NARS Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm Too Expensive for Sheer Nothingness
NARS Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm ($28) is a new hydrating lip balm that contains a hint of that golden pink tint we love so much in Orgasm Blush. I am and forever will be a strong supporter of NARS Orgasm Blush. Some people find it way too sparkly and shimmery but it is my ideal shade of peach and it’s a shade I wear quite often!
Every so often NARS appeases the rapid Orgasm fans by releasing other items tinted with the shade. Over the years there has been NARS Orgasm Nail Polish, lipgloss, and lipstick. When Summer rolls around the brand seems to embrace Orgasm even more and release smaller collections featuring a few Orgasm shaded items which always excites me.
This Summer, we get not one but two Orgasm products that we’ve never seen before one of which is the Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm and another is a loose illuminating powder which I’m eager to get my hands on. I was quite happy to see something new for lips in this shade since I was quite disappointed with the lipstick NARS put out last year. However, when I heard it was a lip balm I went into the purchase knowing I’d come out of it disappointed. It’s like a toxic romance. You know he’s bad for you but go in deep anyway and end up hurt. NARS Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm is sadly a waste of nearly $30 and don’t let anyone tell you differently. As a fan of the Orgasm shade I can honestly say to you, don’t spend $28 on this. It’s too sheer and not moisturizing enough to warrant this kind of money.
NARS Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm comes housed in a rose gold metallic square barrel that holds 0.1 oz of lip balm. I do wish that the rest of the collection had the same packaging as I’d die if they released Orgasm Blush in a rose gold compact. Yes, please! They did however, extend the pretty packaging to the Orgasm Full Vinyl Lip Lacquer that’s launching soon at Sephora as it has a pretty rose gold cap!
NARS doesn’t over promote this to death so what you see is what you get. The call it a hydrating lip balm with a subtle hint of Orgasm color and a radiant finish and that’s a pretty fair and accurate description of the formula. Although hydration might be a little farfetched as I only felt it offered the lightest of moisture. The hydration apparently comes from NARS’ own Monoï Hydrating Complex. A quick glance at the ingredients reveals some of the moisture comes from coconut and jojoba oil as well as skin softening hydrogenated polyisobutene. It’s actually not a super hydrating lip balm at all so don’t expect it to cure your dry lips but it will give you a bit of moisture, a hint of shine, and a very subtle tint that wasn’t as Orgasm-like as I was hoping for. In reality it looked like I applied a color changing lip balm on my lips but that could stem from the fact it is sheer and my lips are already pigmented. Someone with paler lips might see better color pay off. It is a very pretty golden pink with refined golden sparkly flecks that don’t quite translate once applied. I didn’t really notice anything shimmery about the finish but it did add a nice bit of shine. The wear time is fairly short and reapplication is likely going to be quite often for me as I get about an hour’s worth of wear from it. It contains no flavor nor fragrance.
Is it disappointing? Yeah, on some levels it is. I did wish it would have been more pigmented but also, on another level, I’m actually not that sad because when I purchased this I had already prepped myself for disappointment. I knew that it wasn’t going to be a long wearing, highly moisturizing, pigmented lip balm. And NARS did not promise me that which I appreciate.
Sadly, NARS Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm is a bit too expensive to throw money at in my opinion. You might want to skip this one.
Tried it already?
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NARS Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm is available now at sephora.com.