Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss “Kristen” | Review

Hello friends!

Along with their incredibly popular liquid lipsticks, Anastasia Beverly Hills has some lip glosses they released.  I’ve had this one for a while, but never was really sure about how I felt.  Today, I’m giving y’all the low down on this formula!

Color: Kristen is described on Sephora’s website as a “cool desert sand”.  To be completely honest, I’m not really sure what that means.  I would describe it as a mauve with slightly orange undertones on me.  This color is definitely a My Lips But Better Shade.

In terms of finish, I found that this wasn’t quite as shiny as I had expected a gloss to be.  I would actually say that the finish reminds me more of a liquified lipstick than that of a traditional lip gloss.

Packaging: I personally really enjoy the simplicity of this packaging.  It is a standard clear tube with a black cap; the full size and sample size are identical, one is just smaller than the other.

Applicator: The applicator is the exact same as the liquid lipstick.  It is longer than a normal doefoot and has a rounded tip to it.  I noticed that on one side of my applicator had a sharp spot on it, but I can’t really see where that point is.  I don’t know if this is a manufacturing error with just that wand or not, but I’m assuming it is, so it shouldn’t be an issue on other glosses!

Application: This lip gloss is shockingly opaque and completely covered my lips with one swipe.  Because of this, I might categorize it less as a gloss and more as a liquified lip like I’d mentioned previously.  There is absolutely a chance that because this color is almost identical to my lips that it looks more opaque than it really is, but I have a feeling you’ll find this with any other shade in the range.

If the full opacity isn’t what you’re interested in, you could apply this to the center of your lips and then rub them together to get more of a “wash” of the gloss instead of the full color.

Transfer: Unsurprisingly, this lip gloss transferred quite a bit.  I think there was a bit of an expectation in my mind that it wouldn’t have as much transfer as any other gloss, but I was wrong!  The difference is that while this does transfer on everything it touches, it doesn’t disappear.

Even though it transfers onto cups and food, it doesn’t seem to move at all on the lips.  I didn’t have any issues with this transferring outside of my lips or getting all over my face, but if you’re afraid of that I’d suggest doing the wash of color application trick.

Fading: I was surprised to find that even though this transferred a lot, it didn’t really fade like I had expected!  After drinking my daily coffee and seeing what was left behind on my mug, I had expected to see a weird faded mess.  Instead, the only thing that looked different was slightly less of a shine than previously.  This can easily be remedied by adding more gloss on top, but it wasn’t a necessary step.  I found that this had lasted for roughly 5 hours looking shiny and pigmented.

What I did find was that eating took this color off just like a normal cream lipstick.  After eating, I did think that this needed to either be removed or reapplied; the color that was left had sunk into my lip lines or attached itself to any dry patches on my lips.  Again, this was only after I had eaten and hadn’t touched up like I probably should have.

Comfort: In terms of comfort with this gloss, it did feel slightly sticky, but also very hydrating.  The stickiness is definitely not very noticeable, so if you’re someone who really dislikes that feeling, you don’t need to worry about it with this formula.

Price Point: These lip glosses are $16 each. I personally don’t think that that’s an unreasonable price if you’re looking for something like this, but if you’re looking for just any old gloss I think you can invest in a drugstore product and be happy.

Overall: When I first started testing this product, I had some doubts as to whether this would be worth keeping around or not.  I didn’t really love it, but the more that I tried it out the more I realized that this is actually an incredible gloss!  I’m happy to have it, and I think this shade was a great choice.

If you’re interested in purchasing this, you can find it at Sephora, Ulta, and the Anastasia Beverly Hills website.  Additionally, some other colors have been at discount stores like TJMaxx and Marshall’s, but I haven’t seen this particular one.

Do you prefer opaque or sheer glosses?