Shop Guide: Alternative Lip Treatments
Beyond the Perfect Pout
Whether whipping them out to moisturize sun-burned lips or touching up after a meal, lip balm and gloss have come a long way from the standard range of fruit flavors and tints. With ingredients that help you quit smoking, minimize your appetite, or wake you up with a burst of caffeine, some recently-released lip treatments are providing the latest in multi-purpose beauty technology. To provide a refreshing addition to any lip gloss addict's collection, psychoPEDIA looks into six lip glosses that are taking pouty puckers to the next level:
Appetite Suppressant - Too Faced Fuze Slendorize Lip Gloss ($18.50)Typical dessert-flavored lip glosses counteract efforts of dieters with a tempting reminder of a calorie-filled treat. Too Faced cosmetics and Fuze energy drinks have collaborated to produce a lip gloss that is the first of it’s kind– Slenderize, which contains the same appetite-suppressing ingredients in Fuze energy drinks such as Chromium, L-Carnitine and Super Citramax. While the line still comes in sweet flavors, the unique formula helps you quell cravings while boosting energy levels. Shades include Blueberry Raspberry, Strawberry Melon and Dragon Fruit Lime.
Customized Color - Smashbox O-Gloss Intuitive Lip Gloss ($22)Your search for the perfect shade can end here. This one applies clear, then uses your skin’s personal chemistry to develop a pink that suits your coloring perfectly. This clever formula also includes microcirculating Goji Berry-C Complex™ and ginkgo biloba, pomegranate seed antioxidants, revitalizing marine botanicals and avocado oil for moisturizing. This Allure Magazine Reader’s choice award for innovation is also paraben-free.
Caffeinated – Spazz Stick ($2.99)Spazzstick was invented by an Alaskan Police officer who wanted a lip balm that moisturized and helped him stay awake through long shifts. On hot summer days when you’d rather stay inside or when your schedule is too packed to drop by a Starbucks, a quick application of the Spazzstick can give you a caffeine hit that’s absorbed through your skin and won’t add the unnecessary calories of sugary drinks.
Offered in flavors Mint, Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Toffee, Orange Cream and Original, Spazzstick staves off sunburn and heals chapped lips.For another caffeine product tip, try Caffeinated breath spray.
Breath Freshening – Covergirl Wetslicks Amazemint ($6.25)
Covergirl and Crest collaborated to create the winning combination of a lip gloss with a breath freshener. With the addition of peppermint oil, Covergirl Wetslicks Amazemint lip gloss covers makes your lips look better while freshening your breath. The 2-in-1 product comes in 13 shades and has a long-lasting shine, leaving a tingly, refreshing feeling on your lips without the stickiness.
Quit Smoking - Joey New York LipNIX ($15)Those looking to quit smoking have probably tried it all, from patches to chewing gum. Adding to the roster of addiction-breaking products, Joey New York LipNIX lip gloss comes infused with ingredients to help you quit smoking. The formula includes lemon, Geranium and Helichrysum (which is a proven aroma combination to curb your cravings to smoke.) Not only helping you on the inside, with clinically proven ingredients such as Maxi-Lip and Dermaxyl-safe, your lips will become instantly firmer and plumper.
Well-Being - DuWop Elixrstix ($22)Du Wop’s Lip Venom was one of the first lip glosses to aid in the instant plumping of lips. Now in collaboration with Elixr Tonics and Teas, DuWop has produced a unique lip gloss, Elixrstix, that uses the technology of traditional Chinese medicine in their products to enhance health and promote well-being. DuWop Elixrstix shades include Clarity, Serenity, Harmony, and Energy, where the names of each Tonic-infused gloss aptly provides what each promotes through the combination of herbal ingredients and the science of Eastern healing.
~Angela Adriano
