Chantecaille Brilliant Gloss in Allure, Review and Swatches

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Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you one thing about my beauty-product preferences: I hate lip gloss. Hate hate hate it. I continually, foolishly, get drawn in by the beautiful colors—made all the more tantalizing because I can see those pretty colors through the clear tubes—but I am almost always disappointed. Lip gloss is goopy. It constantly reminds me that I am wearing it, because I can feel it on my lips. It collects in the corners of my mouth. It creates stalactites and stalagmites when I speak (and, trust me, what has been seen cannot be unseen), and I hate how sticky it feels.

But still I try. As Chantecaille is one of my favorite brands, a few months ago, I picked up several tubes of Chantecaille Brilliant Gloss ($32, 1 oz.), as well as the Pure Brilliance Trio (reviewed here). Sadly, Chantecaille saw fit to discontinue the best color in that trio: Patina—a rich, velvety burgundy.  Many of the colors in this lip gloss line are sheer and unpigmented, like Love and Charm, while others pack a colorful punch.

This review is about one such punchy color, Allure.

Allure is a sheer, cool berry with plenty of shine, and it is one of the few in the Brilliant Gloss lineup that contains zero shimmer, which makes me happy.

The applicator is a synthetic brush, instead of the typical felt doefoot, and is sized perfectly to fit within the lip borders; it is also neither too floppy nor too stiff, the way some lip gloss brushes can be. One draw from the tube provides plenty of pigment, so there's no need to keep plunging the brush back in to get more color. I appreciate this thoughtful design detail.

And while the finish does feel somewhat goopy, it isn't sticky, and it sits comfortably on my lips with a cushiony, almost jelly-like feel.

Indirect sunlight

Unlike some colored lip gloss that puts down virtually no color (Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss and Lancôme Juicy Tubes), Brilliant Gloss has good color payoff, at least the deeper-looking ones have.

Indoors, natural lighting, no flash

I did not notice any fragrance, but it tingles a bit, as if the gloss contained peppermint. Gluten-sensitive people take note: The formula contains wheat proteins, which are supposed to be lip plumping, but the only "plumping" I see is pure artifice from adding shine to my lips, which draws in the light. Wear time on me is 2-3 hours.

Bottom line: Worth it.

Ingredients: Polybutene, Hydrogenated PolyDecene, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Silica, Hydrogenated Styrene/IsoPrene Copolymer, Propylparaben, Flavor, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Camellia Sinensis, Leaf Extract, Tetradibutyl Pentaerithrityl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate. May contain Mica, Titainum Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Carmine, Red 6, Red 7 Lake, Red 30 Lake, Red 28 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Blue 1 Lake, Eosine Y.

All photos taken by me except (1).