Riding the wave of my lip gloss frenzy and armed with a recent Sephora discount code, I decided to splurge on the new
Yves Saint Laurent Gloss Volupté in the shade 203 Corail Gandoura ($32 for 0.2 oz/ 6ml), which I had previously swatched at a counter and swooned over the lush texture. But you know guys, this is the tale of how sometimes it's not enough to check things out in person before purchase to avoid being just very slightly disappointed (btw, sorry for being such a critical make-up lover recently!). I just... didn't quite love it. Would you like to hear why?
First things first, I actually did very much enjoy the packaging: I found it to be on the more tasteful side for YSL, and the top actually screwed shut with a very satisfying click. Oh, and that applicator everyone's been talking about: the weird, bent diamond-shaped doe foot with a whole in the middle that somehow perfectly hugs your lips and dispenses just the right amount of product. Yes, I loved that part!
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Also, still no complaints about the texture. As you can hopefully see in my swatches, this 'Pure' shade (all the shades in the 200 range are smooth, shimmer-free finish) does actually contain the smallest shimmer particles that are pretty much invisible once on the lips - meaning, my favorite type of finish. The texture feels slightly denser than many of my lip glosses, and glides over vertical lip lines and dry patches - the closest I could compare it to is probably the Clarins Instant Light Shimmering Lip Perfectors. It does look lusciously shiny on the lips at first, but I found that wore off after an hour or two; this gloss definitely isn't any more longwearing than other glosses I own. Also, while not quite moisturizing, the lip gloss wears comfortably and doesn't dry out my dessicated lips.
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Where this Gloss Volupté completely failed me was the scent and the shade, the latter being obviously my own fault as that's what I chose to purchase. When I first swatched these glosses on my hand at the counter, I actually thought the fruity scent was quite fresh and pleasant, and I'm usually not sensitive to lip product scents in general - so it shouldn't have been a problem, right? However, once I tried my newly acquired gloss at home, I could not get past the artificial strawberry/melon candy fragrance that lingered... and lingered... and lingered, probably longer than the actual color did on my lips. Worst of all, it was so strong that I felt like I could actually taste it all the time I was wearing the gloss, and I just couldn't. Just couldn't.
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| L-R: YSL Gloss Volupte in 203 Corail Gandoura, Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Coral Reef, NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Beige |
Corail Gandoura, the shade I opted for, is a pretty, light peach shade, quite perfect for spring and summer. Unfortunately, on my lips it comes across very, very faint - more like a veil of peachy nude. I can see a lot of women going absolutely gaga over this (and if you enjoy subtly nude glosses, go swatch it by all means), but it's not for me; I feel that my pale face needs a slightly brighter and bolder shade. On me, I felt that Corail Gandourra just looked a little too beige on beige, you know what I mean?
So ultimately, I sent it back (thank God for Sephora's awesome return policy!). You see, it's not so much that this is a bad or disappointing product; it just wasn't quite there for me. I'm at a point in my make-up buying habits where I don't want to keep something if I'm not absolutely in love with it - and the more I try, the more critical I become of products; or perhaps I just know my preferences that much better, and won't put up with something that doesn't fully suit me.
Do you return make-up you're not 100% happy with? How do you decide what's worth keeping and what needs to go?
