Hello Kitty An Apple A Day Trio Lip Balm Set Review & Swatches

Continuing the 40 year celebration of Hello Kitty, I’d like to introduce you to the most adorable-looking pot lip balm of the season — The An Apple A Day Trio Lip Balm Set! These balms really took me by surprise because I thought they were just your typical lip balm in a pot but they are in fact anything but!

If not for the information on the back of the container, I wouldn’t have known that our beloved Hello Kitty only weighs 3 apples! I suppose that’s where the inspiration came from for this lip balm set! Right off the bat, the presentation of the product is uber cute like you’d expect from anything Hello Kitty. The three little pots are packed in a clear triangle-shaped plastic container that instantly exposes you to a full blast of cuteness and also allows you to see all three colors at once. And there’s no gimmick here, the color you see on the packaging will be the same color you see when applied on your lips. Totally WYSIWYG. ;D

Each balm is housed in a thick wall, transparent Hello Kitty-themed plastic pot that is shaped like — yes, you guessed it — an apple! They even have that tiny little stem at the top of the hinged lid, too! They are pretty small in size and fit perfectly in the palm of your hand. Once you pop the lid, there is a tiny mirror inside for convenient on-the-go application. And trust me, with these babies, you *will* want to apply it with a mirror!

The three colors included in the set are:

1. Natural – a beige nude with lots of golden shimmer with a sweet vanilla scent
2. Think Pink – a hot pink (shimmer-free) with a fruity strawberry scent!
3. Red Delicious – a candy apple red (shimmer-free) with — uh huh — candy apple scent!

The scent is really nice, so fruity in a good way and not a chemical, exploding headache kind of scent at all. It doesn’t last very long, though, around a minute or so. The formula is supposedly “infused with extracts of lemon, strawberry, vanilla, apple, and coconut oil for intense hydration”. Great, I want my lips to be as hydrated as possible in the colder months!

Now the reasons I said these are not your typical lip balms:

1. They don’t have a typical hardened balmy texture even though they may look like one! As soon as you touch it, the warmth from your finger will melt the texture right away. Think melt, slippery buttery texture! And I learned this the wrong way because as soon as I popped the lid, I instinctively jabbed my index finger into it with a force I normally would with a typical lip balm. As a result, I made a really big ugly dent in one of the pots. T_T
2. They are incredibly pigmented tinted lip balms! Well, except for the Natural nude beige where it applies mostly a clear sheen with shimmer on my lips. Think Pink and Red Delicious, though, oh my goodness they are extremely pigmented! You do get a blast of vibrant color in just one thin layer! Even on my super pigmented lips, I didn’t have a problem building up the color payoff at all. They can be worn softly as an everyday color of course, but you also get the option to build to a full on hot pink (for Think Pink) or apple red (for Red Delicious) if you wish! I seriously did not expect this level of pigmentation at all. And because of this, and the slippery texture, you need a mirror during application so you won’t slip outside your lip line. :D
3. They leave such glossy finish! Much more so than your average lip balm. Though it doesn’t last very long unfortunately. The wear time is approximately 2 and 3 hours for Natural and Think Pink and Red Delicious, respectively.
4. They stain! Granted, I don’t see much of a staining effect for the Natural color but the other two pigmented ones leave a lasting staining effect once the glossy sheen wears off. A lip balm that stains, can’t say I’ve seen this before!

They are not without cons, though. For starters, all the cuteness aside, they are not the most hygienic due to the pot packaging. You either have to have a clean finger or applicator with you to reapply, which I doubt we always do. The other thing is they don’t provide lasting hydration to the lips considering how emollient they are. The more alarming part has to be when I found out that Red Delicious makes my lips peeled slightly but it could just be that my lips are severely dry in winter. I need a much, much stronger, and thicker lip balm to keep my lips protected throughout the day. :)

And here’s how they look on me:

I probably wouldn’t wear Natural too much on its own but I think it looks great as a layering gloss. It really does make my lips look plump and full! As for Think Pink and Red Delicious, I’ll let you be the judge of how pigmented they are! :)

Overall, I do love the set! They might not be hydrating enough for my winter lips but I can always layer them over my other heavy-duty lip balm for a color-boosting effect! Again, similar to the Kawaii Nail Set that I reviewed yesterday, the An Apple A Day Trio Lip Balm Set is no longer available online on Sephora.com but you can still find it in-store and now with reduced priced (regular price is US$20)! My good friend Dee at HowDoesDeeDoIt also wrote a great review of the set over at her blog which you can read it here.

So, what do you think of my coverage of the Hello Kitty 40th Anniversary Collection so far? I still have a couple more items to share with you but I am still testing them right now. Hopefully I’ll have the review up by next week before Christmas!

Disclosure: The Hello Kitty An Apple A Day Trio Lip Balm Set was provided by Sephora. All opinions are my own.