Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss Review, Photos, Swatches (Part 1)
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide, Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Say Hello to the New Gloss on the Block
Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss ($19.00 for 0.34 fl. oz.) is an entirely new product line for the fall season. They’ve released eleven shades in total (WHY! eleven! Even Steven, please!), and I’ve split them into creamy shades and shimmery shades. This post features the shades: Red Light (sheer candy apple red), Crush (sheer coral), Peroxide (palest pink), Wallflower (medium nude), Heavy (shimmering nude), and Love Junkie (deep but very sheer wine).
- Red Light is a semi-opaque apple red that’s not overly bright or in-your-face, since it’s not fully opaque. No distinguishable shimmer really–gives off a jelly kind of look. It’s actually not as red as it appears in the tube, so those who prefer lighter lip glosses, don’t despair from the tube alone!
- Crush is a semi-sheer magenta pink. It’s almost like magenta met bubblegum pink, and then they had a lovechild. I don’t know why it’s described as a “sheer coral,” because I did not get any coral feel from this at all! It has the same jelly look as Red Light.
- Peroxide is a pale, milky pink. I didn’t love how this looked alone on lips, just because the milkiness of it tends to emphasize lip lines as the product settles into them, and it’s difficult to make the gloss look even (see the lip swatch). I like that it’s pale and light without being ultra cool.
- Wallflower is a nearly opaque shade of pink with a nude edge. It’s very wearable, and I think this would be universally flattering. It has only a little milkiness, but overall, it applies smoothly and evenly without a fuss. It is also one of the more opaque shades of the bunch.
- Heavy is a darkened peach-nude with subtle white shimmer. In the tube, it looked pretty creamy to me, but it does have subtle shimmer in it. It is surprisingly opaque, and it has the best coverage and look overall out of all eleven shades–beautifully even and smooth while making lips look lush.
- Love Junkie is a semi-sheer reddened plum (think the inside of a plumcot!). This one did have a tendency to settle into lip lines, but I didn’t find it terribly noticeable from an average viewing distance. It looked a little splotchy on my lips, though.
Lip Junkie has a jelly feel and the less shimmery shades look it, too. They’re not nearly as thin as Pocket Rockets, but they don’t reach the weight or texture of XXX Shines, either–they’re a little jelly, not thick but noticeably not thin. These glosses do include Maxi Lip, which is a lip plumper, and normally, my lips don’t seem to do well with lip plumpers–but I managed to get through swatching all eleven shades back-to-back without any damage to my lips. (The last time I did a session of swatches of a lip plumper, my lips looked and felt like hell for a week–bleeding, peeling, and painful!)
There is a little tingle, but I wouldn’t call it a sting or a burn at all. They smell quite peppermint-y, so I actually thought that it was just more of a cooling, minty tingle rather than a particular plumping ingredient like Maxi Lip. It seemed to dissipate after a few minutes, and it really wasn’t that big of a deal. The sensation was more noticeable than MAC’s Plushglasses (which I barely notice and thus rank lowest on the painful-lip-plumper scale–DuWop’s Lip Venom is the highest for me). But then again? I really didn’t see much, if any, plumping of my lips. Pictures of my lips on the first swatch (Red Light) compared against to pictures of my lips on the last swatch (Perversion) didn’t show any plumping action.
These are non-sticky, peppermint-scented, sweet-tasting lip glosses with a medium thickness and a moisturizing, jelly feel. I wore Naked (in the next post!), and it lasted a solid two hours, with it beginning to fade and become just a thin layer with some glossiness in hour three. I did notice that these seemed particularly glossy, which helps give the illusion of juicier, plumper lips, too.
According to Urban Decay, the lip glosses are packaged in a single piece, rather than a lot of other squeeze-tube glosses which have a crimped end–and that crimped end can sometimes lead to lip gloss explosion extravaganzas in your purse or pocket (soooo not fun!). The cap is metallic-looking but feels plastic and a little cheap to me. I don’t love the way the packaging feels in my hands, but I do like that it feels solid and the cap screws-on and pulls off–both characteristics which should keep it from staying on your lips and not all over your bag!
I do like that these have good value in them–a little less than double of your average lip gloss (but in line with other squeeze-tube glosses like MAC Lipgelees and Make Up For Ever Glossy Full Couleurs). I did find that I needed what seemed like more than the usual lip gloss for full coverage, but it didn’t seem or feel heavy or obnoxious in the amount I applied.
So here’s the rub: these are supposed to plump, but I didn’t see any plumping. Though Lip Junkies seem to be a perfectly good gloss, I’m just not seeing any results on something that the marketing material was really pumping up (you’re lucky I didn’t say plumping up!). It purports to increase lip collagen by 40% in a month, and on the tube, it says “cools and plumps.” If you’ve managed to read this far into the review–first, kudos–but more importantly, these are like B+ glosses; not perfect, not the greatest ever, but they’re good. But since they don’t do everything they’re supposed to based on my experience, I have to lower the score down.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! 🙂
- Product: 25/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: This is a solid gloss, but I don’t think it’s necessarily groundbreaking, you know? It’s another good lip gloss that’s non-sticky, smells nice (much better than the creme brulee scent typical to Urban Decay lip products), and feels lovely on the lips.
AVAILABILITY: June 29th @ UrbanDecay.com; August 1st @ Sephora, ULTA, Macy’s, and Beauty.com
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide, Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide, Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide, Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: The Caps
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Caps again!
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide, Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Urban Decay Red Light Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Red Light Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Crush Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Crush Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Peroxide Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Peroxide Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Wallflower Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Wallflower Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Heavy Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Heavy Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Love Junkie Lip Junkie
Urban Decay Love Junkie Lip Junkie
it’s nothing I haven’t seen before!!!
do not want. too sheer for me. PASS.
What eyeliner are you wearing on your lower lid?
UD Deviant — it’s leftover from the UD look posted earlier today!
All of these are a giant skip for me. All I want from Urban Decay is that new palette!
Wallflower and Heavy are my favorites, but I’m not a huge lipgloss fan, so I might pass on these.
They look so pretty in the tube! What a disappointment though, looks like a near-sheer that will be off in 5 seconds.
Surprisingly, the wear time is decent — 2 to 3 hours!
Christine, thanks so much for your swatches and detailed review of the UD Lip Junkie glosses – and the fantastic pictures!
Especially love that you actually post pics of them applied to lips as I have a really difficult time picturing from hand/arm swatches what lip products will look like when one actually puts them on! Helps tremendously to see your lip swatches (despite our difference in skintone – I’m the palest person I know with freckles and red hair to boot! LOL! :))
Heavy is by far my fave (also possibly my fave UD 24/7 Lip Liner color, too – between Heavy and Wallflower! I can use UD 24/7 Heavy or Wallflower Lip Pencil as liners for a huge range of lip colors, from flesh to brownish-toned nudes, light to medium neutrals, and even with a lot of bright and/or deep true REDS (believe it or not Heavy and Wallflower actually turns reds that are too orange-based for me into perfectly wearable colors!). Wicked is my second fave UD 24/7 Lip Liner since I can use it for nearly all pinks, light to darkish pinky nudes, some plums, lavendars, and even light violets! 🙂
I’m so glad I was able to help! 🙂
I will have to try out Wicked!
I think my favorite is “Heavy”. I already have full lips and hate when I find a great gloss but it’s in a plumping formula – for my face, Angelina Jolie is an awful look, so I’m glad that these don’t have much ‘punch’ to them.
I feel ya, Meheen! I don’t want any plumping for my lips, so it’s cool with me that it doesn’t work on a personal level!
I was gonna pass because these are marketed as lip plumper. I dont like lip plumper because I have naturally juicy lips and whenever I put a lip plumper on my lips burn. Now , I still may pass on them , but it wont be because of its plumping , or lack thereof.
Red Light looks gorgeous on you!
Thanks, Stephanie!
may i say heavy looks awesome with your skin tone i have a friend who i think this would look great on, I can’t wait to go tell her!
Aw, thank you, Halo!
Aww.. Peroxide is sheer too. Well at least this will stop be from buying more makeup. Sometimes disappointing products are a good thing -at least for your wallet.
Is this a redo of their Ultraglide glosses? Is “Heavy” the same shade of the same name from the Ultraglide line? I have that and LOVE it.
Not sure — I’ve never tried or used an Ultraglide gloss!
I WISH. Gash Ultraglide has been my go-to FOREVER.
Aw man, I’m totally bummed! I love the first three shades but I can’t use these! I’m incredibly allergic to fragrances, particularly artificial vanilla and peppermint! Ugh, just when I thought I could buy a UD lip product too! I had to give my Peroxide lipstick to my mom because, yet again, I had a hideous migraine after wearing it. It was such a pretty color too!
UD and other higher end brands, take a cue from your allergy and perfume-sensitive lipgloss-junkie customers (which I’m sure there are many)and make scentless and flavorless lip products!!!
Crush and Red Light look divine on you Christine!
How do you find NARS lipglosses/lipsticks? Do those cause you to react? I always wonder, because they’re virtually scent- and taste-free… but they often smell waxy and tastes bleh.
I haven’t tried NARS yet. I’m trying that brand next. I just started expanding into higher end makeup in the last year. I wanted my skin to even out a little (I have very sensitive, acne-prone combo skin) before I expanded beyond drugstore makeup. I also wanted to have a better idea at what I’m allergic to before I go out and spent a lot more than $10 on a product. I didn’t have a good grasp on what I’m allergic to until I was 20.
Fragrance-wise, I can use some Stila lip glazes. I have three that I’m pretty okay with. I haven’t tried any higher end foundations, blushes or concealers yet; I don’t know what would be a good option to start with. I’m easing my way into higher end brands. It gives me a chance to see how I react to it–skin wise and brain wise.
Do let me know! I am curious to see how you find that smell!
I like Wallflower, the apple red and crush!
I thought I would like the coral red, but that one is way too sheer IMO. the apple red is sheer, but more pigmented at least it looks this way.
VERY tempted by these three thanks 🙂
I read at Musings Of A Muse that these plumped after a month or so? Like, raised the lips collagen? Does they plum PERMANENTLY? Cuz if so, I dunno if a want em 😛
That’s what the press material says – 40% more lip collagen after a month of daily usage. I imagine that even if that were true and visibly measurable (I don’t know enough science to know if saying 40% more lip collagen means 40% bigger lips — that doesn’t sound like a good thing for *most* people), it’s only with daily, consistent usage and would need to be continued to maintain the look.
ike Wallflower, the apple red and crush!
I thought I would like the coral red, but that one is way too sheer IMO. the apple red is sheer, but more pigmented at least it looks this way.
VERY tempted by these three thanks 🙂
Does peroxide remind you of Mac’s Boy Bait?
A lil’ bit!
wallflower looks just like Bone Bell- Iced Cappucino lip xloss, way cheaper and smells really goodmskelly
Okay- I bought the “Heavy” one. I like it almost as much as my go-to lip gloss, which is NARS “Sweet Revenge”. It is much sheerer than it is in the tube (unlike the Ultraglide lip glosses). The smell is lighter and the gloss itself is much less sticky than the Pocket Rocket glosses. Personally, I’m glad I spent the money– it’s a “my lips, but better” kind of gloss, and looks very natural on me.
As for plumping, I didn’t see much, and the tingling is very mild.
Anyone know a good Wallflower dupe? (preferably non-plumping) Thanks! 😀