Product Review: Rimmel Light Beam Lipgloss

Holla amigas! I am all the way over in the Motherland (aka: Hong Kong, aka: Hidden Pirate Island) but still thinking about lipgloss, no doubt. I got called over here for some sad family business, but am grateful for the opportunity to enjoy the reunion.

Before I jetted off a few days ago, I received in the mail my very own tube of Rimmel's new Light Beam lipgloss. If you are an avid reader of beauty blogs, you'll know that this is Rimmel's latest gloss, and features not one, but TWO clever gimmicks! (I love gimmicks! Especially clever ones!)




This chunky, funky gloss has a mirror embedded on the side of the tube, and an LED embedded in the lid, so that it shines upon your luscious lips as you swipe on the product. The mirror is truly handy. Because I am so damn high maintenance, but hate everyone knowing it, I find it ... therapeutic, really... to be able to omit the whole "pull-out-your-compact-and-let-everyone-know-you're-a-princess" step in my lip gloss application process. (Hey, when you reapply as often as I do, it gets to be an issue.) With Light Beam, simply turn, reflect, apply, and smile at yo' glossy self.

Oh but what of this much-hyped LED? Well, turn it on, and it does illuminate the lips. However, the light is sort of blueish, so your perception of the hue you're putting on is going to be a bit off. And if you apply the gloss using the back of the wand (instead of the slanty front bit), the light goes askew. But it certainly is good enough so that you can accurately apply your gloss.

Gimmicks aside, the gloss itself is quite nice. The shade I got, Spotlight (pictured), is a bright purply pink in the tube, but on the lips it is ultra sheer. Barely any colour at all, and no obvious shimmer. Just lovely, lightly tinted shine. The texture is smooth and non-sticky, and the smell is like a fruity cotton candy. Tastes a bit sweet too... love the combination. It can even double as a lipbalm in a pinch (although the one time my lips were really really cracked & dry, the gloss tingle-burned a bit, so sensitive users should test it out first). Great for a natural look.

This is definitely a lipgloss that I will be keeping in my purse. The light, while perhaps not absolutely perfect as a lipgloss application aid, has already proven its worth by guiding me down the (dark, pokey, concrete) steps to my new apartment at night; helping me retrieve items that scattered from my purse underneath my airplane seat; and yes, allowing me to soothe my lipgloss cravings discreetly in the midst of a darkened aircraft full of sleeping passengers.

Thanks to the lovely folks at Rimmel for sending a sample of this, and if I may make a suggestion: add a keychain onto the gloss, so that it's even handier for all those little LED- and lipgloss-related emergencies!


Okay friends, off to bed for me... I'm still trying to kick this jet-lag thing. Hopefully I'll procure some cool pirate beauty bounty to blog about in the next week!