Glosswatch 2011: The Happy-Making Gloss

I... honestly don't remember wearing any other makeup when I took this picture. 

The gloss: Tarte Vitamin-Infused Lip Gloss ($21) in 40 Winks

What Sephora says: Tarte Vitamin-Infused Lipgloss nourishes and conditions lips with nutraceutical properties that rejuvenate lips, helping to protect against environmental attack. The gloss includes natural ingredients from BORBA's Age Defying, Replenishing, and Clarifying lines […]This gloss contains Skinvigorating™ ingredients such as grape seed extract, which helps accelerate production of natural elastin to restore the skin's clarity, and vitamins A and C, antioxidants that help prevent premature signs of aging and free radical damage. It's also formulated with acai extract, an antioxidant-rich super fruit that promotes cell regeneration and has known anti-inflammatory and skin softening properties, and chamomile extract to treat and heal dry skin. Dermatologist-tested.


First impressions: Ooooooo, SHINY! The Sephora site calls the shade a "sheer golden peachy-pink," and - true to form - it looks like shiny, glittery bubblegum in the tube.

Texture: Surprisingly lightweight and smooth. Like Mint Glaze FX, this sample comes with a doe-foot applicator, so the gloss just glides on nicely.

Color saturation: Don't let the sparkly bubblegum shade fool you; as you can see in this picture, it's pretty sheer - not thick like a lipstick would be - and it does fade out into a gorgeous shade that will remind you of pink grapefruit. I'm also surprised by how well this photographs compared to the other glosses I've tried.

Minty-fresh factor: Not a lot of it, surprisingly. The gloss does smell like actual tropical fruit, though, as opposed to the plastic-y "fruit" smell you'd find in other glosses.

Hydration capacity: No joke - this is a highly moisturizing product. Some reviewers on the Sephora site have reported that it's more moisturizing than other lip balms, and I have to agree on that... though, again, I probably won't recommend wearing this when you've got actual chapped lips.



This product will remind you of... Pomelo. (Or suha, if you insist.)

Source and credit: senorenrique.blogspot.com

The person you'd want to smooch while wearing this is... NOT my smug Canadian boyfriend, because that would be all sorts of wrong. So I'll offer up the next best thing: Michael Symon, from Iron Chef America.

"Please don't let the soul patch fool you. Or the tattoos, for that matter."
(Source: cleveland.com) 

My recommendations: Would you believe that I'm almost halfway through my sample? I never thought I'd like this gloss as much as I do, but I can't stop reaching for it whenever I need a virtual pick-me-up to brighten my face and my day. It's definitely a happy-making gloss as it is, so I'd recommend checking out the rest of the line as well if this shade of pink doesn't work for you.