Perfecting Apricot

Another beauty buy from my trip to London last September came about with the help of an excellent gift with purchase I stumbled upon at House of Fraser. If you purchased any two Clarins products, you could select three deluxe size samples of some of their most popular skin care products. I was running out of my favourite Multi-Active Night Youth Recovery Cream and had been contemplating repurchasing it, but the cheapest price I could find online was around $58 for the 50ml jar. Already having a few products from Clarins that I was interested in buying, I figured why not score free 30ml tubes of Multi-Active Night, HydraQuench Cream and HydraQuench Cream-Mask in the process. While one of the items I had my eye on, the Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner, was sadly out of stock, I finally had an excuse to take home the Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector.

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 02 Apricot Shimmer

I selected Apricot Shimmer (02), though my first choice of a darker pink was out of stock. Admittedly, I was a little taken aback at the price — £17 or around $31. That's a heck of a lot for a lip gloss. The price in the UK is even more expensive than in Australia, where this retails for $26. I definitely wouldn't have purchased it without the incentive of the generous gift with purchase.

The gloss itself is very cushiony and plush, like a smoother, slightly more liquid version of the Korres Lip Butters. It's relatively thick but very moisturising and lightweight on the lips. Apricot Shimmer is on the pale side in that it's lighter than my natural lip colour. It's quite a milky peach that appears relatively pink on my lips, but remains mainly sheer. One of my favourite aspects of it is that it's glossy without having any shimmery particles. You could wear this paired with a darker lipstick or stain (like Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey) to make the darker shade less intense, or over a similar colour (like MAC Shy Girl) for a more "three-dimensional" effect. It does leave the lips looking fuller and more plump and I imagine it'd offer welcome relief for dry, peeling lips.

The sponge tip applicator doesn't bother me as much as I initially thought, though I always squeeze the product out onto my finger and then apply it to my lips. The vanilla scent is an added touch that makes it a pleasure to use. I love the sophisticated, attractive packaging, with the elongated shape, colour-coded exterior and gold cap. It's a high quality balm/gloss hybrid with a refined, comfortable-feeling formula, but at the same time, if you already have a lot of lip glosses and balms, you probably could do without it.