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Five colour-changing lipsticks and balms to add some fun into your beauty routine.
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MAC Tendertalk Lip Balm in Play with Me
Encased in a holographic tube and scented with earthy-sweet vanilla, these balms are chic and fun, with moisturizing benefits. Find them in six different shades, including this cool-toned red.
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Dior Lip Glow Hydrating Color Reviver Lip Balm in Sheer Coral
A lip balm with nourishing mango butter, the Dior Color Reviver comes in 10 shades with either satin, matte, or iridescent finishes. The Sheer Coral shade gives a subtle, peachy glow with a satin finish.
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Too Faced La Creme Mystical Effects Lipstick in Unicorn Tears
With its dramatic light-blue-to-pink colour shift, rainbow-stamped box, and sugary signature “unicorn” scent, the hydrating lipstick is a playful, on-trend option. Find it in the brand’s Life’s a Festival collection, alongside Mermaid Tears (green to lilac), Angel Tears (pearl to coral), and Fairy Tears (yellow to pink champagne).
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Buxom Powerplump Lip Balm in Big O
Buxom’s chunky balm has a lip-plumping effect thanks to hyaluronic acid and peptides. It comes in Big O, a pale pink, as well as red, berry and nude. No matter the shade, the subtle colour change exudes, as the brand puts it, a natural “just-kissed” effect.
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Smashbox O-Plump Intuitive Lip Plumper
This gloss goes on clear and transforms to pink, while also offering tingly temporary lip-plumping effects (thanks to mint and ginger extracts), as well as moisturizing avocado oil and antioxidant goji berry complex.
Colour-Changing Lipsticks
Shade shifters.
Summer is the time to add some fun and frivolity into your beauty routine—and nothing hits the mark better than colour-changing lipsticks and balms. Even once the sunny season comes and goes, the hue-shifting shades are a great way to infuse a little playfulness into your makeup bag.
These lipsticks are not a new thing—in fact, they’ve been around since the 1920s, invented by a brand called Tangee. Alas, they’re not magically intuiting the natural colour of your skin and adjusting accordingly. It’s a chemical trick.
“The formulations include an ingredient called Red 27, which stays colourless in a waterless base like lipstick, and when it is exposed to moisture, changes to a pinky-red hue,” explains makeup artist Larry Yeo, who has a diploma in cosmetic science. “The pH of your skin might affect things a bit, but really the shade only varies between individuals according to skin tone—if your lips are dark, then the eventual colour will look darker than on a person with pale lips.”
So what’s different about the latest crop of colour-changers? They’re coming from hip and high-end brands, not just cheap-and-cheerful ones. Plus, they do more than just add pigment to your pout—some are packed with skin-care ingredients, others offer temporary plumping effects. What will never change, however, is the fun factor. Here, we share five colour-changing lipsticks to consider.
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