Friday 22 July 2011

Product Review: MAC Viva Glam Gaga II Amplified creme lipstick

It seems like every single girl has a signature lipstick/gloss shade, that she's always trying to find the right version of. Amiright? There are many that love pinks, many that love muted brown tones, many that love plums, many that love reds. There are those that are ballsy enough to constantly sport really shocking fuchsia and orange shades (bless you all, I love seeing you on my morning commute). I am firmly in the nude lipstick camp, having always been a fan of dramatic eyes and that campy porn star lip look. Because my skin color varies so wildly, depending on which self tanner and how often I use them, I've amassed an incredible collection of nude lipsticks. 

Today I welcome into my rotation, the fabulous Gaga II color. Although Myth is my slightly peachy standby for whenever I'm sporting some paleness, I love Gaga II whenever I get my tan on. Though the shade can look slightly gray on me if I experiment with a self tanner that goes at all orange (so word to the wise, girls with a lot of yellow warmth in your skin, may not look that great) I tend to top everything with slightly pigmented lip glosses so as long as I inject a little bit of pinkness in that way, it looks great. Those with olive or very cool medium, cafe au lait skin tones, would look fantastic with just this. The finish is off course a creamy semi-matte, it feels great on the lips, but those are well known and well understood facts about many lipsticks anyway.
Ingredients:
  1. Ricinus communis (castor) seed oil - an occlusive skin conditioning agent.
  2. Diisostearyl malate - emollient
  3. Trioctyldodecyl citrate - emollient
  4. Lanolin oil - an emollient derived from sheep's wool that closely resembles the composition of sebum, which is great on lips because they don't produce it. By the way, Lanolin's long believed reputation as a skin sensitizer has recently been assessed in a large British study, and it turns out that there's a next to nil chance of it ever sensitizing the skin.
  5. Caprylic/capric triglyceride - emollient, emulsifier, thickener
  6. Euphorbia cerifera (candelila) wax/candelila cera/cire de candelila - contributes to the solid, waxy feel of the product
  7. Octyldodecanol - another emollient
  8. Ozokerite - a wax that also contributes to the solid feel of the product. By the way, this is often found on the ingredient lists of brands that market themselves as natural and although it does come from nature, most consumers that seek natural products would strongly dislike the natural source: coal. Just a tip to anyone wanting to avoid petroleum derivatives (which are usually wonderfully effective and safe but often maligned).
  9. Silica - although this is a great oil absorber, it also helps create an ultra smooth silky feel on skin, which is a great attribute for a lipstick to have
  10. Polydecene - a non-sticky emollient that creates a fabulous, smooth feel on skin
  11. Bis-diglyceryl polyacyladipate-2 - a thick, sticky, shine enhancing emollient. the higher up an ingredient list you see this, the more the product resembles a lipgloss. at this concentratio, the effect isn't powerful
  12. Polyethylene - you've likely used scrubs containing plastic polyethylene beads, well how's this for versatility: polyethylene can be melted into liquid to add to creamy products, which creates a smoother application and finish
  13. Microcrystalline wax/cera microcristallina/cire microcristalline - a wax that enhances the solidity of the product
  14. Triticum vulgare (wheat) germ extract - decoration and fanciness
  15. Glycine soya (soybean) seed extract - some more window dressing
  16. Hordeum vulgare (barley) extract/extrait d'orge - further window dressing that could effectively scare all gluten avoiders
  17. Astrocaryum murumuru butter - murumuru is very moisturizing, but only in high concentrations
  18. Tocopheryl acetate - vitamin e is a great antioxidant and emollient, in high concentrations
  19. Squalene - another ingredient that help mimick skin's natural moisturizing factor, and you know what's coming next: were it present in a higher amount
  20. Cholesterol - did you know that the cholesterol we eat also contributes to our skin's moisture? unlike many foods, it also does the same magic from the outside
  21. Ceramide 3 - another portion of skin's natural moisturizing factor, how I wish it were more concentrated
  22. Alumina - similar to silica, it helps enhance the lubricity of application
  23. Linoleic acid - skin identical moisturizing ingredient 
  24. Vanillin - that smell, that taste
  25. {+/- Mica - a slight bit of shimmer, though this is a very negligible amount and you would need a magnifying glass to see it on the lips
  26. Titanium dioxide (CI 77891) - opacifying agent, would be a sunscreen if it were present in higher concentrations
  27. Iron oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499) - mineral colors (see, they're in every product, not just mineral makeup)
  28. Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090) - colorant
  29. Carmine (CI 75470) - colorant
  30. Red 6 (CI 15850) - colorant
  31. Red 7 lake (CI 15850) - colorant
  32. Red 28 (CI 45410) - colorant
  33. Red 30 (CI 73360) - colorant
  34. Red 33 lake (CI 17200) - colorant
  35. Yellow 5 lake (CI 19140) - colorant
  36. Yellow 6 lake (CI 15985) - colorant
  37. Yellow 10 lake (CI 47005) - colorant

No comments:

Post a Comment