I picked up a tube of Ultra Shine Lip Gloss in Love Me Pink for a few reasons: I was in Sephora with the VIB discount code; the color appealed to me (BE's buxom lip polishes don't have anything quite this shade, though Kanani comes close); and I was curious to compare these to the Buxom Lip Polishes.

Photos that show how the product actually performs...! See how I create my swatches

The tube size and shape is an echo of the Buxom Lip Polishes, right down to height and the outward flaring at the top and bottom. The applicator is a doefoot, same as Bare Escentuals…but Sephora has recently changed from the standard straight doefoot to this “hourglass” shape that's supposed to pick up more gloss. It's hourglass-shaped when viewed head-on, and flat when viewed from the side. I didn't know this until I got it home and took it out of the packaging…then went back to the site to see what the hell was going on with these weird applicators.

Sephora's website claims that these ultra shine lip glosses are also lip plumpers, with a 50% increase in lip hydration as measured with a corneometer (granted, this difference was after 4 hours' time…) Bare Escentuals' claims are a lot more handwavy, where they just say that “86% of women experienced an immediate increase in lip fullness.” Nothing about how much of an increase, or how they define immediate…which has always struck me as shady, despite my adoration of the product. Both Sephora's gloss and BE's Buxom Lip Polish contain the same amount of product.

The tube is easy enough to handle and open, and the slight tapering at the top and bottom mean that it's just a tiny bit less prone to slipping out of my grip. The applicator, though, is highly irritating. First, the plastic wand is far too flimsy. It bends at the slightest bit of pressure, and while that's better than having something that's brittle and snaps off…there's a happy medium. (Bare Escentuals and many other lipgloss manufacturers have found it. Look into it, Sephora…) Second, the hourglass doefoot. I don't quite understand how this is supposed to be beneficial. If I use the hourglass-contoured surface to apply the gloss, it leaves a heavier application of gloss along the middle of my lip (thanks to the flimsy wand.) If I use the flat side…there's still the disagreeably flimsy wand, and how again does that hourglass-shape benefit a lip gloss applicator?

Sephora's gloss has the same texture as so many other glosses - thicker, viscuous, slick, a bit jelly-like. I personally don't like this because when I apply the gloss, it makes me feel like my lips are covered in petroleum jelly. This is precisely why I have previously used lip balms rather than lip glosses: never mind the “eternally-damp-dewy-lips” look, I don't like the way lip gloss feels. That heavy “something's there” sensation was just emphasized when I started wearing loose-powder mineral foundation instead of liquid or cream-to-powder foundations. Sephora's ultra shine lip gloss isn't as thick-feeling as its tube-glosses (the ones that were last year's VIB birthday freebies) but it still made my lips feel a bit slipperier than I prefer.

Once applied evenly, the color is nice enough, with the sheer hot pink and a flash of violet-blue iridescence…but the color won't stay on very long. Every time I open and close my mouth, move my lips, drink or eat anything…the color comes off a bit. Since I'm not a habitual lip gloss wearer - just the buxom lip polishes - I don't know if this is normal for lip glosses. I suspect that it is, and it's irritating as hell. And it's not like most will come off and some will stay behind, no no no. Blotting at all pretty much takes off everything I've applied. I don't think that that's entirely desirable in a lip gloss, and I know from my one attempt at wearing Bare Escentuals 100% Natural Lip Gloss (which I also disliked because of the texture) that the color doesn't have to come off quite so quickly when you eat or drink or talk or…well, do anything other than have a frozen manneqin-mouth.

I was not able to test the hydration or lip-plumping claims, as I couldn't keep the product on my lips for four hours. And then there's the little matter of not owning a corneometer to check lip fullness. Then again, I don't notice an actual increase in lip fullness with the Buxom Lip Polishes either, so that's not really a point against this particular product. (I like the texture of the buxoms, and the tingle doesn't bother me; but I don't know if they actually increase my lip fullness.)

I've had my curiosity satisfied, and I will not be buying Sephora's Ultra Shine Lip Gloss ever again. The product texture, application, and performance are all negatives. Even if the performance didn't put me off, this costs almost the same amount of money as BareMinerals' lip polishes, and more than other lip glosses. I suspect that the price is offputting for many people, especially considering the relatively small gap between Sephora's price and its primary competitor-products.

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