$8 Vs. $40 Lip Gloss: Can A Cosmetic Chemist Guess Which Is More Expensive?

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So satisfying, it's kind of giving cinnamon a little bit,

not in a fun way.

Hi, I'm Ramon and I'm a cosmetic chemist.

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In front of me I have two plumping lip glosses.

When it comes to a plumping lip gloss,

I want that plumping effect,

which is thanks to generally

an ingredient called the capsicum,

which literally irritates the lip.

Promotes blood flow to that area

to give you a more visually plump looking lip.

Starting with A, it's a nice peachy color.

I'm not seeing shimmer or anything.

It's actually very opaque,

I can't see the actual doe foot in there.

And now let's look at plumping gloss B.

Same color family, very different color.

Also has shimmer, if I'm not mistaken.

This does have a slight smell to it,

but it, this smells like a very traditional plumping gloss

with a little bit of something put on top of it.

Compared to A,

I don't smell the traditional lip plumping smell out of A.

That doesn't necessarily denote quality.

Maybe they're masking the scent.

But maybe B has a higher concentration of the capsicum.

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It glides on really nice, it doesn't feel very thick.

It's a very, very thin consistency

and it spreads really well.

And I'm not feeling any irritation or burn from this,

which I kind of expect out of a pumping gloss, I want that.

And you can see the color of it.

There's like no color to it.

I'm now feeling a little bit of a cooling sensation though.

But again, it's not a burning,

it just feels like I put menthol or like Vicks on my lip

and it feels like, like fresh, cool.

Now let's try B.

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I'm waiting for the burning to kick in.

This one also spreads really nicely.

Okay, now the burning's starting to kick in a little bit.

But again, this is a more traditional,

burning, capsicum feeling, whereas with A,

it feels very mentholy.

So right now that tells me that plumping gloss B

features capsicum, probably a good decent amount of it,

'cause now it's really starting to burn a little bit.

Whereas A uses something alternative.

So you can see when you apply lip gloss A,

first of all, it's a lip gloss.

So instantly you're gonna get

a really nice moisturized look.

And as the lip gloss sits on the lip,

your lips gonna look more full

as a result of just moisturization.

But realistically, it's not plumping the lip.

And you can see you're not getting the visual payoff you

would expect and want from a traditional plumping lip gloss.

So here's the before and after for lip gloss A.

You can see it didn't do much,

it didn't live up to the benefits and claims.

And you can see when you apply product B,

you're getting the same moisturized look on the lip.

But the initial burning sensation starts to kick in

after about three to five seconds.

And you can see as it wears longer on the lips,

the plumping effect visually just becomes more

and more and more pronounced

as the inflammatory response takes place.

And you can see the lips look a lot more visibly fuller.

The inflammatory response is a little bit more pronounced,

and thus the lips actually look plumped.

And here's the before and after for product B.

And you can see this is

what a traditional lip plumping gloss is supposed to do.

This is what I come to expect from a plumping gloss.

This is what I hope I'm getting

when I buy a lip plumping gloss.

So now let's compare the ingredients list

for lip plumper A and B.

Looking at a,

and let me just say I have never seen

an ingredients list this long before, that's crazy.

First ingredient is petrolatum,

AKA, basically Vaseline right there.

That's going to help nicely moisturize the lips.

Not something that's necessarily very heavy.

Algae extracts.

On the list, I see something that says menthyl PCA,

which might be the specific cooling effect that I feel.

Maybe they're trying to make lip pumping claims off that.

I don't know if they're going off a traditional,

your lips are gonna look more hydrated

and therefore more plump situation.

And maybe pushing a specific story with the marketing.

But this is not a traditional lip plumper by any means.

Looking at B though, shorter ingredients list.

Mineral oil is the first ingredient,

which is also a hydrocarbon similar to petrolatum,

but it's a much more lightweight one.

So yeah, with this you see capsicum frutecens resin.

That is the capsicum that's giving you

that lip plumping effect, that traditional burning sensation

that I'm quite enjoying at this moment in time.

Just off these two ingredients lists,

I'm actually gonna say product A

is probably the higher end, higher quality products.

Whereas B is probably the lower quality

in terms of it probably has a lower price point,

but it's gonna be a more effective,

more traditional lip plumping products.

So looking at the price for lip gloss A,

$90, and it was really all on the ingredients list.

It's a very specific natural stance

and it's pushing a more botanical based result.

And for me, that always just leans on a higher price point.

As for product B,

$33, so both are actually on a mid plus price point tier.

But it's interesting because you can see

that product B, a lot more actually effective.

You get a lot more of that high impact result,

which I personally want out of lip plumper.

So the price point for this is warranted

in that this is very effective.

But it's interesting comparing it to product A,

which has almost three times the price point.

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Clear high shine lip glosses.

So starting with lip gloss A,

as you can see it is glass clear,

which is a really good quality and a clear gloss.

We don't want anything cloudy, we don't want anything

that's going to affect the clarity of that.

Let's look at product B.

Visually, a clear gloss is gonna be a clear gloss.

The main attribute when it comes to looking at the quality

of a lip gloss is how it looks,

how it spreads, and how it feels.

We're going to test the application for lip gloss A.

So again, it's a clear gloss, we're not gonna see much,

any color payoff for pigments, but,

just in how it applies.

Okay, it feels thick, was I'm pulling that across my hand,

there's a little tug on there, so it's not spreading easily.

And that's telling me potentially there's a lot

of that hydrogenated polyisobutene,

or whatever is serving that purpose in the lip gloss.

Maybe not so much of a focus on emollients and esters

to increase the spreadability,

but that's not a bad quality.

And then if I rub it, it's thick, it has viscosity

and body to it, which is not a bad sign.

It doesn't indicate quality, but it is a thicker gloss.

So now let's look at lip gloss B.

Oh, that's even thicker.

Okay, that is like I'm tugging at my skin to spread that.

Again, that's not an indication of quality whatsoever,

it's just a focus on there's more of

that hydrogenated polyisobutene

or potentially just not so much

of a focus on the emollients and esters.

But that could mean that product B,

as a result of having that higher concentration

of the hydrogenated polyisobutene,

is gonna give you a higher impact,

like, more glassy gloss.

Spreading that, yeah, it's really thick.

There's, like, a lot of tug.

It's like if you were just to put,

like, cooler than room temp honey

on your skin and try to spread it.

You know how honey gets thicker the cooler it is?

It's very that.

Another, like, user experience thing is lip gloss A smells,

it has a fragrance to it, it smells,

I'm getting sweet vanilla.

It smells like a baked good, like you walk into,

like, someone's house when they're baking cookies,

that smells good.

Product B doesn't have a smell.

And again, that does not indicate quality.

So next we're gonna go in with the flashlight test.

We're going to test the refraction of the lip gloss

to see how glossy they really are.

Just because when we have a clear lip gloss,

we want it to really gloss.

So what I'm noticing in the flashlight test is product A

is actually giving me a lot more gloss,

a lot more shine compared to product B

where product B is giving thick.

It's giving a a richer body, a thicker texture on the skin.

So product A, it's giving me a lot more gloss,

even though it's a thinner texture.

Product B has less gloss, but it has a thicker body.

So now let's compare the ingredients list

for lip gloss A versus lip gloss B.

Let's start with A,

and right off the bat, something really interesting,

which I don't think I've actually ever seen before,

is the first ingredient is mineral oil,

which is a really nice moisturizing hydrocarbon.

A hydrocarbon is generally something

that is actually petroleum derived,

which is not a bad thing.

Anything that's petroleum derived is highly refined,

very safe for cosmetic use.

But it moisturizes really well

but also has a very light skin feel.

So potentially the lighter skin feel

and better spreadability of lip gloss A has to do

with the fact that mineral oil has a higher concentration

in the formula.

And then the next ingredient is polybutene,

which is generally a component for lip gloss.

It has a very good adhesion to the lips.

It moisturizes really well

and it has a really nice gloss to it.

If you look at an ingredients list and you see something

that ends in ate, A-T-E,

like here we see sorbitan sesquioleate that's ester.

And esters generally tend to have a much thinner viscosity,

very good skin feel, very light skin feel,

but they have kind of like a dry oil texture to them.

Thus in this regard, they're helping

with viscosity and spreadability.

So now let's look at the ingredient list for lip gloss B.

And as you can see, worlds apart.

So there's 1, 2, 3, 4 ingredients in this,

which tells me it's a very simple product.

The goal for this is gloss.

It's not so much necessarily user experience.

Hydrogenated polyisobutene is the first ingredient

and as I mentioned earlier,

it's a very thick, very viscous gel.

Next is jojoba seed oil, which to some degree helps

to thin out the formula, maybe help with spreadability,

but we saw didn't really do much.

And then tocopheryl acetate is a version of vitamin E

that helps with formula stability.

It's an antioxidant that prevents the product

from going rancid.

And then phenoxyethanol is a general preservative.

So it just prevents microbial growth.

'Cause when you're taking the applicator,

putting it on your mouth, putting that back in a lip gloss,

you don't want anything growing in your lip gloss.

So obviously comparing the two,

product B has a much more simple ingredients list.

In general, that's not a bad thing,

but just looking off A, the user experience

of both lip glosses and then B, the ingredients list.

In my mind for lip gloss A,

a lot more care and intent was put into the formula

to make it have a better user experience.

At the end of the day, as a chemist,

you want your customers to enjoy your product,

you want 'em to have a good time using your product.

And therefore I wanna put as much time

and attention into making sure that my product's fun to use.

So to me, product A is gonna be a little bit higher quality

and also more expensive.

There's a lot more things in there.

So let's look at the price for product A,

$6, that is shocking.

I'm genuinely very surprised by that.

The product overall, it's a really nice quality product.

It spreads really well, it has really good gloss,

it smells delicious.

And now the price for product B,

$23, I'm also very shocked by that.

I mean again, the amount of ingredients

on an ingredient list doesn't tell you anything.

What I can only assume it's potentially A,

a specific story put behind the product or B,

you're paying for the name of the products.

Sometimes affordable products have a lot more intent put

into them, and cheap doesn't mean bad.

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Now we're gonna be looking at lip oils.

So lip oils, super hot at the moment.

What a lip oil is

is a more thinned out lip gloss.

Pretty much the same exact ingredients,

but higher concentration of oils

and esters that help give more slip, more spreadability.

Common comment that I've heard about lip oils is

that they aren't as moisturizing as lip glosses are.

And that's because a lot of the esters

that are used might not be as occlusive

or moisturizing as a lip gloss itself is.

So looking at product A first,

you can see it's got a tint to it,

but the tint is not opaque.

It's not a very high coverage tint.

Therefore, on the lip, I actually don't know if this

is gonna leave very much of a color impact.

I'm just trying to see if anything's settled to the bottom.

This looks like a dye, it's not pigment obviously,

but that's all I'm seeing out of this.

Now let's look at lip oil B, And this is very different.

This one is a lot more color in there.

I cannot see the actual applicator in there at all.

And this is probably also a dye,

but just at a higher concentration.

So now let's see how these look on the skin.

Starting with lip oil A.

So you can see it has good spreadability, but on the skin

that color doesn't translate very much at all.

So on the lip it's gonna be,

like, the most subtle of tints, if anything.

The color payoff itself has no indication

of quality or of any higher price point.

'Cause you might have a higher end brand

that just wants to appeal

to a very natural no makeup consumer.

But it feels very lightweight on the skin.

It actually has a little bit,

like, a little bit of pull, which tells me

it's gonna feel a little bit more moisturizing

on the lip possibly.

So now let's do lip oil B.

Again, this one has some substantially more color to it.

So let's see how that translates on the skin.

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Surprisingly, not very much.

In terms of the texture of this,

this doesn't have as much pull as lip oil A,

therefore it might feel more light on the skin.

And actually comparing them side by side,

they have the same level of color to them on the skin,

which is interesting.

And then comparing the two, product A,

because it has more pull, that's gonna indicate

to me it has more tack, it's a little bit more sticky.

Maybe it has a higher percentage

of the hydrogenated polyisobutene.

Whereas B, it spreads a lot easier.

It's not very sticky, it doesn't have much pull at all.

And maybe it has just a higher concentration

of the emollients and oils.

So now in order to test the two lip oils,

we're gonna really test how they spread and feel on the lip.

Starting with lip oil A.

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It has a smell, but I can't clock what that smell is.

It's kind of giving cinnamon a little bit,

but not in a fun way.

So you can see it doesn't give much color at all.

It feels lightweight on the lip.

There's a little bit of stick to it.

It has a little bit of body to it.

I think this is the one that I said might have a little bit

of a higher concentration

of the hydrogenated polyisobutene.

So I'm feeling a little bit more moisture of the lip,

but I also, I feel it on my lips,

which I don't know if I love.

I wanna lip oil, I want it to be very lightweight.

But now let's go with lip oil B.

So yeah, on the lips it feels more lightweight.

It doesn't have the stick that lip oil A does.

Smell, how does it smell?

It smells like raw material.

So it kind of smells plastic industrial to me.

So in terms of the test,

I think lip oil B has better spreadability.

But in terms of quality, I'm still torn.

So now let's compare the ingredients list

for lip oil A and B, starting with A.

The first ingredient is hydrogenated polyisobutene.

So this is basically the sister to a lip gloss in my mind.

I mentioned earlier that ester is anything

that ends in an ate.

And the second ingredient is trydecyl trimellitate.

Interestingly, there is fragrance in this product,

actually very middle of the ingredients list.

And I did mention that product A did smell a little bit

to me, kind of like cinnamon.

The last ingredient in here is a specific extract,

undaria pinnatifida extract.

Anytime I see an extract, to me that's trying

to tell a specific marketing story

that could denote a higher price point.

Now let's look at lip oil B.

Interestingly, the first ingredient

is also hydrogenated polyisobutene,

followed by the same exact ester we saw in lip oil A.

We have polyisobutene,

which is another, like, thick lip gloss ingredient.

Good amount of oils in here.

Product A has a longer ingredients list

and I see less oils, more esters.

Product B has more oils, less esters,

and a much shorter ingredients list.

Product A has that extra extract in there.

So based on the swatches, the application test

and the ingredients list, I think product A personally

is gonna be the more expensive, higher quality option.

So let's look at the price for lip oil A,

$40, that's actually crazy for lip oil

if I'm gonna be honest.

But again, this tells me

they probably have a very specific story.

They have a very specific intent

with this line and this launch.

And now let's look at the price for lip oil B.

$8, worlds apart.

And what's interesting is I actually prefer the formula

for B just because I think it spreads a lot nicer

and feels a lot nicer on the lips.

And also, as I mentioned earlier, you see how the colors

of them look very different.

B is a lot more opaque in the packaging,

which visually in your head you're like, oh,

it's more dye, it's gonna cost more money, but $40.

Price point really does not tell you anything.

You want a high shine, a nice lip feel,

a nice lip look.

And price point doesn't always get you

those specific results.

But when it comes to lip glosses, try them out, swatch them,

and look at some more affordable options,

because you get some good bangers up in there.

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