Kiss kiss baby

I've been working my way through a box of unopened or barely used cosmetics and perfumes that my cousin passed on to me after one of my favourite aunties passed away. My aunt and I were closer in colouring than my cousin was to her, so Mel was kind enough to give me items that she thought I would like. As mentioned in previous reviews we don't waste anything in our family and often swap and share cosmetic and skin care items between various female relatives, recycling in this way has always been a way of life. I've been lucky enough to have two Guerlain lipsticks come in to my possession lately one from this box of delights, and the other from my cousin herself (which isn't on the Dooyoo catalogue yet. . . the lipstick not my cousin). This Kiss Kiss baby one from my auntie is in the colour 'Rosy nude'. If I was choosing the colour myself I would probably have gone for a different shade but I was surprised at how flattering this is on my skin tone giving a truly rose petal subtle soft pink sheen.

I must admit that the thing I love most about brand name 'high end' cosmetics is mainly the packaging and this one is no exception. This has a nice weight to it and looks almost quilted, the casing is a silver colour and forms 3 'blocks' the third of which is base as you can see from the Dooyoo picture.

At first I thought this was a moisturising lipstick, but I now believe it's a moisturising pigmented lip balm. This product also has a SPF of 10 which although is not the highest is much better than nothing. I do find this beautifully moisturising, but must admit not as much as some plain old fashioned lip balms such as Blistex. Though the colour pay off is less than a lipstick it is still noticeable and it is beautiful. It is nice to both a pretty choice of colours and such a moisturising formulation and range gives a far greater choice colour wise than most balms ranges would. There are 6 base colours and Guerlain sometimes release limited edition colours too. Kiss Kiss contains a range of lip products not just the 'baby' lip balm, including glosses, lipsticks and lip primer. On a visit to the Guerlain website I notice that KissKiss Baby is not showing as one of the products in the range so I hope I am not writing a review on a discontinued product! However if I am I know that you can still purchase these online for around the £19-£20 mark (and even less in some places) should you wish.

The formula contains Mango butter and Luffa oil which is something I'd never heard of before, but is contained in some of Decleor's anti ageing products (a brand which I trust and is know for its natural approach to skin care) and you can feel slick moisturising quality of this product straight away. In fact I feel a slight tingle almost as if the moisture is puffing my lips up a little as it sets to work. I have to admit that this is better than other tinted lip balms I have tried, even more so than my favourite Gale Hayman.

The bullet has a shallow slant to it, and it not tapered on the leading edge so is not quite as precise as a lipstick to apply, and because there is a reasonable level of pigment if you overstep the boundary of your lips it will be visible.

Even though the colour is quite subtle on first application it is buildable and if you add a few layers you will get more of a coloured gloss look than sheer lip balm. This colour has a lovely micro shimmer which shows as more of a sheen on the lips, and doesn't appear to be achieved by reflective particles, though it probably is but they must be extremely finely milled if so. If you have lines around your lips it might be advisable to use a lip liner to prevent any 'travelling'. Touch wood I don't have this problem, but my cousin said that this was an item my aunty repurchased regularly and more recently always used a liner with it for this reason.

Because the bullet melts into the lips fairly quickly, and it is kind of addictive meaning I reapply more often than I would perhaps with a lipstick this won't last me as long as a lip colour, but it's a decent size bullet so I hope to at least get through part of the summer using it.

I thought that I would not get much use out of this item as I like lip balms on bare lips, and find them easy to use with lipsticks if I'm wearing any as they don't alter the colour (as this would if used with another shade). However I've found my self turning to this on a daily basis instead of some of my usual lip colours for a natural comfortable youthful look. However although I've secretly fallen in love with this pongy product.... Oh did I mention it was quite scented, no I didn't.... well it does have a fairly classically Guerlain aroma which is gorgeous but to be honest is a tad overpowering for a lip product. So where was I ... Ah yes although I love this product I would balk at paying the full price for it, it's simply out of my budget range. However if I can get it for under a tenner (which I believe you sometimes can on ebay) I will certainly purchase again as a treat, I won't even be too bothered about which colour as they all seem to be fairly natural, sheer and pretty. I can highly recommend this as a treat for your kissing gear, and one that leaves them baby soft and supple.