Product Review: Estee Lauder Pure Color Crystal Gloss

Or: How NOT to buy a lipgloss from eBay

Okay, so my beauty budget doesn't exactly allow for me to be purchasing things from Estee Lauder (except for perfumes, of course. Perfumes are the exception to every well-intentioned rule I have about product purchasing). And I would have never given this gloss a second glance in a department store, but eBay does funny things to a girl. It was cheap! And sort-of-local, which means shipping was also cheap. Plus the shade is called "Ginger Fizz"! How can I say no to that?





So yeah, I ended up buying this for about $7 CAD. When it arrived in the mail, my first thought was "Aw HELL, this is tiny". I had inadvertently bought the mini GWP size! Ah well... it was my own fault. Lesson 1: Reading the damn product description! Although the item pictured in the auction was that of a full sized gloss, so I felt a bit jipped.

Upon looking more closely at the gloss, I realized that I was expecting more of a pinky shade. I'm not sure why, since I am fully aware what colour ginger is. Instead, the gloss was a light peachy goldy colour, kinda like this:




Lovely shade and all, but I've never found warm lip colours to work on me. Plus, it looked really light, which I feared would give me corpse-lip syndrome. Lesson 2: Research the product online before purchasing. Estee's site (from where I got the pics above) clearly shows what the shade looks like... it would have been very easy to look up.

So here I am, feeling that I paid a little too much for a gloss that might look like ass on me. Not much left to do but actually try it on, I guess.

To my surprise, it looked ok. Actually, it looked great! I've never understood that whole nude-lip obsession, but now I can see why people dig it. Ginger Fizz imparted a sheer, shiny bit of gold that was classy, not tacky. The shade was close to that of my own lips, but kickier and more vibrant. I'd be most inclined to pair it with minimal eye makeup and bright healthy cheeks for a cute everyday look, but I could also see it done with heavier eyes for an evening out.

Seeing the gloss on, I was briefly overcome with the desire to go frolick on a sandy beach somewhere. This is definitely a summer shade for me. I find that it looks best when my hair is pulled back. Somehow, when my hair is down, the gloss looks a tiny bit faded out, probably because my hair is so dark.

In terms of texture, the gloss is smooth and not sticky. It's really similar to the Revlon Superlustrous Lipglosses that I love, but the Pure Color is somewhat smoother and a touch more moisturizing. And it has that fancy Estee Lipstuff Smell (TM), whereas Revlon's glosses tend to smell strange and plasticky.

Really though, it's the colour that's the most impressive. I've been half-heartedly looking for a similar drugstore shade, to no avail. They're all either too yellow or too pink or too sheer or too pigmented. Had Goldilocks been searching for a peach lipgloss, this would've been the one she wanted. Lesson 3: Impulse purchases on eBay can be deceptively awesome!

So readers, you've just taken part in a monumental moment in history: The Day I Realized Peach Gloss Can Look Good On Me. But now the dilema: the mini version I've got is good enough for toting around, but it's only going to last so long. At $20 US a pop, I'm not in a hurry to go out and buy the full size. Maybe I'll find a cheaper shade that looks just as good? Or maybe I'll finally cave when they do another Gift Time giveaway -- that should make it easier to shell out the cash. Of course, there's always eBay! Lesson 4: "Admitting you have a problem is the first step".

As an aside, I find this ad incredibly creepy. The model's eyes look smooth and wrinkle-free, no doubt, but did they have to make her look like an android?