Clinique's Lip Smoothies formally known as Vitamin C Lip Smoothie Antioxidant Lip Colour (a bit of a mouthful!)

***What are lip smoothies?***

These are a newer form of lip gloss. They have the shine of a gloss but the coverage of a lipstick... so the best of both worlds! They are in a fantastic pen applicator similar to Clinique's airbrush concealer. It has a brush tip at the top and a part at the bottom of the applicator which you turn to allow the product to come into the brush tip. I love this type of application because it is so much easier and less messy than having a lipgloss with a wand inside of it.

***What ingredients are contained in the lip smoothies***

Vitamin C is a key ingredient in the lip smoothie as well as many other antioxidants to protect the lips from environmental damage. I think this is a great plus to this Clinique product since it can help to protect your lips from harsh weather conditions in the winter preventing your lips from chapping.

***How I heard about these***

These came out this time last year (in August 2009). I was so excited when I saw these advertised in magazines (the photo I have included shows the advertisement). The advertisement includes fruit and actual smoothies alongside the lip smoothies. This made me think that perhaps the lip smoothies either tasted or smelt of fruit...but sadly they don't. But I should have known better with Clinique being 100% fragrance free.

***What I thought when I saw them in store***

There were six colours at the time which consisted of:

* Pink me up - (light baby pink)
* Berry boast (pinky purple)
* Rhubarbie (pale pink)
* Peach power (pinky peach)
* Goodness Grapecious (dark purple)
* Nude-Tricious (light nude shimmer)

I first of all noticed when reading the colours that Clinique were trying to be more inventive with their names. It reminded me slightly of Benefit makeup colours.

My favourite out of these six which I bought was Goodness Grapecious. I prefer darker lip colours and it was such a beautiful purple that I instantly purchased it. But silly me... I didn't ask the Clinique consultant to try it on me... which leads to my disappointments with this product.

***Disappointments***

It is an incredibly sticky lip product. I have never tried a gloss that has ever been so sticky. This has really put me off the product because I hate that sticky feeling and it feels really heavy on the lips. It is a real shame because the applicator and colours are so nice. However I begrudgingly used it up.

Now Clinique has just brought out six more new colours in the lip smoothie which I have just recently seen advertised. The colours consist of:

* Black Nirvana (deep red/ purple)
* Guava Good (orange)
* Pear Perfection (nude/orange)
* Strawberry fudge (pink/purple)
* Pomegreatness (similar colour to the fruit pomegranate)
* Running Late (brown)

I absolutely love the colour Pear Perfection, it is hard to find a lip shade which is nude but still has a slight shimmer of another colour in it. By this I mean it looks nude but in certain lights it catches a shimmery nude/orange colour. I would definitely go into Clinique and buy this shade if they were no longer sticky. But unfortunately it has put me off them so much that I won't be buying another.

***Retail price***

£13.50 for a 1.5ml (this does last quite a long time) but you cannot see into the applicator to see how much you have left which is rather annoying.

***My opinion***

For anybody who does not mind a sticky lip-gloss feeling then these are perfect. I suppose I have to be fair to the product though and say some other positive points about the product. The lip smoothies do give a great coverage as well as shine at the same time and they are quite moisturising and long lasting.

So for these positive points as well as my one major negative point this is how I would score the Lip Smoothie out of 5 stars:

1 star for coverage and shine

1 star for colours and antioxidant ingredients

1 star for price and applicator

= Giving 3 stars

I am deducting 2 stars from 5 stars because of the stickiness because it really is such a let down to the product! However I commend Clinique for coming up with a truly unique product!