Christian Dior Creme De Rose Smoothing Plumping Lip Balm Review

I am a sucker for lip balms. Since my SkinFood Cocoa Lip Balm is on the verge of finishing and has been discontinued from being sold in Malaysia, I am currently on a frantic hunt for a replacement. I was googling for information and actually came across Dior Addict Lip Glow and was quite intrigue to try it out. Combing through the Dior's official website lead me to Christian Dior Creme De Rose Smoothing Plumping Lip Balm which kind of looked quite interesting to me.

I went out with the intention to buy the Dior Addict Lip Glow and a friend of mine also wanted a lip balm so I suggested the Creme De Rose to him (I think he wanted to buy for his wife as a gift). The Lip Glow is currently out of stock and won't be coming in until September. Unfortunately for me, after I had purchased the Creme De Rose lip balm, my friend decided that he didn't want it so here I am, stuck with the lip balm. So I might as well do a review on this lip balm since it's not going anywhere.

The official Dior website's description of the balm is: "Crème de Rose is an essential nourishing and smoothing lip balm with a delicate rose fragrance that is simply addictive! It is enriched with a rare and precious Damask Rose essential oil extract, an anti-aging complex, energizing vitamins (A and E) and Shea butter for a long-lasting regenerating and smoothing anti-wrinkle effect. It leaves the lips optimally soothed, moisturized and nourished. Soft and beautifully plump, the lips are more radiant than ever!"

The official picture of the balm from Dior's website:

The shade that's officially on the website is in 001 pinkish colour.

Here's the box of the lip balm that I bought:

Unopened box of Creme De Rose Lip Balm

 Opened box

The tub is made of plastic, is quite weighty and feels sturdy in my hands. It has that classy vintage look to it. There is the usual CD logo engraved on top of the tub.

It's a screw on cap and with a single twist, the tub of balm is opened.

 

When I opened the tub, I was quite surprised to find that the colour of the balm is yellow! What? Is the product expired or even defective somehow? So I trotted back to the Dior counter where I bought it and asked the sales assistant about my predicament. She told me that the yellow colour IS the colour of the balm currently. I was quite perplexed since the colour was supposed to be pink but she vehemently and confidently said that the balm is genuine and not expired. I did check the manufacturing date on the box and it said November 2009. Hmm.. well.. More on that later..

Now let's continue with the review. Since it's a balm that comes in a tub, you'd have to dip your finger into the tub to get the balm. Some people might find this a bit messy and unhygienic, but for me, I just use a cotton tip to scoop a bit of the balm and then apply it on my lips (I use pot-type balms at home). 

The texture of the balm is thick and there is a definite rosy smell when I took a whiff of it. Personally, I am not a big fan of rose-smelling beauty products since I sometimes find them too pungent and thick.

The untouched surface of the balm looks pristine and smooth and I needed a little bit of pressure to break into it to scoop out a bit of balm with my finger. Once the balm is broken in, you can actually see that the texture is creamy and a bit greasy/waxy to the touch somewhat like vaseline but thicker in consistency.

Here's what the balm looked like on my hand: subtle and not too overly shiny.

Those shiny specks are not shimmer by the way. It's actually the flash bouncing off the shiny surface of the balm.

The texture of the balm felt heavy on my lips and it's quite waxy. I think the heaviness is due to the cream factor. The creamy texture is quite visible after putting it on my lips and it took quite some time to sink in. My lips did felt moisturized after the balm had melted 30 minutes later and left quite a nice subtle shine. But still the heavy feeling did not go away.

I didn't really like the smell though because it got stronger by the minute and it made my head spin. I think the Damask Rose is the culprit for the pungent rosy smell. I ended up wiping the balm off my lips because the combination of the heavy texture and the smell made me feel a bit nauseated. The heaviness and the smell lingered for quite some time even after I wiped it off. The aftertaste is really not pleasing and does not go well with me. The balm doesn't have any sweet taste to it but it does have that waxy balm taste.

Since I wiped the balm off after only 45 minutes, I didn't get to see whether the balm really does have that smoothing anti-wrinkle effect on my lips. But there was definitely no tingling or soothing effect that I expected a plumping balm would have. My lips didn't feel too nourished but just felt heavy and waxy.

My verdict: The price of the balm is quite expensive (RM85) and for the texture and smell, I think this is not one of my greatest buys (thanks to my friend!). Personally I think there are quite a number of better lip balms out in the market with more moisturizing effect for your lips compared to this balm. I think I prefer a lip balm with minty and subtle fresh smell that doesn't make my head spin. Note to my self: don't buy any more products with rosy smells!

Oh yes! About the yellow coloured balm.. I sent an email to Dior asking whether the balm indeed has a yellow colour balm in the Creme De Rose line but up until today I still haven't received any feedback from them.

Serum De Rouge Luminous Colour Lip Treatment By Christian Dior

I am not a constant lipstick wearer because I am more of a balm and gloss person. One day while I was thumbing through a magazine, an advertisement on Christian Dior's Serum De Rouge Luminous Colour Lip Treatment caught my eyes. Maybe it was because the model's lips looked so perfectly moist with a subtle hint of colour. Information about the product on the advertisement was quite intriguing so I went on the net and looked it up at Dior's official website.

This is the description from the website itself:

'Dior creates the first Sérum de Rouge, elixir of youth with exquisite radiance. A sublime alliance of skincare and color benefits, the serum texture literally melts into the lips for absolute comfort and unbelievable sensory  pleasure at application. The formula, 10 times more concentrated in skincare ingredients (10 times more than our classical lip sticks), provides moisture, volume and smoothing benefits for your lips, immediately upon application, and day after day. The palette of elegant, vivid shades instantly illuminates the lips with youthfulness. A feminine high-precision pen design for impeccable treatment and color results. Direction of use: For optimal use, turn pen with a single click to obtain the perfect dose for ideal makeup results.'

Being a person who always believe in what she reads, I went to a Dior counter at Alamanda's Parkson with my sister to check the lipstick out. The sales assistant was very helpful and friendly in urging us to try almost every type of lipstick, lip gloss, make up and the lot on the tester counter. After much contemplating, testing and picking colours, we ended up buying a tube of the Serum De Rouge lipstick each plus Dior Addict Lip Maximizer (more on that later). After months had passed, my sister and I bought another tube each plus the Lip Maximizer again (we ran out of the gloss).

Here's what the tube of lipstick looks like (sorry I couldn't show you the box since I threw it out):

The casing is long and has that classy look to it. The material of the casing also doesn't feel plasticky and feels quite sturdy in my hand.

Uncapped tube.

To use the tube, you would have to twist the bottom of the tube counter clockwise to raise the lipstick upwards and vice versa.

Twisting the bottom of the tube to get the lipstick out

I usually need to twist counter clockwise once or twice to get the lipstick out.

Twisted out. Lipstick is ready to be used.

The texture of the lipstick is not heavy and it glides easily on my lips. It is actually creamy and does melts nicely. Plus, it doesn't have that heavy and sticky feeling most lipsticks have. The lipstick is indeed moisturizing and smoothens out my otherwise dry lips. It's almost like a light lip gloss with tint minus the ultra glossy shine that most lip gloss have. The colour of the lipstick is also quite sheer just how I like it. I usually pair it with the Dior Addict Lip Maximizer to get better looking result.

Here are the two colours that I bought:

The top one is 650: Peach Serum (but the colour looks a little bit darker and more like a warm pink) and the bottom one is 710: Beige Serum. I was hoping that the 510: Nude Serum would be marketed in Malaysia but up until now I still don't see the colour on any Dior counter anywhere.

Currently there are six shades sold in Malaysia which are:
- 840: Rose Pourpre/Crimson Serum
- 760: Rose Figue/Raspberry Serum
- 740: Bois De Rose/Rosewood Serum
- 730: Corail/Coral Serum
- 710: Beige Serum
- 640: Baby Rose/Sof Pink Serum

I think there are a few more colours but I don't remember the numbers.

My verdict: This is actually a very good lipstick to use because of the light texture, moisturizing and smoothing effect. Now if only the Nude colour would come in, maybe I'd just end up buying another tube! :)

The Lip Scrub By Sarah Happ (Peppermint)

Exfoliating and scrubbing those dead skin cells off are one of those beauty routines that just can't be skipped. Most people will usually scrub their skin squeaky clean at least once a week but most also forget that the lips also need some of the scrubbing action to get rid of those dry flaky skin. I had been hunting around for a lip peel or lip exfoliator since my SkinFood Cocoa Lip Butter is finishing (which is my all time favourite lip peel but sadly it is discontinued), so I decided to try The Lip Scrub by Sara Happ (Peppermint).

The Lip Scrub by Sara Happ comes in six yummy flavours:

- almond creme

- peppermint

- vanilla bean

- brown sugar

- cinnamon sugar

- cocoa

The Lip Scrub costs $24. It's quite pricey but raving reviews about this products made me really really want to try it. Unfortunately it is not sold in Malaysia so I had to buy it via online and had to pay about RM130++ plus shipping. Ouch! 

It comes in a little brown box tied with a white ribbon. Very cute!

The cute little brown box

Inside the box is a small round container that holds the 30g sugar lip scrub.

 

 The 30g container

The ingredients of the lip scrub: sucrose, petrolatum, flavour, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil.

This is how the scrub looks like inside the round container

The directions on the box (and also on the container's label) says that you need to massage a generous amount of the sugar scrub onto your lips using a firm circular motion, wipe away with a tissue, and then wonder how you ever lived without it. Haha.. yes, the statement was printed on the box and label.

Scooping out a generous amount of scrub

This is how the scrub looks like spread onto my skin:

The texture of the scrub is quite coarse thanks to the granules of the sugar. Once applied on my lips I can actually taste the sweetness of the minty sugary paste (hence the peppermint). Yummy! I wonder what the other flavours taste like.. Massaging the sugar scrub is easy since the scrub is not dry and you can actually feel your lips getting softer while scrubbing thanks to the petrolatum, jojoba and grape seed oil. 

After you feel satisfied by the amount of time spent scrubbing your lips, you just wipe away the sugary mess off your lips. Voila! Your lips will feel softer and those dry flaky skin is gone. In my case, after wiping it off with a tissue, my lips definitely felt softer but I had to apply lip balm because it usually gets a bit dry after some time after scrubbing.

My verdict on this sugar lip scrub is that it is actually a good scrub for lips but some people might say that you can actually whip up your own sugar scrub at home on your own. That is absolutely true but hey, I am quite lazy so I just opted to buy the sugar lip scrub that comes in a cute little brown box. Hehe.. A repeat buy? I'd think about it if it's easily obtained in Malaysia. But I'd still miss my SkinFood Cocoa Lip Butter. Huhu.. Hope it will make a comeback..

Here's the link to the official Sara Happ website: http://www.sarahapp.com

p/s There's also The Lip Slip by Sara Happ, which is a lip balm. Hmm.. quite interesting.. ;)