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Friday, August 17, 2012

Review: e.l.f. Studio Lip Balm SPF15 in Rose (or is it Peach?)

If I could give this blog post a subtitle, it would surely be:

A rose by any other name...

(This will make much more sense in a few minutes.)

I picked up a few e.l.f. Studio products at Target a while back (click here to see my Tinted Moisturizer review) and today I'd like to show you the tinted lip balm that I purchased.

e.l.f. Studio Lip Balm SPF15 in Rose
(retail: $3, 0.07 oz)


Inactive Ingredients (from the e.l.f. website):

Polyisobutene, Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Ceresin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cera Camauba (Camauba Wax), Microcrystalline Wax (Cera Microcristallina), Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tocopherol. May Contain: Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Mica (CI 77019), Red No.7 Lake (CI 15850), Red No.27 Lake (CI 45410), Red No.6 Lake (CI 15850), Blue No.1 Lake (CI 42090), Yellow No.5 Lake (CI 19140), Yellow No.6 Lake (CI 15985)


The size of this tinted lip balm (0.07 oz) is comparable, if not a little bit smaller, than other twist-up tinted lip balm sticks I own from the drugstore. I think that $3 is a fair price, but it would be an even better price if this color actually worked for me:

Left: Rose applied with very little pressure (one swipe)
Right: Rose applied with heavier pressure (multiple swipes)

One would think that a lip balm with the name Rose would be a medium-toned blue-based reddish-pink, yes? Well at least that's what I think of when I hear "rose". My tube of e.l.f. Tinted Lip Balm in Rose is a warm, almost terracotta-like peachy-orange with just a drop of pink to it. When I opened the tube, I instantly knew it wasn't anywhere near the shade I was hoping it would be. And after looking at the stick in the tube (it looks quite red in the tube), I was hoping that it would at least be a sheer cherry red. Nope.

Looking at the swatches on the website for all the shades in this range, the color Rose looks nothing like the tube I purchased. In fact, I'm wondering if my tube (both the outer packaging and the label on the tube itself) were mislabeled. I think the color Peach on the website looks much closer to the shade I'm reviewing here today.



Moving on, here's what my skin looks like (and my lips too) after this balm has faded:


The orange pigment in this lip balm becomes more pronounced over time, and my lips end up looking like I ate an orange popsicle. Not a terribly bad thing if I were looking for an orange-based tinted lip balm, but I bought the shade Rose because I was looking for a sheer, rose-toned lip balm.

Another thing that's interesting to note: this balm has a strong minty fragrance and flavor (it definitely makes my lips tingle), but nowhere on the ingredients list is there a reference to any variety of mint (or any flavoring or fragrance at all, for that matter). 

The texture of this balm is light and smooth--it's not gritty or heavy-feeling on the lips. For me, it provides light to moderate hydration, but I wouldn't reach for it if my lips were extremely chapped. Staying power is about average compared to most tinted lip balms I own--I can get about 2-4 hours of wear depending on whether I've eaten, etc.

FINAL VERDICT: I'm not sure whether I should chalk this one up to a labeling mishap or if the shade Rose truly is supposed to be a warm, peachy-orange shade. If I did purchase a mislabeled tube, I'm not quite sure that I love this balm enough to actually go out get the "real" Rose. I think it's a decent tinted balm, but nothing you couldn't get from half a dozen other tinted lip balms at the drugstore these days. I'm feeling kind of "meh" about this one, but maybe if there was another color that worked better for me, I might be able to get a little bit more excited.

Do you own any e.l.f. Studio Tinted Lip Balms? If you happen to own Rose, I would love to know if it looks like the color I purchased!
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23 comments

  1. I have Rose it is looks similar to yours, but it's more red, if that makes sense. I also have Peach, & I can assure you that you do NOT have Peach! Peach is a super light corally peach color with not much pigmentation & always looks too light on me! :)

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    1. Thank you, Aly! I wonder if the color variance is a batch issue...hum...

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  2. Go figure! It's frustrating when color does not live up to expectations s. I like the idea of the minty taste/scent!

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    1. Yeah...I am used to it with balms because of their sheerness, but this one was REALLY different than what I was expecting! Lol

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  3. That's so strange about the mystery mind scent/flavor! I find the color issue common to a lot of lip balms, but mostly with the color appearing lighter or sheerer rather than an issue of naming based on the color in the tube itself. Although this one is a lovely wash of peach :)

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    1. Exactly! Me too, but this one was waaay off. Lol!

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  4. I actually love that color! But I definitely wouldn't call it rose, nor does it look like the websites color pic.

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    1. Oh good! I hope it works for you if you get it! :)

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  5. I have this color and it is in fact a rosey, blue-red color. I love it for brightening up my face. I can't say why your balm looks so different.

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    1. Oh wow! Thank you! I'm wondering if it's just a batch issue then. Interesting...

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  6. It looks peachy instead of rose, I agree.

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  7. I have had problems with other products/brands taking creative license with "rose" as well.. most recently my Maybelline luminous lights quad in "rose lights", four colors and only one rose among them.. the rest are definitely peach/amber. However, this is par for the course with ELF. Very few of their colors look anything like what they are described, or what the packaging/color swatches online look like. You really have to look up actual physical swatches to have any idea what you are buying.

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    1. Agreed. The color swatches on their packaging are almost never representative of the actual color, I've noticed. Especially with their dollar lipsticks!

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    2. Some of the eyeshadows are like that too...I bought an eyeshadow palette back around Christmas when they were having those great deals at Target and thought I was getting yellow eyeshadow as one of the colours. Silly me, I didn't realize you could open it up to see the inside and check. What looked like yellow on the package turned out to be a sort of beigey cream. Big disappointment!

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  8. Curious about the minty tingle and no mint in the ingredients! I have this one in Nude. It seemed the safest bet as a color match, but e.l.f. is so off with its swatches it's nutty. The nude actually is a nude, though, so I'm happy with that. I wanted the Rose shade, but was worried about it being something else and you confirmed that! Did you buy any of the matte lipsticks? I'm curious about them, and am on the verge of buying the red ...

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    1. Yep, it's odd. I did buy one of the mattes! It's in my to-test pile now! :)

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  9. Hmm, I am interested in E. L. F. produccts and reading this review, well, maybe I should check these out! And with the mint, it depends on how the ingredients are formulated together because most normal lip balms have that minty scent and taste if you don't get any of the flavored ones. Even sometimes the ones with just beeswax have that mint flavor, like Burt's Bees original lip balm for example. I will look out for this one! Thanks for the heads up! By the way, when you applied pressure to this, did any of your lip balms break guys? I am asking because I bought a Hard Candy tinted lip balm and it bbroke when I tried it out and don't know why it would do that if it would be a lip balm and most lip balms I get in the tube stay pretty sturdy , especially in LipSmackers since they are really glossy. Just asking, also will look out for these!

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    1. But the thing is, with other balms, even if they don't have ”mint” in the title, mint is somewhere in the ingredients. So that's the odd part.

      And no, this balm didn't break, but i've had that happen to me with other balms and lipsticks too. That's usually a packaging issue, in my experience.

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  10. Ah, maybe E.L.F. decided not to mention mint, usually that would happen. And about the breaking, hmm...yeah maybe it was the packaging. I remembered getting a Revlon Lip Butter for my first time and it broke after a week of using for the first time and when I got new ones, the packaging was new on the tube. I guess it's how Hard Candy package them because when I first opened it, I saw some balm already up and ready for use and that tip broke off when I tested it out.

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  11. Ok, I am NOT a chemist,but I do know that anything with "phenols" in them tend to have that minty effervescent quality,hey are used a lot in cold rubs,bug bite remedies,etc for cooling qualities .So maybe that is the flavor you are tasting?

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    1. Oooh, that is very interesting! Thank you! I wonder if that's what is going on here? Hum....

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  12. PLEASE READ THIS! that is DEFINITELY not rose! Im sure a warehouse worker somewhere mizlabelled it bc i have rose and its definitely a rosy red, not a peach.. look up swatches online for more proof!! U should email elf and theyll send u a free replacemwnt asap!! Theyre known for replacing any broken or mislabeled product bc its so common lol

    ReplyDelete

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