Besides the few other lip products I reviewed earlier in the year, the items I’m discussing today are the only other lip products I purchased in 2020! It wasn’t even a matter of having to wear a mask in public being the deterrent. I’ve just always been more of a balm girl. I’ve purchased many lipsticks and lipglosses in the past, only to let them go no more than 25% used because I’m always reaching for balms instead. Last year, I decided to go on a serious lippie low-buy and it nearly worked! However, in November and December, those holiday deals were what got me!

PROPA BEAUTY

Propa Beauty is a new brand that received a ton of attention in 2020 within the indie beauty community. I heard nothing but positive things about their satin lipstick formula, so when I saw their Black Friday deal, it was too tempting to resist. At the time I’m writing this, the satin lipsticks are the only products they have available, but one of the Youtubers I watch said they have another lipstick formula in the works.

Victress – This shade has, “deep rose petal tones.” It is one of the two lightest colors available, and in the first photo taken with flash on, you can see the color that will actually show on the lips. Because it is so light, I didn’t expect it to work for me, but the brown tones keeps this wearable. While people of every skin tone can use these lipsticks, they were formulated with darker skin tones in mind and that really shows with this shade. It’s lighter than the lip colors I normally wear, but it has just enough pink to keep it from looking like ‘concealer lips.’

Limitless – The, “toasted pumpkin-tones,” in this shade are so pretty! This is one of the most obviously orange shades I’ve ever had in my collection, but the brown tones keep it grounded and prevent it from being too bright for my comfort level. I’m so glad I bought this and I intend to utilize this shade a lot when pairing it with my orange and Fall-inspired eye looks.

Her Magic – This shade is described as having, “deep rose-tones.” The other lipsticks tend to lean brown or orange, but this is one of the few pink toned lipsticks currently in Propa’s collection. I almost bought the full-size Rare Beauty lip balm I discussed a few months ago, but I’m glad I waited because I like the tone of this shade even more!

I was very pleased with all three shades. Her Magic and Limitless are my favorites, but I easily recommend any that might catch your eye.

TOWER 28

I have the ShineOn Milky Lip Jelly Gloss in Cashew. This is another brand whose lip glosses I heard nothing but good things about. I was so excited when it finally arrived but the first few times I used it, I hated it! This formula feels like a combination of a sticky humectant with a lot of oils. I am used to applying lip gloss from edge to edge without fear of it moving. This gloss feathers, so I kept getting a dripping sensation on my lips and would have to wipe the edges, even though I remained within the lines upon the initial application. By the third time, I figured out where I have to apply so that when it spreads, it will stop exactly where I want it to. Also, I kept hearing everyone say this gloss is more lightweight than the Fenty Gloss Bombs and that it’s not sticky at all. I don’t think there’s much of a difference in terms of thickness. The Tower 28 gloss has a different feel because of the oils. And while it doesn’t feel sticky if you apply the initial layer, as time goes on and the oils start to wear away and I’m left with an incredibly sticky layer. I realized this when I tried to combat the dripping feeling by dabbing the excess product off my lips. The napkin removed the oils but what was left behind was the stickiest gloss I’ve ever had!

Tower 28 applicator on the left. Fenty Gloss Bomb applicator on the right.

I was so tempted to buy the mini set of 4 glosses initially, but I’m glad I did not. On my pigmented lips, the amount I will texturally be comfortable using isn’t enough to add significant color to my lips. I have enough sheer glosses from Fenty, I definitely don’t need additional ones from Tower 28.

Now that I know the right amount of gloss to use (slightly less than the amount on the wand from one dip in the tube), I will get more uses out of this product because it’s still hydrating. I can ignore the stickiness. It does have a very pleasant scent that I wasn’t able to easily identify, but I suspect it is from the apricot oil.

FENTY BEAUTY

Fenty Gloss Bomb Cream Color Drip Lip Cream in Honey Waffles – This is the newest lip product release from Fenty. The cream version has more pigment, no glitter, and is a bit thicker in texture than the traditional Gloss Bombs. Those also have a sweet fruity/Starburst candy type of smell. The Cream Bombs are supposed to smell like peaches and cream/vanilla. It was very nice at first, but after using it several times, my tube smells like peaches mixed with chemicals. It isn’t unpleasant, more of a ‘makeup smell,’ but it’s not the same as when I initially used it. I also noticed the scent faded in my other Gloss Bomb minis from December 2020, whereas my older holiday minis smell exactly the same as when I bought them. Those were created for Holiday 2019, but my purchase history shows that I didn’t buy them until April 2020, so they’re only eight months older. I’m guessing Fenty used less fragrance or a weaker fragrance in the Holiday 2020 batch. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something I thought was interesting.

In the initial reviews I saw for this product, Honey Waffles was the prettiest shade on every person from light to dark. It wasn’t until I already made my purchase that I started to notice the reviews where Honey Waffles gave the ‘concealer lips’ effect on the ladies closer to my complexion. Even though Fenty Glow is my favorite Gloss Bomb shade, the cream version looked on the cool side of pink, so I picked Honey Waffles instead. Regardless of the shade, and despite how much I thought I wanted a product like this, I’ve realized it isn’t for me. The color looks patchy and gathers in the lines of my lips. I tried this with lip liner and still wasn’t thrilled with how it looked. The only way I can enjoy this is to use a thin layer. Normally, the amount I pick up on the tip of these applicators is the perfect amount to apply to my lips. With Honey Waffles, I have to wipe off a quarter to a half of the gloss back in the tube. Then I use what’s left to spread the gloss as evenly as possible onto my lips. As long as I continue to use this method, I will keep using Honey Waffles. I have tried to mix this shade with the other gloss bombs and aside from Ruby Milk, none of the other combinations helped. I will continue to experiment and see if there is a lipstick shade in my collection that I would enjoy putting on top of this gloss. Then again, I’d still have to watch out for the uneven pigmentation issue.

Fenty Glossy Posse Mini Gloss Bomb Set: Holo’daze Edition

I am missing Baby Brut because I gave that shade to a friend.

I am fairly certain in my review of the Holiday 2019 Mini Gloss Bomb set, I said I wasn’t going to purchase this one because the glosses are too sheer to look different on my lips. Well, look at me now!

Cake Shake – I didn’t expect to get much color out of this shade, but I wasn’t prepared for the ramifications of wearing the least pigmented Gloss Bomb: looking like I have random bits of glitter all over my lips! It looks accidental rather than intentional. You won’t catch me using this one again!

Taffy Tea$e – This shade is the main reason I couldn’t get this set out of my head. Something about the color in the tube is so alluring to me! It looks like there is no shimmer in the tube, but upon closer inspection there are light pink particles of glitter in there. Even though this shade looks completely different in the tube than Tower 28’s Cashew, they both have pink tones that are light and milky looking on me, so they look similar on my lips. I think a shade like this would look even more pink and stand out more on someone with a lighter lip color.

Ruby Milk – This is the most pigmented shade of all the gloss bombs. I like it much more than I expected. I thought it would have a metallic finish, but it just leaves some shine and glitter. This shade can be built up to slightly more opacity, but I like how a minimal application looks.

The verdict for the set is that I don’t think anyone is missing out by not buying it. I’m glad to have it because I needed to satisfy my curiosity. It’s unfortunate that I used my Sephora points on the Tower 28 gloss and Fenty Cream Bomb when those two aren’t my favorites, but at least I didn’t spend much out of pocket. I can also confirm that the regular Fenty Gloss Bombs keep their title as my favorite lip gloss formula!

In 2020, I went on a lip product low-buy. For 2021, I’m going to attempt a complete lip product no-buy (excluding my holy grail Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm in the pot jar that finally became available on the Nuxe US website again)!

Those are all my thoughts for now! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤