Ingredients: Organic ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, Organic simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil, Organic cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, candelilla wax, Organic butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, citrus sinensis (sweet orange) essential oil, Organic citrus grandis (grapefruit) seed extract, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), mica, iron oxides. May contain manganese violet.
Packaging: At first, I was stoked by the packaging resembling Illamasqua lipglosses. I was also surprised that the colour seems different from what is advertised on Christopher Drummond Beauty website. Under sunlight and fluorescent lighting, it does show some peach hues.
After 2 months or so, I noticed cracks forming where I usually press to get some lipgloss. I'm not sure if it's because the plastic packaging is of poor quality or the fact that I stay in Western Australia where we had 3 weeks of heatwave (reaching 40 degrees Celsius) and that I carried the lipgloss everywhere I went. I was so bummed that there was still 3/4 left deep inside the tube. I tried to salvage as much as I can into a clean contact lenses case. 1 month later, the opening also snapped.
Product: At first I was super excited that it was the first ever said "non-toxic"/"natural" lipgloss I bought myself. In the first month, I noticed that it didn't leave a sticky feeling and did keep my lips moisturised (I even didn't bother applying lipbalm underneath it) while the lipgloss was on my lips. Its fragrance reminds you of mandarin. For me it reminded me more of the mandarin-scented cod liver oil that my mum used to give me when I was young and sick.
Ingredients-wise, I've gone through EWG Skindeep website and it scored 2 out of 10 on toxicity level. Therefore it's safe to use, safer than the drugstore lipglosses with a long list of chemicals.
The shade reminds me of CDB lip stain in coral reef (a slight coral-cinnamon colour). It is the same colour as my lips, which is nice, as seen in pictures below.
After the second month, I observed that more I use it, I get a tingling feeling (like you suck too long on a lemon and it burns your lips). Once there is no lip product on my lips, my lips started feeling dry, tight and cracking. I blame it on the orange essential oil. I also had a MOOGOO lipbalm which contains mandarin essential oil and I experienced the same effect on my lips.
Overall impression: I am staying clear of any lip product containing menthol, camphor and citrus essential oils. I was also disappointed in the packaging. I much prefer Christopher Drummond Beauty Lipstains (which I have been using for over 6 months and have 3 shades ) from which I don't suffer from the same side effects left by this lipgloss. It's a lovely colour but CDB lipstain in Coral Reef is the same colour and has a glossy result as well (see my initial product review for comparison)
If you are interested in natural cosmetic products, you can give it a go.
I bought it directly from their website.
RATING: 2/5
Here are some pics:
The top lip is my bare natural lip colour. The bottom lip is with lipgloss applied.
Pic without flash
Pic with flash
