Fresh Sugar Lip Polish

As someone who has a longstanding love/hate relationship with dark lipsticks due to their tendency to feather, I was intrigued by the idea of lip polish/exfoliant. Would the Fresh Sugar Lip Polish help make my lips softer, smoother, and less prone to lip color irregularity? Well, sort of.

To begin with, the jar of lip polish included in the Lust gift set I purchased is tiny. Really tiny. I can't find size information for the $22 stand-alone polish, but the sample is 0.28 oz. Given that the lip balm and hand cream included in the set are full sized, this clearly seems to be where some product quantity skimping happened. It's a shame too, because I really like the lip polish, and I'd guess this sample will only last for a dozen or so applications.

To apply, you scoop a small amount of polish (which has the texture of wet brown sugar with maybe a little maple syrup added to it) onto your fingers and rub all over your lips. You're supposed to let it stay on for 5 minutes, but even after only two minutes my lips felt noticeably smoother, softer, and (surprisingly) moisturized.

When left on for the full 5 minutes the lips feel just as moisturized as they would after a liberal application of Fresh Sugar's amazing lip balm. The smoothness and softness I felt after a much shorter application aren't greatly enhanced by longer wear.

So does it work? Twelve hours after a two-minute application my lipstick feathered just as it would have sans exfoliant. Twelve hours after the five-minute application I found that a dark lipstick (Tarte's Moody) still feathered a bit around the purse of my bottom lip, but not as much as I'd normally expect.  Ultimately I'm far more impressed by the lip polish's moisturizing abilities than by its exfoliating prowess, though I doubt I'll purchase a full-sized tub at any point down the line.