Review: Battle of the lip crayons

You may have been living under a rock if you aren't aware about the current trend of lip crayons. These products are definitely the latest craze on the beauty market, and I am no exception to all the beauty lovers that are getting their hands on these products.

I am aware that there are countless brands that are producing these products; Clinique, Bourjois, Jordana, Covergirl, Laura Mercier - the list could go on forever. Like many full time uni students, I am beauty obsessed on a budget. While I would love to own some of the higher end lip crayons, today I have five different brands available from the 'drugstore' that I am going to compare. I'll try to keep it short with a few descriptions about each brands product.

My current collection

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains

L-R: Honey, Cherish, Darling, Lovesick, Adore & Rendezvous

Swatches L-R in same order as above photo

About Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains:

• Seem to be the most hyped up lip crayons on the market
• A sheer but buildable glossy product that leaves a stain once the gloss wears off
• Wear time for gloss is about 2 hours, but the stain lasts for about 6 hours in my experience
• Available in 12 colours
• Has a minty scent to it, which I unfortunately don't like, but it's not offputting and can't be smelled once applied
• Retailed at $17.95AUD

Boe Beauty 'Jumbo Lips'

L-R: Boudoir Pink, Better Bare, Knockout Red, Unknown colour name (doesn't have a label) & Manic Pink

L-R swatches in above order

About:

• Exclusive to Big W at $2AUD
• A relatively pigmented gloss that has a slight stain 
• Minimal wear time: 2+ hours
• Available in 5 colours (all of which are pictured above)
• Packaging is reasonable and has a silver bottom to twist product like the Revlon crayons. Lid isn't very secure though.
• Perhaps a slight synthetic smell, but no real scent to it
• Lip crayon itself is quite flimsy, and I unfortunately had the tip break off my favourite one, 'Manic Pink' (swatch is on the right in photo, was very messy to apply)
  

Blurry photo of the clean break through the tip of the product

Models Prefer 'Moisture Lust Glossy Lip Tint'

L-R: Black Cherry, Raspberry Ripple, Marshmallow & Toffee Fudge

Swatches L-R same as above order

Also experienced breakage with the MP crayon :(

About: 

• Is a 'lip tint', so they are quite sheer and add coloured, glossy sheen to the lip
• Packaging is literally identical to the Boe beauty crayons
• Exclusive to Priceline; I bought these in 2x packs for $5, making them $2.50AUD each
• Crayon itself is not as wide as the packaging, meaning the product slides from side to side as you apply it. This combined with the fact that you need to press down to build up the colour unfortunately resulted in a breakage of one of them. Haha, maybe I'm just too rough with these lip crayons! 
• A very feint synthetic scent to them (virtually non-existent)
• Wear time is at most about 2-3 hours

Face of Australia Glossy Lip Crayon

L-R: Berry Brulee, Raspberry Coulis & Pie La Mode

About:

• A relatively pigmented glossy sheen
• Retails for $4.95 at Priceline
• Weartime is decent, 3+ hours and wears off evenly
• Favourite is definitely Berry Brulee - a bright purple/plum colour
• Packaging is sturdy and much better than the Boe and Models Prefer packaging
• Very nice vanilla scent

Designer Brands Chubby Lip Crayon

410 Doll Face

About:

• I only own one of these lip crayons, so this is based on the one colour I own
• This formula is more like a creamy lipstick that dries semi-matte, unlike all of the other crayons above that are sheer buildable glosses
• Extremely pigmented and only need one or two swipes on the lip
• Much thinner and longer than all of the other brands, but still contains the typical silver twist up bottom
• No detectable scent
• Retails for $8AUD

Overall opinions

While I do love a standard lipstick, these are a fun new lip product that I'm really enjoying. I think the classic rules applies in this case: 'You get what you pay for'. 

My favourite are definitely the Revlon Balm Stains, as they provide a nice glossy, pigmented lip but wear off evenly and leave a nice stain. The Designer Brands lip crayon is really nice and bright and looks like a regular lipstick on the lips. The Boe beauty products are easy to wear and are are quite pigmented for the price, but are cheap quality. I am not a huge fan of the Models Prefer crayons, but are still easy to wear if I am just going out for a couple of hours and am not concerned about wear time. The Face of Australia crayons are super glossy and pigmented and I've really been loving those.

I will definitely be on the hunt for some more of these from various brands.

What are your favourite lip crayons? Thanks for reading!