Dupes?

Left: Maybelline Lip Smooth Color Bloom in Peach Blossom
Right: Mentholatum Lip Ice Sheer Color Lip Conditioner in Strawberry (fragrance)

I have been using Lip Ice Sheer Color for sometime now. In fact, it’s one of my kikay kit staples. I love that it gives my pale kissers a pop of color while providing some moisture at the same time. 🙂

While browsing through the products at the SM Beauty section, I was a bit surprised when I saw that Maybelline is now carrying a similar product. Similar in that the lip balm is also color changeable and adjusts depending on the lip color of the wearer. Unlike Lip Ice which comes in two variants differing only in fragrance, Maybelline comes in two colors: Pink Blossom and Peach Blossom. And it’s priced much lower too at just P99.75 compared to Lip Ice’s P145. And curious me, I got one of course. I went for Peach Blossom since I reckon the Pink Blossom would be similar to the Lip Ice and that would just be redundant. 😛

Upon application, the colors are very similar although Maybelline has a warmer undertone than the Lip Ice. Then again, comparison is not very accurate since the Maybelline is supposed to be peach while the Lip Ice is straight out pink. Another thing, Lip Ice has more gloss and glides on more smoothly. Otherwise, I like them both. 🙂

Here are lip swatches. Sorry for the very blurry pics, it is frankly a bit of a challenge trying to do self-portraits with a manual-focus only camera. 😐

Self-portraits are the pits. 😐 Anywho. Moving on, Lip Ice has a brighter color payoff but Maybelline looks more natural on my kissers. In terms of color, I like the Maybelline better since piling on the Lip Ice results in an unnatural pink hue.

So. That’s pretty much about it. How about you, have you used either product? 🙂