Lipsense - Swatches & Review

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a nice Monday! Am I the only one who is already looking forward to Thursday? It's a bank holiday in Switzerland ;) Yay~

Today I have a review of a very promising lip system called LipSense. In Switzerland, the brand is distributed by Seneswiss, a company located in Chur. LipSense claims to be super long lasting (up to 18h!) and totally transfer-proof! How exciting!

What is LipSense?

According to the brand,

"LipSense is the premier product of SeneGence and is unlike any conventional lipstick, stain or colour. As the original long-lasting lip colour, it is waterproof, does not kiss-off, smear-off, rub-off or budge-off! Create your own colour palette by combining shades. Your customized look will last even longer and your lips will stay moist and plump with LipSense Moisturizing Gloss."

There are more than 60 shades available and 3 different finishes: matte, shimmer, frost.

I received a set of 1 lip color, a moisturizing gloss (in matte finish) and a lip color remover.

Over all the available colors, I decided to go for a red because it's always easier to judge a product with a "classic" color and you can never go wrong with red. I chose the color "Cranberry".

By the way, you can check all the available colors HERE. To be honest there are some many gorgeous colors that I had a hard time chosing only one :D

As the lip color is rather drying, it is recommended to use a moisturizing gloss on top and to reapply it throughout the day to keep your lips moisturized. There are different types of LipSense glosses available: glossy, matte, pearl and shimmer. I got a matte "gloss" :p

And finally the set comes with a color remover. As the color stains the lips and is really long lasting, a remover is handy when you want to remove it.

matte "gloss" (on the left) and color remover (on the right)

How to apply it?

You must start with clean, dry lips. Don't use a lip balm or greasy product beforehand. You have to apply a first thin coat starting in the corners of the lips and then in one swipe apply the product on the whole bottom lip. You have to do the same thing for the upper lip. Let it dry for a few seconds and then apply a second and third coat. It is necessary to apply 3 coats to boost the wear time of the lip color. The second coat of color is actually sandwiched between the first and third layer and is therefore protected from the pH of your lips and from the environment.  After a few seconds, you can apply the moisturizing gloss on top. HERE is a video that explains how you should apply it.

My impressions:

When I applied the first layer I immediately felt a strong tingling sensation that was not unbearable but very uncomfortable. I decided to remove everything because I didn't feel comfortable applying a second or third coat. To be honest I was a bit skeptical to give it another try but finally I decided to give it a second chance considering it has so many promising claims (and because I wanted to review it properly for this article :p ). So 2 weeks later I tried it again, there was still this tingling sensation when I applied it but I continued and applied the second and third coat. At that moment my lips felt really dry but when finally I applied the moisturizing gloss on top, it was alright. My lips were back in normal conditions.  

So as you understand if you only wear the lip color (which is a lip stain), you lips will get quite dry but luckily the gloss is actually quite good at providing the extra moisture you need. In that sense, it's really useful to get one of the moisturizing lip glosses if you decide to buy of some of these lip stains.

By the way, the tingling sensation is due to the really high alcohol percentage of the formulation. See ingredient list  below.

SD Alcohol 40-B, Acrylates/Octylacrylamide Copolymer, Isostearyl Alcohol, Silica, Fragrance (Parfum), Water (Aqua), Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Extract, Hypericum Perforatum Extract, Tilia Cordata Flower Extract, Isodonis Japonicus Extract. MAY CONTAIN: Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Ultramarines, Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Orange 5 (CI 45370), Red 33 Lake (CI 17200), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 28 Lake (CI 45410), Red 6 Lake (CI 15850), Red 27 Lake (CI 45410:2), Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Palmitic Acid, Methicone.

What I really like about the LipSense lip stain is that it is totally transfer-proof and that its lasting power is incredible (6+hours). It's also rather lightweight, once you have the lip gloss on top (at least the matte "gloss" that I tried), you can't feel any texture on your lips. I also love that there are so many colors to chose from. It's very difficult to find lip stains in colors other than red, pink and orange so the large variety of colors is welcome.


Swatches
Below are swatches of the liquid lip color in Cranberry at 1, 2, and 3 coats. You can see that the pigmentation is good. On the second picture, I tried to remove the color by wiping it off with a tissue but as you can see the color didn't budge at all! That's quite impressive to be honest.

On my lips, I'm wearing 3 coats of Cranberry topped with the moisturizing matte "gloss". The finish is really pretty and I must admit I really love how it looks on the lips. It looks velvety and really nice plus I love the color. It's a strawberry red. I will probably reuse the matte "gloss" with other lipsticks!

PROs and CONs

PROs:

• 100% transfer-proof, kiss-proof; you don't need to worry about messing your lipstick
• long lasting (6+hours, claims up to 18hours)
• more than 60 colors available (check them HERE; pictures are with the "glossy gloss"on top otherwise the lip colors dry to a matte finish)
• the matte "gloss" is moisturizing and gives a really nice matte effect
• the lip color remover is convenient when you want to remove the color.

CONs:

• strong tingling sensation when you apply it, due to the high alcohol percentage
• drying; due to the high alcohol percentage (why so much alcohol for a lip product seriously...)
• you have to apply 3 coats
• the lip remover works but it's not super easy to remove the color, you have to scrub and it takes some time.

So in conclusion I would say that if you don't mind the high alcohol percentage, that your lips are not dry to start with, that you really want a super long lasting lip color that is totally transfer-proof, smudge-proof and mess-free, if you don't want to be bothered by your lipstick and don't want to worry about your lipstick moving around throughout the day, then the LipSense system can be interesting for you otherwise I don't think it's worth it. There are other lip stains available on the market that surely last less longer but are less drying. It all depends what is more important for you!

Purchase info
LipSense can be purchased from SeneSwiss in Switzerland.  A liquid lip color costs 33 CHF (7.4mL), the gloss 27 CHF and the remover 15 CHF.

For other locations, please refer to the LipSense website.

*PR Samples*