Chanel Glossimer - A Lip Gloss Review For Addicts Only
Written: Jun 21 '04 (Updated Aug 21 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Elegant formula, wonderful feel, expanding color range
Cons: Price, and not all the shades come in mini size. Minis sold only in quartet.
The Bottom Line: Once you start, it's hard to go back to other sticky glosses!
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| zzJulia's Full Review: Glossimer for Lips |
This is a $25 lipgloss. No, it does not come with a solid gold wand or diamond crusted tube. For $25, you are getting a sophisticated formula that gives the wearer good color, smooth application, decent wear and NO stickiness. Is it worth it?
Well, given that I own or have owned over a dozen of them, I certainly think so.
Packaging
Glossimers are packaged in a long slim tube with the trademark Chanel black and gold top. The tube has .19 oz. or product.
Some shades of Glossimers are also packaged in the "mini" size, in boxes of four, or as special release samples. The minis are identical in style but fit much nicer into your pocket if you are going without a purse for the evening!
WARNING
Do not confuse Chanel Glossimers with the Glossimer Extreme. The Extreme is like a liquid lipstick and it is heavier and not at all like the regular gloss. Usually on the Chanel display case, the Glossimer Extreme is grouped separately.
The Product
It's amazing. It's sheer, it's sexy, and it can even be shimmery. It's a gel-based gloss, which means that coats the skin of your lips very evenly and has great shine. The best part--it's not sticky and gunky.
The only other gel based gloss that I have found and liked is by Mary Kay, the price for Mary Kay is considerably more reasonable, but the color choices for MK are severely limited. Also, I found that the tube life of MK is not as long lasting as Chanel and MK may separate after a while. That's never happened with Chanel glossimers.
When I say it lasts, that's not to say that it comes anywhere close to lipstick, but for a gloss, it's very good.
If I had to rank glosses by staying power:
1. MAC Liptints, Lustregloss and Lancome Juicytube
2. Bobbi Brown Gloss
3. Chanel Glossimer and Urban Decay Lip Gunk
If I had to rank color selection, I think MAC would be the undisputed champion. But why I like Chanel gloss more is the texture and moisture factor. The MAC and Lancome juicy tubes and Bobbi Brown are all ultra sticky! The Urban Decay comes much closer to Chanel in it's appealing non-tacky sensation.
Ingredients: C10-30 Cholesterol/Lanosterol esters, polybutene, diisostearyl malate, silica, tocopherol, ascorbyl palmitate, ascorbic acid, citric acid, peg-8, propylparaben. May contain: mica, titanium dioxide, carmine, iron oxides and lots of dyes.
What do these ingredients mean? Well, like any fool can, I googled them and came up with this: the lanosterol is some lanolin (wool) derivative, the pulybutene is petroleum based, the tocopherol is vitamine E, the ascorbyl palmitate is vitamin C and for those who like weird facts...the carmine is crushed red beetle!
The glossimers are available in nearly 30 shades, with some limited edition shades only available outside the US. Some shades include: Soda, Nectar, Tickled Pink, Hacienda, Lollipop, Jelly, Sirop, Electric, Erotic, Twinkle, Brilliance, Glaze, Spark, Galaxy, Giggle, Whisper, Blush, Pulsar, Unity, Blizzard, Volage, Force, Faerie Ice, Ovation and Coco Madamoiselle.
Recently, these shades were released: jaipur, pinup, barely cherry, barely strawberry, barely raspberry, barely fig and bubble gum.
Given my own extensive collection, I have some color descriptions:
Barely Raspberry - a no-shimmer, sheer red with pink undertones. More matte than other glossimers shades that I have used, but I love this color.
Force - a beautiful intense shimmery wine/bronze (deeper than Unity)
Giggle - no shimmer, appears pinkish-brown in the tube, a very subtle day time color to give the "your lips but better effect"
Praline** - not available in the US. I had to buy mine in Montreal, but I sometimes see it available on eBay. It's a pinker version of Giggle, no shimmer and a perfect nude shade.
Pulsar - a glamorous true-blue red with shimmer. Lots of pigment in this one and should be applied with a brush rather than a wand, for precision.
Spark - shimmery red with gold flecks and a pink undertone, very pretty
Unity - sheer rosey bronze, slight shimmer
Blush - darker, plummy brown, no shimmer
Sirop - soft candy pink, no shimmer
Electric - a stunning coral, with gold shimmer and a little pink in it too.
Lollipop - you would think this is a soft pink color, but no, it's very similar to Electric, bright, loud shimmery watermelon.
Black Tie - silvery pink, has shimmer, slightly purple undertone
Jelly - purple-red tones, with slight glitter.
Faerie Ice - it's pale shimmery blue. Yes, blue. Not the most wearable shade, but it's a nice highlighter if you are trying to create a 3-dimensional lip look (Kevin Aucoin talks about this in his first book), and a dab in the center of your already lacquered lips with Faerie Ice gives a nice pouty look.
Ovation - champagne gloss with glitter
The interesting thing about Chanel glossimers is that they are usually much darker in the tube. The colors can seem outrageous or intimidating but when you test them, their transparence becomes obvious.
A few of the shades are too frosty...that would be Brilliant, Twinkle and Volage in my opinion.
Where to Buy
Department stores, but at $24.50 plus tax, you may want to check out eBay. The color choices on eBay are tougher but you can usually score a Glossimer for less than $20. Also gloss.com often has promos where if you purchase some expensive Chanel stuff, they will send you a mini Barely Cherry.
Recommended:
Yes
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zzJulia
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Member: Juls W.
Location: Sunny California
Reviews written: 130
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About Me:
Silicon Valley Girl.
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