little white truths

As you may know, these are my HG glosses and I have seven of them at the moment (only three of which are open). While that may sound like a lot, I only have two lipsticks now so I've padded out my gloss collection this year while reducing the other stuff because glosses are my favourite lip products anyway.

Anyhoo. I bought this shade in a three-pack last year (which contained two purples) because I love a good purple and the two shades looked like good ones, although I must admit that both of them are a little too cool for me so they're not flattering on their own and I need to add a pink to them so I don't look dead. Lucky the third shade was a pink ; )

NYX claims/product details:

• Buttery soft and silky smooth 
• This scrumptious gloss tastes as sweet as a sugar cookie - and makes your lips look downright luscious
• Swipe it on alone or over your favourite lipstick for a creamy, sheer-to-medium coverage that melts onto your lips and is never sticky 
• Leaves your lips soft, supple and kissable
• RRP $9.95 AUD for 8ml, but do shop around

There's a swatch, indirect sunlight:

And direct sunlight:

My bare lips for reference:

Verdict

While this isn't a terrible product, I'm not giving this shade an HG tag (unlike all my other NYX Butter Glosses to date) because it doesn't perform as well and there are issues with it. 

It's a standard gloss that comes in a plastic tube with a doe-foot applicator. It has a sweet, sugary scent that's not overpowering so it's a good, balanced kind of smell for a product like this.

The gloss feels very comfortable to wear and it's hydrating enough for my dry lips that I can rely on it for hydration during the day. For this reason I always carry one in my handbag, because I can layer it underneath or over the top of less hydrating products to keep my lips feeling comfortable.

The formula isn't sticky but it does have a slight tackiness to it that helps it stay put. Sure, it's not a super long-lasting product (I wouldn't expect it to be), but it does stay longer than other glosses so that's a plus.

What I like about this formula is that you can apply a very fine layer (eg, over a lipstick or liner) and just add a bit of shine, or you can add more and get a medium coverage and just wear the gloss by itself. Not all glosses are opaque enough to give good colour, but all the shades I've tried so far of these Butter Glosses are. Tick.

As for this particular shade, Gelato is a deep, cool-toned purple that isn't as flattering as I'd hoped and it gives me that washed-out, dead look so I have to mix it with something else when I wear it. While that would be ok, this shade doesn't perform as well as the others I've used so I'm struggling with it.

First, it's a patchy shade and even if I work at evening the colour out when I apply it, it still shifts and gives me a blotchy look. You should be able to tell in the above lip swatches that the pigment has shifted and settled around the edges of my lips so it looks uneven.

The other thing it does is settle into lip lines so it emphasises texture (rather than minimising it, like the other shades have done) and it's therefore not flattering on me personally. Indeed, if you look at that first swatch above, you'll see the little dots in the lighter swatch where the colour has sunk into the pores of my skin. It does the same thing on my lips. Not a good look.

Overall while this remains the nicest gloss formula I've found so far and I will find some way to use this colour, I don't recommend this shade because it doesn't wear well: it's patchy and it settles into lip lines. So if you want to buy one of these, I would avoid this one.

One of the few duds in this range.