Beauty Bargain: Profusion Luxy Lips ($1 Each at Walgreens)

Purchased by Me

If you live near a Walgreens and you haven't looked through the $1 beauty bins in a while, here's a very good reason to do just that...

Profusion Luxy Lips

(retail: $1 each in the Walgreens $1 Beauty Bin; 0.42 oz)

I learn so much from you, and I swear if it weren't for so many of you raving about these, I probably wouldn't have even noticed them in the $1 bin at Walgreens, let alone tried one. Looking at the tubes, I honestly would have assumed that these were just standard, cheapie lipglosses, but NO. They are NOT!

Keep reading and all will be revealed...

There were about five or six different shades in my Walgreens $1 beauty bin, but I purchased the three colors that I thought I'd wear the most (or at least try to wear!). I don't see any shade names on these tubes, so from here on out I'll just refer to these as red, pink and purple.

These are paraben-free (if you're concerned about that) but they are not vegan since they do contain lanolin. 

Made in China

These come with a standard slant-tip applicator. They do come wrapped in a plastic safety seal (I removed the seal for these photos). Also, you can see that the chamber has to fill all the way up before it dispenses, so you can tell when someone has used it. Here's what it looks like after a few uses:

Swatches:

All I can say is WOW. All three of these shades are EXTREMELY pigmented and opaque. We're talking "a little dab will do ya" pigmentation here. On my lips, the colors appear exactly as you see them in the photo above. Complete opacity, vivid color and intense pigmentation. BUT, on the lips these do dry to a demi-matte finish (actually, it's almost a full matte finish to me) which I love.

Now there are so many different types of "squeeze tube lip colors with intense pigmentation" now on the market that it sort of makes my head spin. Each new variation seems to be similar to either the Too Faced Melted lip colors, or the OCC Lip Tar lip colors. Since I own some of the Too Faced and OCC lip colors, I can tell you that these seem to have the pigmentation and coverage of the OCC Lip Tars, with a formula that's more similar to the Too Faced Melted lip colors (they feel more hydrating than the OCC Lip Tars to me). These aren't an exact dupe of either formula, but they're definitely in the same vein. 

I first applied the red Profusion shade in the car at night (I wasn't driving--I was a passenger!) as we were coming home from Walgreens. Without looking at a mirror, I was curious how these would FEEL without being influenced by seeing the color. To me, these feel like a lipgloss on the lips (not thin or watery) but there's none of the stickiness of a gloss. There's a glossy, hydrating feel to these, but they don't look like a gloss on the lips (again, these set to demi-matte/almost full-on matte finish, which I love). Honestly, since they felt like a gloss to me in the car, I was completely shocked when I got in the house and looked in the mirror. I was NOT expecting this type of pigmentation! After about 10 minutes on the lips, the glossy feel goes away and these feel almost weightless on the lips. Very pleasant and I barely notice I'm wearing anything at all (except for when I look in the mirror!).

Speaking of pigmentation, the red is a classic, BRIGHT red on the lips, while the pink is almost neon on the lips, it's so bright. The purple is an INTENSE, vivid, blue-leaning purple (it's really more of a violet) and all three shades are definitely not for the faint of heart. You will get noticed when you wear these.

The scent of these reminds of me tropical-flavored bubble gum but it's not too strong. There is no flavor to these lip colors. Well, there is a very slight flavor (sort of like tropical bubblegum) but it fades so quickly these might as well be flavorless. I also want to mention that application is quite easy with these--no need for me to use a brush like with my OCC Lip Tars. You do have to be careful to not apply too much, but I find that I can squeeze these directly onto my lips from the tube (taking care not to squeeze too much) and then I can just use my finger to help spread the color around and I'm good to go.

Now I'm not saying these are perfect. Yes, they're crazy-intense when it comes to pigmentation, the coverage is incredible and they are not drying at all. They're also easy to apply from the tube--I just have to use my finger to move the color around a bit for complete coverage. But I will tell you that these are certainly not transfer-proof, despite their demi-matte/matte finish. Two hours after applying the red shade, I lightly kissed Mr. G on the lips and his lips were bright red. Also, as these wear down, they fade near the center of my lips before the rest of my lips, leaving me with a slight "ring around the lips" look if I'm not careful. Wear-time varies for me depending on the color, but I can get at least two hours of wear before these start to seriously fade. They do leave a stain behind, but it's not a weird stain--it's the same color as in the tube, just softer. 

FINAL VERDICT: Despite the few flaws, overall, these knocked my socks off. I was not expecting these to be so pigmented or feel so nice on the lips and they really blew me away in both respects. I still can't believe they're $1 each, since I would easily pay $5 for one tube. In terms of formulation, I don't think these are a clear dupe for either the OCC Lip Tars or Too Faced Melted lip colors, but to me they have the intense pigmentation of the Lip Tars with the more hydrating feel of the Melted lip colors. For a buck, I say they're definitely worth a shot if bright, intense lip colors are your thing. Considering that Walgreens accepts returns/exchanges on beauty products even after you've opened/used them, you won't even be out a buck if you don't like them!

As of the time of this post, these are not available for purchased on the Profusion website, but hopefully they will be soon if you don't live near a Walgreens or can't find these at your local Walgreens. Again, I found these in the $1 beauty bins at my local Walgreens--if you have seen them elsewhere, please do let us know in the comments.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to let me know about these. If you already own any Profusion Luxy Lips, I would love to hear about your experience with them!

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.