My favourite product of 2009

I have always had very pale lips. On top of that they are dry as a bone. As a kid, my jaw wasn't in the right place, so I couldn't close my mouth all the way. That and years and years of braces, left me with the habit of sleeping with my mouth open, which dries my lips out even more.
So what do I do? I use lipbalms. Now, I had this tinted lipbalm years ago that took on a lipcoloured shade, which was different with everyone. It depended on how warm your lips were and the colour of your lips. I LOVED that lipbalm, and ofcourse, it's been discontinued and I haven't had such a great product in years.

So, after years of searching for the right coloured lipbalm, I finally found them. Actually I now found several, because that's the way my life goes. I look for something for years and years, and no store seems to have what I want. And then all of a sudden, you can find it ANYWHERE. Oh well, at least, they are easy to find now. ;)

Anyway, when Gosh announced the release of the Soft 'n Shine Lipbalms, I was really really excited.
At first they only released 3 or 4 colours, and I could only find 2 of them in the stores. Unfortunately they were bright pinka and orange, and that isn't really my thing. Luckely I found someone who did have the other colours and I was able to buy my first Soft 'N shine, no.34 Perfect Plum.
I LOVED the product from the first day I used it. It's a very soft balm, that soothes and hydrates your lips, has an SPF of 15 (awesome for summers!!), and has a great colour that isn't as thick and pasty like a lipstick.
The balsm contain vitamin E and they taste a little of vanilla. It also gives a great shine that compliments your lips and isn't as sticky as a lipgloss.
I was very curious about other colours, and finally when they came out, I bought 3 more.

The Soft ' N Shine lipbalms I have so far are:

  • no. 34 Perfect Plum
  • no. 36 Mocha
  • no. 37 Soft Touch
  • no. 38 Aubergine
The Soft 'n Shine comes in 12 different colours, mostly pinks.  But there also are some orangy, red and other shades. I didn't buy the red one, because to me it was a lot more thicker than the others, and if I want some thick layer on my lips, I'll use one of my many red lipsticks.
I really hope Gosh will one day release even more colours, in more oranges, reds, and maybe even purples.

Here are the swatches on my skin, in the same order as listed above:



As you can see, no 36 isn't really a mocha colour, or at least, I had expected a brownish colour. But it's more of an orange tone, which I btw love. No. 38  isn't really aubergine, which to me is purple, but more of a deep red. So if you think about buying one, swatch them first on your hand, so you know you have the colour you want. The names might deceive a little.

The Soft 'n Shine lipbalms come in very nice packaging:  a glossy silveryblack case, with the brand and productname in white lettering. The balm is like a small lipstick which you can wind up and the lid closes with a noticable click. It won't open in your bag, because it closes really good. On the bottom there's a sticker which has the number and name on it.

Here are mine without their lids on:



As you can see, the colours aren't really as described. My favourite one is Soft Touch, because it gives a great pink, almost nude colour for my pale lips.

To me the Soft 'n Shine lipbalms by Gosh are THE product of the year 2009!
So if you ever get the chance, buy one (or more) and let me know what you think of them!

Posted on Friday, January 15, 2010