Lip glosses have come and gone from the slip pocket inside my purse. It’s precious, easy-to-access real estate — holding the beauty products I never leave the house without. (That, and the occasional neatly folded receipt.) That’s where I permanently keep my Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Ice Cooling Lip Luminizer.
I first tried out this iteration of the brand’s Gloss Bomb during Best of Beauty testing. I had reached for it for two reasons: First, it was a hexagonal tube of blue goo in a sea of reds and pinks. Second, it was emblazoned with the word “Ice” in holographic letters across it.
It comes in just one shade — Cold Heart’d — and is one of the brand’s best sellers. Fenty Beauty claims it “instantly makes lips look fuller.” Cosmetic chemist Ginger King says that does not do anything to lips to make them physically bigger, but it instead contains styrene copolymers to coat them, making them feel and appear ever-so-slightly fuller. (King adds that traditional lip plumpers use capsicum or vanillyl butyl ether to increase blood flow. That’s what causes the spicy — and sometimes painful — feeling when you apply them.)
To use it, I pull its chubby doe foot applicator out of its tube and simply sweep it on. It slides across my lips feeling thick and balmy (but not sticky or tacky) as I smack and rub them together. It has a cooling sensation (caused by peppermint oil and menthol) and highlights the curves of my lips, making them appear extra-luscious (and extra-sexy) with a mirror-like shine.
As an added bonus, this product “uses shea butter this helps to nourish the lips,” says Marisa Garshick, MD, board-certified dermatologist. She adds that the gloss also “helps protect against dry, cracked or chapped lips.” It works hard and I’ll be keeping it extra close during the winter.
I take it with me everywhere and this sentiment is shared across the Allure team. The Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Ice Cooling Lip Luminizer just won a Best of Beauty Award. It’s $26 for 0.3 oz., and available for purchase on the brand’s website, Sephora.com, and Ulta.com.
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