Review & Swatches: Fresh Mini Sugar Kissing Trio

I'm back, lovelies! Our Christmas trip was amazing, on top of stuffing ourselves silly with all kinds of Polish deliciousness we had some fantastic time with our families, hiked, snowboarded and even played tennis. Obviously, I had this grand scheme about posting throughout our visit, but an awful cold, family obligations and sheer laziness kept me from actually making it happen (as always, ekhm). Anyways, I'm back with a short but image-packed review of a little Christmas present I got myself: Fresh Mini Sugar Kissing Trio, which comes with Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment mini balmy things in Honey, Passion and Plum.

I will confess that I took a lot more photos of that cardboard box, but refrained from posting. Happy?

I'd prefer if we just didn't mention how ridiculously overpriced these are for a tinted lip balm, because we all just buy them regardless. That's a pretty cute packaging for a tinted balm though, no? Especially on these mini ones; the metal casing kinda gets some scratches in your purse, but the marks can be wiped away with a licked finger (or a baby wipe, if you must).

I would also appreciate if we just didn't comment on the fact that I couldn't even test them at first because the tubes have a screw-on cap and I tried to rip them open. How classy. Apart from the fact that I made an ass of myself, this is obviously a good idea for just throwing the tube in your purse.

What I didn't like when I first opened the tubes in my box was the fact that the bullets seemed a bit wobbly inside, and the top looked as if it was smashed against the cap. See?

Now, packaging woes aside, I do like these. The formula of the balm itself is surprisingly thick and a bit waxy, which makes it stay on the lips for a long time, giving them a soft, hydrated, cushiony feeling. I think that these are not only non-drying, but actually moisturizing to a degree; I even wore them snowboarding and still felt like my lips were well protected against the elements. The pigmentation is quite impressive for a tinted balm, and while they sometimes do go on a bit patchy, the sheerness of the formula is still forgiving enough.

I swatched the shades next to Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey (did you hear they're coming out with more shades?), which in comparison feels a bit more solid and less creamy and is also more sheer than the Sugar Tinted Lip Treatments. As you can see, the shade Plum differs quite a bit from Black Honey as well.

Passion swatched...

Honey swatched...

And Plum swatched too. So far, I got the most wear out of Passion, but I honestly think all these shades are beautiful and can be worn across different skintones. I'm very glad I got myself this little set and would highly recommend it if you can still get your hands on it; if not, maybe at least my swatches are somehow useful. Let me know your thoughts if you've tried them in the comments below!

I hope you all had amazing holidays wherever you were and whatever you were up to and I'm happy to be back in the swing of things!