We’ve always thought that colour-changing lip products always come with such an exciting promise of personalisation. Since the pigments are supposed to react with your body chemistry, you get your very own individualised lip colour – and no one else can duplicate it! How’s that for customisation?
And that’s why we keep collecting these shade-shifting lippies as brands continue to launch them, even though a vast majority of them tend to turn the same vague shade of pink on our lips – not the most exciting shade, but enough for daily fuss-free wear. Or sometimes, we get a nice shade of plum, or a your-lips-but-better kind of neutral red.
We did a bit of research, and it turns out that the colour-changing properties in a majority of these lip products are thanks to a particular ingredient called Red 27, which starts off colourless, but turns pink upon contact with moisture (which is found on your lips, of course). So… the whole thing about the colour reacting with your body chemistry is likely to be just a clever marketing ploy after all. It is still true, however, that one colour can appear different among individuals, but that’s mostly due to differences in skin tone.
We’re slightly disappointed, definitely, but that doesn’t mean we’re about to haul our entire colour-changing lipstick collection into the trash, or even stop buying them. After all, we can always do with one more flattering sheer shade in our lipstick stash.
Clockwise from top left:
Tarte LipSurgence Skintuitive Lip Tint
$36, Sephora
ETUDE HOUSE Berry Delicious Colour In Liquid Lips Juicy in #31
$17.90, ETUDE HOUSE stores
Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire in 001 My First Lipstick
$46, Guerlain counters and Sephora ION, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and Suntec City Mall
Dior Addict Lip Glow Colour Reviver Balm
$46, Dior Beauty stores and counters
Sephora Collection Colour Adapting Lip Balm
$22, Sephora
Lipstick Queen Frog Prince
$38, escentials
Mentholatum Lip Ice Sheer Colour
$7.80, Watsons and Guardian
Smashbox O-Gloss Intuitive Lip Gloss
$40, Sephora
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