Hard Candy Tinted Lip Balm

I am NOT a lipstick gal.  Nope.  But I do like to add a little color every now and then.  For me, the best way to achieve this is through a gloss or tinted balm and I'm a sucker for both.  The Sugar Lip Treatments from Fresh are probably my absolute favorite tinted balms...but I don't want to spend $22.50 all the time and my guess is neither do you.  I still haven't found a great low-end brand of tinted balm yet and this thought crossed my mind when I was grabbing something from the Hard Candy display at Walmart and spotted these:

Cute right?  AND for only $3 each.  I grabbed the color "fishnet" and prayed it would be my cheap go-to for tinted balm.  I guess it I didn't pray hard enough...where to begin - I'll start with the pros.

• The texture on this was great -  It goes on extremely smooth and feels very moisturizing. 
• It adds just enough gloss (what you'd expect from a chapstick) and a sheer layer of bright pink.
• It tastes/smells pretty good - a hint of vanilla, so it's more than tolerable when it's on.
• It lasts about as long as you'd expect a balm to last and doesn't leave your lips dry when it finally wears off.
• The packaging is adorable.

The cons...

• Ok..see how far the balm is above the black encasing?  Yeah...that doesn't retract down, so you're stuck with it up that high until you wear it down enough.  So this is what happened after 2 uses with mine: 

 

It broke off, and because it was about 1/3 or $1 worth of product, I smashed that sucker back on!  Not cool Hard Candy, not cool.  I was purposely applying with less pressure than usual because the balm sat so far up.  Not to mention, when it's that far up and not retractable, one must be very careful when putting the case back on or you'll undoubtedly stab it death (which I haven't done yet).  Needless to say, I don't carry this around with me even though the top seems to stay on with no problems.  I keep it on my desk at work and use this when I need some extra moisture w/color. 

I was expecting sooo much from this balm, but for $3 I guess my hopes were just too high.  WHY???  I'm willing to give these tinted balms another shot, but if this happens again, I'll have to say this one will be a major FAIL and a PASS.  I'll let you be the judge based on my experience...

Hard Candy Tinted Lip Balm is available in 8 shades.  You can find these on Hard Candy displays @ your local Walmart for $3 each.

Sephora + Pantone Universe Jewel Lacquer in Evergreen

Pretty, pretty Evergreen!  Perfect time of year for this sort of color.  This was one of the Sephora+Pantone Universe Fall 2012 polishes.  I'll be brief with this one because it doesn't appear to be available anymore. 

The formula on this was good.  It covered well in 2 coats, but the first went on a little sheer so I had to apply with a heavy hand on the second one.  I love the chunky square bottle, but I didn't really care for the short brush/long handle that accompanied it.  When I say short brush, I mean the part leading from the cap to the bristles.  The bristles were fine...it was just the lack of length leading up to the cap.  Make sense?  It took me a minute to figure out how to work with it for a successful application.  Being that this was my first experience with the Sephora/Pantone polish, that was my only complaint.  The colors from the Jewel Lacquer Fall line were very pretty and retailed for $9/bottle.  You can still find a couple of the colors on sale for $5 at Sephora.com.  I recommend Reflecting Pond, which is still available - I can swatch it upon request.