The Hunt For The Perfect Lipstick: AWAKE Lip Gloss Brilliance Stardom ("Fairly Pink")

When purchasing Christmas gifts, I usually tried to take advantage of sales going on to pick up brands of cosmetics I might not have tried previously. Such was the case in this purchase, a gift-boxed collection of AWAKE Cosmetics' Stardom Color series. The box, a fiberboard box with a slab of cedar in the base, covered with metallic red and silver cardstock covering and light padding, with a sheet of etched plexiglass (with the AWAKE logo, an unfurling fern leaf) in the lid. The box is gorgeous. The items in it are quite pretty, though rather small, even for samples. In the sample selection is a tube of AWAKE's Lip Gloss Brilliance in "Fairly Pink".

The short version: Don't bother. Pretty exterior, lacking product.



Candidate: AWAKE Lip Gloss Brilliance Stardom (Fairly Pink)

Purchased: The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc.

Cost: $24.00

Brand Info: AWAKE by KOSE America, Inc.
A leading cosmetic company in Japan and the creator of the AWAKE brand, KOSE has been pioneering cosmetics and skin care products in Japan since 1946 and has grown to become the third largest cosmetics company in Japan. With its roots as an established brand in Japan, AWAKE launched in the U.S. in 1997 at Henri Bendel in New York. The brand has since opened up in prestige department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, specialty stores Bath & Body Works and C.O. Bigelows, and is also available on beauty websites including NeimanMarcus.com and Beauty.com.

The Tube: Clear PETE plastic, pinch-sealed at the end like a standard tube of toothpaste (or inexpensive lip glosses). Metallic red screw-on lid covers a molded plastic delivery point, again like inexpensive lip glosses. Print on the tube is silver, which makes it very hard to read when the product inside is a pearlized silver/white pink.

The Product: Pearlized pale pink in color. Also looks to be filled with shimmering pigments.

The Application: Wow. Goes on heavy, gloppy, slick. Smells like cedar or pine, and I can't tell if that's the product itself or an artifact from the interior of the box having that same aroma. Once it's smoothed out, it becomes sheer with a little bit of shimmer; not much color at all.

The Taste: Cedar/pine. It's somewhat harsh and very unexpected. I've read elsewhere that AWAKE tastes strongly of "botanicals" (code for "tastes like grass or plants"), but this was not what I expected to taste.

The Blot: Colorless blot (a tiny bit of the pale pink color shows up on the tissue).

The Wear: Gets stickier the longer it's on. Fortunately, that won't be long; it's gone rapidly when you eat, drink, lick lips, etc.

The Verdict: Seriously, don't bother, unless you like sticky pine tar on your lips.