Review: Urban Decay Lip Love

By Thu Ngo

A few months ago, when Urban Decay released their Spring 2011 collection, they posted a series of face charts on their Facebook account, one of which used a product called “Lip Love” that was NOT in the collection. Of course, this sent a bunch of us diehard UD fans into a frenzy. What IS Lip Love? And when can we buy it?

Lip Love Honey-Infused Lip Therapy was finally released with the Summer 2011 collection. It boasts natural oils, a honey flavor/scent, and “a smooooooooth feel,” and it comes in five different shades – I have Stung to show you today, a dark berry color. It comes in a crimped-end tube with gold lettering and detailing, looking quite lux! So is it as SMOOTH as it claims to be?

Lip Love really does feel like honey sliding around on your lips. It’s not too heavy and it’s not sticky, and it makes my lips feel soft and smooth. It doesn’t last very long on me, but your mileage may vary, as I tend to eat and drink things all day and very little lipwear stays on me very long. It really does smell like honey (and has some sweetness to the taste), but this might bother some people – I personally rather liked it.

The one thing that disappointed me was that the color is REALLY sheer. As you can see from my photo below, Stung is pretty dark in the tube (and is the darkest of all the shades). But on my lips, the color is hardly noticeable (though the shine is awesome). If I had known to expect such sheerness in the first place, it wouldn’t bother me, but the colors are SO gorgeous in the tube (I also really liked Lolita and Failbait) that I was disappointed that the color did not translate. Why make such a range of pretty shades if they all more or less look the same where it counts – on your face? I really like Stung, but now I don’t feel particularly compelled to get any other shades.

Urban Decay’s Lip Love is a sweet, smooth liquid balm that will have you smacking your lips all day. As a “lip therapy,” it really makes my lips feel smooth and moisturized, but I find myself having to reapply constantly to maintain that honey feel. All in all, I think it’s a great way to add just a teensy tint of color to your lips while hydrating them. I recommend getting one – but I don’t think you’ll need more than one.

PS – The makeup artist at the UD counter suggested using their Cheek Tints on your lips and then layering Lip Love over it, to get a little more color. I really liked the look of Lolita layered on top of Score, and Stung layered over Greedy (which is my favorite of the cheek tints).