eye. Mainly, it caught my eye because it was giving off some seriously unbelievable glow under the bright drug store lighting. All kinds of crazy purple and blue shimmer was reflecting and making it look like the lipgloss itself was wildly luminous. I'm talking light sabre worthy glow, here. I immediately stopped. I gawked. I picked up the lipgloss. I made sure no one was looking. I waved it around like a light sabre. And I promptly carried it to the check out and brought it home with me. 


Now, that said, it took a hit on the luminosity scale once out of the bright fluorescent lighting of the drug store. It was no longer a light sabre when I pulled it out at home, but it was still pretty sparkly. Lots of visible purple and blue shimmer in the tube, and once I put it on I polled my significant other for his reaction to visible sparkly-ness on the lips. After an extensive examination in various lighting situations, I received this carefully thought out response: "There are lots of them. The sparkles."  So, while perhaps not immediately visible, this gloss does retain some of its sparkly attributes. 

Now, bear with me, because I've never tried swatching any lip product before, and it was a trial and error kind of process. I abandoned any attempt of a non-awkward looking lip picture, but here is an acceptable swatch of Crystal Water on my arm. 


Yes, from a distance it's probably just going to look like a clear gloss. Closer up, you'll see the sparkle. I'm a bit disappointed it's not more obvious, but I am very happy with the formula. It has a very smooth and non-sticky texture, which I like. It doesn't act as a magnet for any stray wisp of hair to stick to. The applicator is a doe-foot applicator (that is, an oblong sponge sort of thing, as opposed to a brush), which I'm also satisfied with. Overall, I'm not sure I would have purchased this if I'd known it would be mostly clear looking once wearing it, but I was utterly bewitched by the light sabre voodoo happening in the store. 

What do you think of Crystal Water? Have you come across the Revlon "Escapism" display yet? Did you pick anything up? And if you did pick anything up, did you first wave it around like a light sabre? 



11 comments:

  1. It looks gorgeous, the next question is - how will you use it for a franken hahahaha :)

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    1. Hahah- oh my gosh, yes. If that was possible, it would be so awesome. Actually, lately I've been thinking a lot about ordering some glitters, pigments, lacquer base, etc, and having a go a making some of my own polishes. Have you ever tried this, Maria?

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    2. No not yet, but I do have a plan.
      What is lacquer base - clear polish, or?

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    3. Lacquer base is mostly clear polish, but if you want to add glittery bits to your lacquer, you need a special lacquer base. It has to be a special "suspension" base, meaning that your glitter will stay suspended in the base, instead of falling to the bottom of the bottle. I recall that a few years ago I tried adding some MAC glitter to a bottle of clear nail polish I had, and it ended up just sinking to the bottom and staying there. Lesson learned! Unfortunately, I think there is a bit of a problem get ahold of lacquer base right now. The supplier for most of the North American custom polish makers has stopped supplying it for some reason...

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    4. Ah, thank you for explaining, that saved me a fail try. I wonder if too many tiny shops/sellers have popped up, annoying the larger companies...?

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    5. I'm not sure why, really... if you're interested in reading a bit more, there is now a Facebook page for indie polish makers who want to find a new source for lacquer base: http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatLacquerBaseHunt

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  2. Maybe try using it over a lipstick, it might look really good over a hot pink?

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    1. Good idea- I love the idea of hot pink + purple/blue sparkle. I'll have to give that a try.

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  3. That's a hilarious response!- "There are sparkles. Lots of them." Sounds like exactly what my boyfriend would say too, except he calls lip gloss an "anti-boyfriend device". Btw, I really enjoyed your post on the Revlon Lip Butters! They look fun to own and use.

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    1. Hahaha, yeah I found it funny, too. He was so serious about assessing the sparkly-ness of the lipgloss.

      I'm glad you liked the Lip Butters post! They are pretty fantastic, so if you see them around definitely pick one up to try out. Awesome formula. I didn't see any Revlon products while in Ukraine, but being in a bigger city you might come across something.

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  4. Oh, man, if you want lightsaber, find a Jesse's Girl display and look for their (new? I don't really know) iridescent lipglosses. There's a blue one, a red-orange one and I *think* a green one. They're completely trippy, and from my experience the blue one actually shows up bluish on the lips.

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