little white truths

I bought two of these a while ago and you may remember that I reviewed my coral shade in Rah Rah! recently (see here).

I'm back today to review this one in Want Me?, and while my reviews for each will be rather similar, this one sits in lip lines even worse than the other one does - which may have something to do with the differences between the colours - but I can definitely say that this one's more noticeable for whatever reason.

Let me state again from the outset that I don't understand why people love these so much.

I bought two of them when Sephora had a 20% off sale because I felt sure I would love them (indeed, I haven't seen anyone else complain about them), but sadly I just don't see the hype.

I'll go into that more below, but suffice to say that having two shades should give me a relatively good idea of how the formula performs as a whole. Yes it's true that sometimes certain shades in an otherwise good line are duds, but it's a lot less likely that I've managed to pick two duds out of two - so I think we can say that the formula just doesn't work for me personally.

Marc Jacobs claims/product details:

• A high-shine lip gloss in covetable shades with lasting brilliance
• Delivers maximum colour and brilliance with its unique Triple Shine Complex, a blend of high-performance ingredients that provide unstoppable wear and shine like '30 coats of lacquer'
• The brilliant shine contributes to an optical plumping look
• Feels cushion-y on the lips but never sticky
• Mint-scented 
• Gives lips a lush look with lasting colour and unbelievable shine
• RRP $42 AUD for 5ml, but do shop around

Above you can see that the product comes with an applicator that's a little wider on one side and rather thin (so it's more like a paddle). I quite like it although I wouldn't say that I prefer it over a standard doe-foot applicator.

Now for swatches.

Light and heavy swatches, direct sunlight:

Natural light:

My bare lips for reference:

Verdict

I'm really surprised that these products are so well-loved in the beauty community: the two I own aren't that great and I've been left scratching my head a bit because I can't work out what people see in them. Mind you, I haven't heard anyone else complain about them so it could just be me.

They're standard glosses that come in a tube with an applicator. The packaging is lovely and it feels high-end, which is always nice because I feel a bit special when I whip one out of my handbag.

They smell and taste like mint, and I was a little worried about that to start with because I have an intolerance to peppermint, but thankfully I can tolerate these so they mustn't contain too much of that ingredient.

I agree that the formula is very shiny without being sticky, and that they also give the lips a slightly fuller appearance. Having said this, both shades I own settle into lip lines immediately (you can see that on my upper lip especially in the photos above) and neither of them gives me a very even coating so I'm constantly smoothing them out to avoid having lines or smudge marks on my lips.

Also, both the shades I own have a tendency to travel outside my lip lines very easily, so they look messy and need a lot of babysitting throughout the day. Not what I want in a lip gloss, and certainly not what I want in a high-end lip gloss.

The other thing to note is that the formula isn't hydrating at all so I always need to wear a balm underneath, which I don't want to do with my glosses. Again, I expected more from these, given the price-tag. Plus with frequent use my lips have started flaking, which only confirms that these aren't nourishing my lips as I'd hoped.

Want Me? is a lovely, cool-toned lavender pink - and I do like the colour, but be aware that it's not opaque so it doesn't add as much colour as I would like. This may partly be because my lips are quite pigmented so my natural colour shows through, but it's something to keep in mind. It's also one of the most flattering cool-toned lavender shades that I've come across, so you may wish to test this if you want something in this shade range but don't want something that makes you look dead.

Overall I don't recommend this formula and I don't know whether I managed to pick two bad shades (unlikely) or whether they just don't gel with my lips. But if they're both sitting in lines, travelling outside my lips and also causing my lips to flake, that's not a good sign.

Not for me.