FOTM: Lipbalm

FAVORITES OF THE MOMENT (FOTM) in LIPBALM

'Tis the season to stock up on a good lip balm!
I'm picky about my balms. Since I apply lip balm every night before I get in bed, I want them to have fantastic ingredients in them. They can't be sticky. They must multi-task in not only hydrating my lips but must bring a little something extra as well for my dollar.  I have to be able to sleep in it (so comfort without goop). Above all, if it yields a greasy feel to my lips, forget it.

Top 3 in Lipbalm:


Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine

#1  Korres Lip Butter

Without a doubt, my absolute favorite in the category.  I've four pots of the fabulous balm on my dresser; that's how much I love it.  Korres Lip Butter offers their good-for-you balms with a tad bit of tint for wearing during the day alone or even in combination with another lipcolor of your choice (blended with a lip liner for instance). I enjoy their butters without a heavy tint even more as I'm able to wear them at night to drench my lips in healthy ingredients and hydration. They've a very subtle nutty flavor to them.  In order of fave, my picks are Jasmine, Guava, Quince and Plum.  This ultimate lip treatment has an intensely hydrating formula in shea butter. Shea Butter both nourishes and provides anti-inflammatory benefits. Rice Wax seals in moisture and smoothes.

Retails for $10 a jar and available at SkinBotanica, beauty.com, ASOS (yes, they are in the USA now, hallelujah!)  and other retailers.

LipFusion Balm Conditioning Stick in Bitten

#2 FusionBeauty LipFusion Balm Conditioning Stick

This balm stick FAST became a fave. Not only does it hydrate lips tremendsouly (claims say increase in water content of lips by 6000% in four weeks), but it actually plumps lips with that famous LipFusion technology as well.  This balm is not at all greasy so you won't feel slick-lipped in this pampering product and the ingredients assist in protecting lips along with the hydrating and plumping. A huge plus factor - it's made with nourishing oils and creamy butters that provide the perfect level of comfort along with SPF 15! The tinted varieties provide just a very slight subtle blush of color to lips and won't interfere with another lip product if you choose to wear one (like a line liner or pencil for instance).  On application, you feel a slight tingle and can instantly enjoy the moisturization the ingredients bring to lips.  There's also a light mint flavor to the stick.  The balm comes in a convenient "retractable bullet" format for on-the-go application. The casing actually "locks" with a slight turn of the cap to prevent it from coming off in your handbag, etc. Doses of AmpliFat and marine collagen filling spheres help to increase lip fullness, immediately and over time. I'm enjoying both the Butterscotch and Berry balms now having almost completely gone through the Bitten as my first trial of the product. 

LipFusion Balm Conditioning Sticks retail for $22 a stick (yes, a bit pricey for a balm but you're paying for the technology here) and they last a long, long time (months in my case on one stick). They are available at beauty.com, Nordstrom and Ulta.

Tokyo Milk Bon Bon Lip Balm in Cherry Bomb

#3  Tokyo Milk Lip Balms

This balm is a tad bit greasier in feel than the two above, however still merits a place on the fave list for its deliciousness, charm, the chic little embossed jar, and last but not least, its fantastic ingredients.  My sister gave me my little jar of Tokyo Milk balm on returning from a weekend foray of shopping.  Her selection? The Bon Bon Cherry Bomb!  My daughter (age 16) considers this one her personal fave of my collection of balms for its taste and feel on the lips and as such sneaks into my purse and/or room to savor a bit for herself here and there (read: daily! ha).  The cherry variety contains sunflower seed oil, beeswax (ok, so not thrilled about this, but ok), vitamin E, aloe vera, shea butter, crushed bing cherries and sweet spun sugar.  It's so yummy you'll want to apply layer upon layer, but don't as that increases the "slick" factor. (Unless, of course, you like or need that much - chapped lips beware.)  Honey Blossom and Opera Mint will be my next tried of this decadent balm.

Other varieties include: Let Them Eat Cake, Honey Blossom, Iced Green Tea, Rosewater, Petit Four, Opera Mint, Sweet Cream and Candied Violet. They retail for about $10 a jar and are available at  b-glowing (my love), ASOS, Beautyhabit and other fab and trendy retailers.

Will LipFusion's Balm Conditioning Stick w/ SPF 15 Surpass Their Other Lip Prods?

LipFusion Balm Conditioning Stick in Butterscotch

So I shared with you not long ago that LipFusion was geared up to launch all kinds of brand new products, and they are now rolling out one after the other.  One I'm particularly stoked about is this product - LipFusion Balm Conditioning Stick with SPF 15.  Here's why.

The nourishing balm contains all the lip plumping technology and benefits of LipFusion's already famous plumping gloss, plus a lip conditioning formula and SPF 15. Love it!  What's more, these soothing sticks have a fresh minty scent/flavor and provide a sheer, feminine blush of color or opt for the clear, colorless stick.  The clear stick yields all kinds of choices as it can be worn alone for a natural lip but ultra-conditioned and plumped, or it can be worn layered over any lipstick for numerous color options.

These are made with nourishing oils and creamy butters that provide the perfect level of comforting hydration, along with UVA/UVB protection in an SPF 15. Fantastic! It works to soothe cracked or chapped lips without being sticky or tacky, and comes in a convenient retractable lipstick bullet for on-the-go application. The casing "locks" with a twist on, twist off top so the tube won't separate from its top and get product all over the contents of your bag.

Shades (L-R): Clear, Butterscotch, Bitten, Buff and Berry

Here's the extra goodness of these SPF 15 balms. Each contains doses of AmpliFat™ and marine collagen filling spheres, which help to increase lip fullness, immediately and over time.  They're formulated without parabens, an extra plus, and are clinically proven to increase water content of the skin by 6000% in four weeks. It is dermatologist tested and not tested on animals.

I've yet to try these, but I want to.

Now, as with LipFusion's other products, you're gonna pay a pretty penny for this balm (why do they charge so much for their lip products? Come on, LF, you know $38 for a gloss - even a plumping treatment gloss - is just too much).  Retailing for $22 a tube (or $18 at event price on HSN), they do pack a powerful punch in quality and lip benefit.  Visit Sephora or HSN for more information or to purchase.

New Fusion Beauty SculptDiva Contouring & Sculpting Blush

SculptDiva™ Contouring & Sculpting Blush with Amplifat™ in Crave

My first thought on learning Fusion Beauty had developed and launched a new cream to powder blush with the "taste" of cheek sculpting as its premise was - copy cat!  You see, as an avid fan and follower of the delicious PurpleLabNYC brand of beauty, I couldn't help but notice SculptDiva's similarity to the already released Cheek Implants Cream Blush by PurpleLab.

Well, I guess there's room at the table for more, right? I also suspect Fusion Beauty won't be the last to follow in the visionary footsteps of the Divine Ms. Karen (Robinovitz, PurpleLabNYC Creatrix), whether with sculpting, contouring blush or any of Karen's other "children," the beauty products she brings to life.

Soooooo, back to Sculptiva. It turns out there are many reasons to give this new blush a look-see.  Fusion Beauty SculptDiva Contouring & Sculpting Blush with Amplifat (more on that in a sec) is a double-duty cream-to-powder blush that endeavors to impart a youthful, flushed look while helping to perfect the skin.

This high-performance cheek color is infused with rose bud extracts to help minimize pores on cheeks, and advanced skin conditioners for a hydrating touch. A concentrated dose of AmpliFat complex plumps the skin for visibly firmer, more supple-looking cheeks in 28 days. Over time, the perfect shades claim to work to diminish the appearance of lines and wrinkles, and help to enhance the appearance of skin volume.

Ok, so what exactly is Amplifat?
It's a concentrate suspended in calcium-based microspheres that mimic the results of injectable facial fillers as an ingredient in products to promote increased density and volume in the face. Currently, Amplifat is used in FusionBeauty ColorCeuticals’ SculptDiva Contouring & Sculpting Blush and IllumiFill Line Filling Luminizer.

"We have the ability to see the potential of these raw materials and use them in creative ways to basically satisfy key consumer benefits,” shares Fusion Brands’ Roslyn Griner, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Development.  In fact, look for Fusion Beauty to expand their cosmeceutical lines in the very near future.  They're counting on celebrity representation (Kim Kardashian for one) and Sephora to help get the word out about their technological advances to the masses.

                            

Haute (sheer, pink rose); Crave (shimmering apricot); Cherub (dusty rose); Bella (pinkish brown)

Fusion Beauty SculptDiva™ Contouring & Sculpting Blush with Amplifat™ is available in four beautiful shades (above) and retails for $29 each.  You'll find more information in-store and online at Sephora and may purchase the blush at Sephora.

HAUTELOOK: Fusion Beauty Fabulosity ~ Unbelievable Prices

FusionBeauty has truly mastered the art of innovation, by continuing to fuse breakthrough discoveries in dermatology, cosmetics and biological sciences to create smart, safe, high performance products. I think I probably use a LipFusion product everyday. I've got their plumping tubes (in colors and clear) in my handbag, office drawer, makeupbag and bathroom. Yes, I know, a bit indulgent, but they've become a fave and I like to have 'em around when I need a little extra oomph for my appearance. I even make sure to always have a tube of LipFusion XL on my nightstand as the last thing I put on at night before getting under the covers.

Following the success of her first innovations, CLEAN Fragrance and Dessert Beauty, founder and leading cosmetic entrepreneur Randi Shinder, recognized that women who wanted full, beautiful lips had very few safe and effective alternatives to costly and painful in-office injections. Working with one of the industry's top labs, Ms. Shinder discovered a revolutionary patented technology in France—the first ever penetrating collagen. Collagen dehydrated into tiny microspheres that could penetrate and then re-plump with the body's natural water. Collagen that could mimic cosmetic filler. With this technology and with her expertise in the beauty business, Ms. Shinder developed LipFusion - the first needle-free, micro-injected collagen lip enhancer.

The result? Within its first month on the shelves, LipFusion became the top selling product at Sephora!


Since launching in January, 2005 with the flagship clear Micro-Injected Collagen Lip Plump, LipFusion has since expanded its lip plumping line with the first-ever Micro-Injected Collagen Lip Plumping Pencil in a variety of colors, Micro-Injected Collagen Color Shines and the recently launched LipFusion XL - 2X Micro-Injected Collagen + HA Advanced Lip Plumping Therapy. An advanced nighttime treatment, LipFusion XL combines two of the most effective injectables available in one powerful Topical-Injectable for maximum plumping and long-term fullness.

FusionBeauty introduced its breakthrough Topical-Injectable alternative to doctor-administered anti-wrinkle injections with LiftFusion Face Lift in March, 2006. This technologically advanced cosmetic formula delivers visible results without the discomfort, side effects and unnatural loss of facial expressiveness associated with many syringe-administered anti-wrinkle products.

Always innovating, FusionBeauty has gone on to introduce GlowFusion, LashFusion and SkinFusion. From perfecting your glow and complexion to protecting and plumping your lashes, Fusion Beauty continues to re-design the landscape of the cosmetics industry.

FusionBeauty will continue to apply its patented formulations and knowledge to provide safe and effective results comparable to today's popular injectables—minus the injection.
 
No better time like the present to either discover this brand for yourself or pick up some old-faithfuls to stock up.  HauteLook's pricing is not to be missed, and the good stuff always sells out quickly.  Be sure to check them out early to have the best selection options. I assure you, I'll be there. Enjoy, divas!
 

Click HERE for your HauteLook FusionBeauty shopping invitation

Fusion Beauty Seeks to Fatten Your Lip(s)!

Mmmmm ... one of our favorite lip plumping brands is bringing a whole new sense of plump to counters beginning mid-September. Fusion Beauty, of LipFusion fame, is set to launch inFATuation Liquid Shine Multi-Action Lip Fattener, which will deliver a formula (treatment) for longer term lip plumping action. Sign me up!

“What we really wanted to do with Infatuation is bring a lip product that, unlike LipFusion, plumps lips for the long haul,” said Tammy Yaiser, Director of Product Development for Fusion Beauty. “We found the technology and what it does is that it helps your body increase fatty acid promotion and storage. It takes about 28 days.”

Well, LipFusion is already a fabulous product for real plumping results as it stands now, albeit temporary. I'm looking forward to trying their new "fattener" as soon as I can get my hands on it. Wonder if they'll have a yummy flavor like the LipFusion and XL versions have? One can hope.

The new Infatuation Liquid Shine Multi-Action Lip Fatteners (whew, that's a mouthful - pun fully intended) will debut in six fantastic shades and will retail for $29 each. For more information when this hits in September, visit FusionBeauty online.