Sheer Berry: Plum by Korres

Hello, all!

The next product in my lineup of sheer berry colors is Plum, which is a lip butter by Korres. If you don't know anything about Korres, they're a great skincare and cosmetics brand. I've had great luck with their body washes and body butters, and their lip products have been very moisturizing in my experience. I've also tried their eye pencils, which are smooth, very pigmented, and smudgeable, though I haven't tried much of the rest of their makeup products. I tried some of their skincare, but it made me break out, so even though this is an environmentally friendly and natural company, that doesn't automatically mean it will work with everybody's skin!

That being said, I've had great luck with their lip butters, and have picked up a few colors. I dislike the packaging. Because it's in a little pot, you have to stick your finger into it, which is frustrating since it doesn't feel particularly hygienic, and also because these are very pigmented for a "balm" product, so you have the issue of what to do with the colored product on your finger. Not gonna lie, I've resorted to wiping it off on the inside of a jeans pocket... Not ideal! If this same product came in a tube with a doe-foot applicator, I'd be much more inclined to use this more frequently. However, this is moisturizing and feels nice on the lips, very creamy and buttery. It isn't a slippery, highly-glossy product, and compared to the Fresh Lip Treatment, I don't find it as moisturizing or long lasting, and this formula is more opaque and highly pigmented. However, compared to other lip color products (as opposed to treatments), I find it more moisturizing, falling in line with most drugstore lip balms in this area.

The color itself is a sheer fuchsia; it's much brighter than many of the berry tones we've been looking at, and much more pink, but it is still a cool enough color that calling it berry doesn't seem totally inaccurate. This is the brighter, pinker end of the spectrum to Confession's deep blackberry extreme in the opposite direction.

Here is a picture of the product; The lid is colored to represent the product inside, so each shade has a different colored lid. This is extremely helpful when you're rooting around in a drawer for a specific color and you have a few of these, and I find it very cute and fresh looking.  The packaging is entirely plastic.

Plum Lip Butter by Korres

 And here it is opened; you can see how thick the jar is, making it nice and sturdy. You don't have to worry about dropping this and having a seam split. You can also see how dark the product looks in the jar.

Korres Plum Lip Butter

Here's a swatch with no flash; the color brightens up a lot on the skin.

Swatch of Plum by Korres

 And here it is on my lips with no flash; it is a very pigmented, creamy product, so even though it's not as opaque as a full colored lipstick, it's not as sheer as a lot of lip balms, either. You can definitely see a good dose of color on my lips.

Plum, no flash

And here's a shot of it on my lips with flash, to give you some idea of the amount of glossiness this imparts, as well as another dimension of the color in different light. It's not obnoxious Barbie pink, but it's in the same family.

Plum, flash!

Full face shot with Plum on my lips, no flash

 The above picture is of Plum lip butter on my lips without flash, and below is another full face shot with the flash on.

A full face shot wearing Plum on my lips 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

I like this product a lot; it's nice and moisturizing, while still giving a good color payoff. However, I hate the packaging! I don't like having to apply it with my finger; it looks messy and I often have to touch up the lip line, and it's hard to apply without a mirror because it is so pigmented; even if I try to get around this by just dabbing on a small amount of product, it's thick enough that it doesn't always distribute evenly across the lip unless you use a larger amount of product, and then you have to worry about applying within the lip line. This also makes it difficult to build up the color or make it sheerer, so you're pretty much stuck with the one shade.  The color is pretty, but a bit too bright too make it something I'd wear all the time, although I haven't factored in the shade when trying to formulate a rating, since this might be the perfect everyday color for someone else. Complaints aside, the product itself is a very comfortable formula, it feels like its good for my lips, and I like that Korres is a natural cosmetic company; while I don't avoid chemicals, it's nice to know they're not in here. Also, at a relatively reasonable $10 according to the Sephora website, I don't feel like the packaging has to be 100% perfect for me to splurge on it. If you are looking for a moisturizing lip product in a bright berry-pink, this might be just what you're looking for.

If you have questions about the rating system, you can find a quick explanation at the bottom of This Post.

Thanks everyone!