An Ingredients Analysis of Colour Changing Lipsticks, Lipglosses, Lipbalms, and Blushes

Ever since Smashbox put out its O-Glow blushes and lipglosses, Dior put out its Dior Lip Glow, and Sephora put out its Color Reveal Lip Balm, it seems like colour-changing lipglosses have been exploding over the blogosphere. There are so many breathless reviews on how it's changing into the "perfect shade of pink", or how it "reacts with the skin's pH" to give you a customized shade, and there are also equally many reviews disliking the pepto bismo pink it changes into on them. And, there are (of course) a lot of comparison swatches between the various types of colour-changing glosses.

I've had a few of these - you can see one that I reviewed here. Back then, I had written that I was suspicious of all those lipglosses claiming to know my body chemistry and pH, and I had written, "in my experience these turn into some generic shade of super-bright pink." So, since all the hype has been going on, I thought I'd do a little bit of the ingredients-analysing that you guys all know and love, and explain just how it is that these glosses/lipsticks/lipbalms/blushes do their work!

With these products, you'll always have a PH-relevant/skin-chemistry-relevant/hocus-pocus-magic-quality relevant shade!

Of course, as the nice little graphic summary I did above shows, we know that these types of lipglosses, lipsticks, and lipbalms have been around for quite awhile. In fact, there are so many of them - in addition to the Dior, Smashbox, and Sephora versions, Mark by Avon, Duwop, Jemma Kidd, and NYX Cosmetics have all jumped on the bandwagon at some point in time. And it's not just US brands that are donig it - Essence Cosmetics and Barry M from Europe have done it too. And even outside the West, other brands have done it - there's Lipice in Asia, and even a strange Morrocan Hare brand from (where else) Morroco! And it's not just lipgloss or lipstick! Cheek products have also been given the special treatment, with Stila, Smashbox and Givenchy all have blush versions to give you that pH-adjusted cheek colour.

So yes, we know everyone loves a colour-changing lipstick/balm/gloss/blush. And who can blame us for loving it? The novelty of seeing the colour change on your lips and cheeks is quite something, I'll admit. The thing is, are they really all that different from one another? How on earth are they even changing colour in the first place? You know that if this post involves some ingredients analysis, there's no better place to start than the ingredients list!

So, for this post, I'm going to look at as many ingredient lists of such colour changing products that I can dig up, including lipbalms, glosses, and lipsticks, and blushes, and see what we can learn from there! In true geek style, there are 10 of them (yes, TEN!), so buckle up!

China Glaze Swing Baby: Glamorous Gold Nails!

China Glaze Swing Baby is one of the untrieds in my stash. I bought it when it was a brand spanking new colour, and only just got around to wearing it! Swing Baby was a Fall or Winter (quite possible Christmas, in fact) release from 2010, I think. So given that this collection is a few years old, you can imagine that I've had it for a few years and have only just taken it out for a ride! Ah, such are the perils of beauty blogging when you have too much makeup and nail polish.

China Glaze Swing Baby: Look at all that gold on my nails!

Now that I'm wearing it, though, I wish I had taken it out sooner!

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Color Eyeshadow Pencil Swatches

Remember back when I had a Laura Mercier makeover? It was a pretty darn awesome one, which actually hid my huge acne spots! If you haven't seen it, you really should, because the transformation is just impressive. Anyway, if you remembered, I promised to swatch the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Color for you guys, and then...I didn't. Until now.

So behold, the uber-late (but better than never, right?) swatches. The Caviar Stick Eye Colour is really an eyeshadow pencil. I have one of the colours, and I've found it to be pretty easy to use. The eyeshadow is blendable, but sets fairly fast and doesn't move after that, which in my opinion is the best of both worlds. In my experience setting time is pretty important for a good eyeshadow pencil: too fast and it becomes impossible to blend (and makes you feel like you're really just colouring with an eyeliner pencil), too slow, and you get smudges.

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Color Swatches

You can read my thoughts on each individual colour below.

Kiehl's Skin Rescuer: Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Kiehl's Skin Rescuer was launched a few months ago during summer, as a daily moisturizer for stressed, sensitive skin. Stressed, sensitive skin, you say? Awesome! If you read my skincare posts with any regularity, you'll know that while acne is a major problem of mine, a secondary, related problem is that of skin sensitivity and redness. Although my skin isn't that sensitive, it does sometimes experience redness and irritation. So I was keen to try this to see if it would work for me. And although I was all, "Pfft, another moisturizer, how boring," now that I've been using this for a few months, I have to say, I am actually impressed!

Stressed, sensitive skin? The Kiehl's Skin Rescuer might help!

You guys know that in addition to my own experience with the product, I also like to start off my reviews with a little ingredient analysis. So let's begin!

Beauty Blog Link Love

Love subtle highlighters? Then be sure to check out Nude Radiance by Burberry Beauty over at Makeup, Beauty & More!

Is luxury skincare worth it? It is when it looks like May Lindstrom's highly covetable line. Get the scoop over at Makeup Morsels.

Love baked eyeshadows? Beauty Reflections shows us the new Mary Kay At Play Baked Eye Trios. They are probably the BEST baked eyeshadows ever made!

Over at theNotice, Rae's found a silicone-free concealer that's basically magic. Yep, magic: it's perfect for covering both dark circles and redness, even on dry skin!

Musicalhouses shows you Illamasqua Collide nail polish, the perfect hot pink for your nails!

polish insomniac was rather harsh in part one of her China Glaze Autumn Nights review. She was relieved when she found lots of nice things to say about part two!

Jenny reviews the new BECCA Sun Chaser collection and creates a spring FOTD at My Funny Valentine.

Prime Beauty highlights a whole face of makeup with each item costing less than $10 in her Top 10 Beauty Products for under $10 feature!

Fleurissante has made a brief guide - everything you need to know about sunscreen.

At Musing on Beauty, Mariella gets her hands on a few items from the new Illamasqua Sacred Hour collection. Check out her review!

Can a washcloth be worth $33? Gouldylox Reviews wouldn't have thought so, but this one is!

See what made the cut for Phyrra's Beauty & Hair Favorites for the Month of August!

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed proves that coloured mascara doesn't need to be scary - check out her Mary Kay Lash Love Mascara swatches and see if they inspire you to switch from basic black!

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Beauty Info Zone loves a great giveaway and this time we have cosmetics from Painted Earth to share internationally. This runs through September 5, 2013 Eastern Time so get on over to see what the fuss is about.

Tiny Étude House Haul: Lipstick, Nail Polish, and Skincare

This isn't a huge haul by any means, but Etude House, the Korean drugstore brand known for its cute packaging and products, was having a sale, and I picked up a few items that I couldn't wait to share with you guys!

My Tiny little Etude House haul! The skincare isn't pictured in this photo, though.

This time, the haul includes lipstick, nail polish, and skincare!

Vanity Trove August: A Bounty of Beauty Goodies

My most recent Vanity Trove is a really good one - I got everything I ordered in this Trove, and that includes some really great stuff! If you guys don't know yet, Vanity Trove lets you pick your own samples, and samples are refreshed weekly. Here's a little tip - the website is re-stocked every Monday, so if you check in early on a Monday, you are more likely to find a greater variety of goods :) Now you know! I happened to order on Monday lunchtime, and I was lucky to get a bunch of goodies.