Battle of Luxury Lip Care: Hourglass Lip Treatment Oil vs 3LAB Perfect Lips

(photo from Sephora.com)

(photo from www.skin1.com)

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If one can buy lipbalms/chapsticks for mere dollars in drug stores, why spend so much for luxury lip care?! Well... there's people like me, who have very sensitive and easily chapped and peeling lips, who I think require a little more TLC! Oh heck who am I kidding, honestly, the high end products just "feel" nice. Packaging is nicer to use, and I do think they do slightly better for my lips than the $1 chapstick. How much is that worth the price tag... that is for you to decide. If you do decide to splurge, this post is my take on the 2 pricey lip care items I've been using consistently for the last couple of months.  Click on to read the full review!

First up, the Hourglass... this little tube costs $49 CDN (eeks!) for mere 0.25 oz of product.
It's called an "oil", namely because it contains 28 essential and plant oils, though the consistency is most similar to a lip gloss. It is a slightly cloudy/clear-ish gel like formula that comes out through the slanted gold tip (yes that's right, real plated gold...can you tell yet this is a luxury product...). Initially I thought the gold tip is ridiculous, but it actually does give a very cool feeling (cool as in temperature) to otherwise warrm and irritated lips. Because this is very lipgloss-like, and quite goopy at that, I use this only at night/bedtime and sleep with it on, saving my actual lipglosses for the day time. My lips actually do feel much more moisturized in the morning and slightly more plump at that (I will admit this part might be wishful thinking...). 

So this does the basics that a lip care product should do, moisturize! And pretty well at that... it also does have a interesting smell from the mix of essential oils, which I quite like, but if you're sensitive to scents you may not. Packaging-wise, I have nothing but good to say. The gold is cheesy but does feel good on the lips. The whole tube itself is weighty and has the feel of a good/solid luxe product.

Next, the 3LAB... this comes in a regular plastic squeeze tube, and in fact has nothing fancy or luxe about the packaging whatsoever.  If you didn't know this brand you could think this cost $5-10 by looks alone). But alas...this little tube is $40 CDN for 0.33 oz.  Also an ouch on the wallet but cheaper than the Hourglass (more product and less price). 3LAB overall is a very pricey skincare brand (other treatments for the face cost up to $200-300 per item). This particular lip care product advertises to be infused with "apple stem cell technology" and "bio engineered growth hormone", all to give you "intense, long-lasting moisture" and anti-aging effects. 

Unfortunately, this one was actually a sheer disappointment. To start with, it doesn't even moisturize! This product comes out as a white-ish cream that is most similar to consistency to primers, and feels as such as well on the lips. Just goes on as a smooth primer-like coating, which is great to put lipcolor over but I also feel NO moisturizing effects from it what so ever. In fact, after I put this on, my lips feel drier and I can feel all the dry patches when I rub my lips together, eck! It also somehow makes the fine (and not so fine) lines on my lips even more pronounced! What a disaster... I have tried this both at night time and in the  daytime, and neither gives me a good result from a moisturizing perspective. In terms of "anti-aging", since it seems to make my lines deeper I don't see how it's doing this either. As a lip primer though, it's not bad, but certainly there are others out there that will work just as well for less than $40.  

Conclusion: Out of the two...I'd defienitely repurchase the Hourglass over 3LAB. Even though it's more expensive, the Hourglass product actually moisturizes, whereas the 3LAB seems to make my lips drier. As for whether either product is worth the price, well...that depends on your beauty budget. Personally, I think my EOS works just as well as these, but certainly doesn't feel as luxurious. If you're willing to pay for the luxe feel, then go right ahead but go for the Hourglass (the packaging on the 3LAB is not luxe at all). Aside from packaging, do keep in mind sometimes what works for one person won't for another, so you may in fact have the opposite reaction from me to these products.  Best thing to do is just try it out. I just recommend trying the Hourglass first!

Have you tried these two products? What did you think? Do you think luxury lip care overall is worth it? Let me know in the comments!

*Disclosure: I'm not affliated with either of these companies and bought the products with my own money.