Product Review: Lola Lip Gloss

Small things. They are cute. Small pets, itty bitty clothes for babies, little bottles of booze... all these things are appealing on some level. (Especially the tiny bottles of booze. Many of them, preferrably.) There's some theory that we're genetically programmed to link "small" with "adorable" and "deserving of love", so as to encourage adults to take care of young 'uns.


And most things that are small and cute are good and all, but small can also be very bad. Take for instance, very small cup cakes. They look all dainty and innocent and then before you know it, you've eaten like half a box of them before lunch. (Er, not that I speak from experience or anything.) But what if your poison is cosmetics rather than confections? Let all be warned now: small lipglosses are equally damaging, but to your wallet instead of your waistline.

I know we're all supposed to tell our gentlemen friends that "size doesn't matter"*, but surely that sentiment doesn't apply to makeup! I'm paying good money, I should get a decent return!** Which is why I'd avoided trying Lola lipglosses -- $20 for a teeny 3mL tube of gloss? That's over twice the price and less than half the amount of the typical glosses I get.

But when Blossom Bath & Body had a sale on Lola lip products recently, I couldn't resist. 50% off the price = 100% sold!




I picked up a "full sized" tube of Fantastica, and a mini keychain tube of Muse. Fantastica is touted as a medium pink, and shows up as sort of a sheer, cool, candy-ish hue on me. Muse is a slightly more opaque peachy gold with a hint of rose. Both of them have a nice shimmer, and smell like Wrigley's Double-Mint gum. Very refreshing! (Muse, however, has this odd plasticky scent underlying the mint that I don't like.)

The texture of the gloss leaves something to be desired. Maybe I've just been spoiled by super-smooth glosses like those by Bourjois and Estee Lauder, but I found the Lola lip gloss to be too thick and tacky. It was still smooth (i.e., not chunky or gritty), but just didn't have that nice glide.

Worse, if you have dry lips, the gloss grabs the flakes and "balls" them up on your lips, instead of smoothing them over. Even if I start out with smooth lips, if I don't use balm before the Lola gloss, my lips start to feel dry and crackly.

So what's up, Lola? You're a pretty reputable brand, why are you charging big dollars for a not-so-great gloss? And why are my friends over at Meg's Makeup raving about your Lip Indulgence gloss? It certainly does look smoother, and I much prefer brush applicators over the felt doefoot ones. But given my current experience with Lola's glosses, I won't be running out to try Lip Indulgence until there's another 50% off sale somewhere.



* And it doesn't! Unless you're reeeeeallly super small. Or if you're a tube of lipgloss.
** Conversely, this sentiment should NOT apply to the men in your lives.