Review: Pacifica Color Quench Natural Moisture Lip Tint in Guava Berry

I'm a huge and longtime Pacifica fan (their Tunisian Jasmine is the prettiest jasmine fragrance I've ever sniffed outside of a real jasmine flower). So when I posted on the blog a while back that Pacifica was entering into the world of tinted lip balms, I knew it was only a matter of time before I purchased one. Back in December I treated myself to the Color Quench Natural Moisture Lip Tint in Guava Berry as a birthday gift to myself. I picked it up at Sephora and now that I've been using it off and on for about a month, I'd love to share my thoughts with you.

The Pacifica Color Quench Natural Moisture Lip Tints are 100% vegan (no beeswax), not tested on animals, and they contain no parabens, GMOs or petrochemicals. The packaging is 100% recyclable and they retail for $9 each. They come in five shades and can be purchased on the Pacifica website and also at Sephora.

Pacifica Color Quench Natural Moisture Lip Tint in Guava Berry

(retail: $9, 0.25 oz) 

These balms come packaged in an outer tube which holds the actual balm inside.

Inside the tube is the lip balm itself:

An average lip balm is 0.15 oz and the Pacifica balms are 0.25 oz. Here's a size comparison:

In the above photo, the Pacifica balm looks more like a jumbo lip balm, but the slim packaging doesn't feel like a jumbo lip balm when you hold it in your hand. For instance, here it is next to a Wet n Wild Juicy Lip Balm, which I would consider a jumbo lip balm:

It looks much smaller than the Wet n Wild balm, right? But when you remove the lid of the WnW balm, look what happens:

Almost the same! In fact, the Pacifica balm is 0.25 oz and the WnW balm is 0.26 oz. Also, the circumference of the actual lip balm stick is pretty much the same for both:

Moving on, let's take a closer look at Guava Berry:

I would call this a cool-toned, shimmery pinkish-mauve. It's sheer (as the packaging indicates) so don't expect big pigmentation with this one. 

Here it is swatch on the back of my hand. Notice you can still clearly see the vein running through my hand on at the top of this pic, which should give you an idea of the sheerness of this balm:

And to better give you an idea of the shimmer in this product, here's what it looks like on my poor, dry lips (I'm still getting over that cold so please excuse this pic):

Color and Pigmentation: Definitely on the sheer end of the spectrum, this balm's packed with shimmer that tends to stay on my lips longer than the tint (I would say the finish of this balm is actually borderline frosty). The color of Guava Berry would be best suited for those who prefer cool, pale shades, as this is very much a cool, pale, pinkish-mauve.

Texture and Consistency: I'm always scared to try vegan lip balms because I'm such a beeswax fan. A few vegan balms I've owned in the past ended up drying out my lips (whatever it was they were using as a substitute for beeswax just didn't work with my chemistry) so I'm DELIGHTED to say that this balm is very moisturizing for me. The candelilla wax used in place of beeswax, combined with the particular oils used in this formula (coconut and avocado) are a great combination for my lips. When I wear this balm, my lips feels hydrated and also protected. This is not a heavy, waxy balm, yet it's not greasy or super slick either. It has a nice, rich, creamy feel to it.

Fragrance and Flavor: Oh boy! This is where the Pacifica Color Quench Natural Moisture Lip Tint really shines. If you love guava, you will probably adore both the fragrance and flavor of this balm. It smells like fresh guava and berry (guava being more dominant) and the flavor is a nice, very natural-tasting guava-berry combo as well. This doesn't smell or taste artificial to me, but rather more like a real guava with a splash of strawberry and raspberry.

FINAL VERDICT: For $9 retail, you're getting a nice, big lip balm here that's packed with skin-loving ingredients and void of just about any controversial ingredient you can think of. If you're vegan or on the lookout for a vegan lip balm, this might be a nice one to consider. The fragrance and flavor are signature Pacifica: beautiful, high-quality and very authentic. Since I can't pull off cool tones OR pale tones on my lips, the shade of Guava Berry is not a very good fit for me personally, and that's the only reason I haven't reached for this as often as I've wanted to. I love the creamy texture of this product and I love that it's a jumbo balm that doesn't feel like a jumbo balm. My lips feel hydrated and protected against the cold winter air when I wear this, and I would definitely consider picking up another shade in the future (with fingers crossed that another shade would look better on me than Guava Berry). 

Are you a Pacifica fan? Have you tried these new lip tints yet? Karen of Makeup and Beauty Blog reviewed Guava Berry and also Blood Orange, so if you'd like to see how these shades look on her, check out her review here.