We’ve said it before: When U Beauty’s Tina Craig launches a product, she’s picky—and, sometimes, she has a hard time not sharing it on social media super early—but her number-one criteria for getting any product off the ground is making sure it’s something she needs that she can’t find.
Enter the new PLASMA Lip Compound ($68), a balm-like cocktail packed with gentle exfoliators, hyaluronic acid and ceramides that hits shelves this Monday. The daytime-nighttime topical treatment promises some serious objectives that check the plumping, anti-aging and hydration categories (both on the lips and on the skin around the lips, including those really, really hard to minimize vertical lines), to name a few.
“While there are plenty of so-called plumping lip products on the market, I’ve never found one that provides the promised results, especially without burning or irritation,” Craig told us, adding that, from her experience, other products in the category temporarily boost blood flow with suction pressure to capillaries—or they contain spicy ingredients that cause swelling and redness, which is “unhealthy and unproductive.”
“I wanted a highly effective lip-plumping treatment that’s healthy for the lips, while enhancing, amplifying, and even restoring lip density from the inside-out–without any unpleasant side effects.”
Craig stands by the fact that the new offering hits all those benefits—and beyond. “In addition to providing immediate hydration and revival with improved color, softness and smoothness, you’ll see long-lasting results sustained with continued use: Inflammation is reduced, damage is prevented, and fine lines and wrinkles on and around the mouth are treated. Best of all: Visible volume and plumping for natural-looking lip enhancement.”
While the formulation’s “visible” results are timed at the four-week mark, I’ve had the product for four days and can already see positive proof that it works, especially in the dry-skin, chapped-lips-coming-out-of-winter department. But what is most impressive is that the ingredients are equally as legit—rivaling those of a hard-working eye cream—and exceptionally versatile, working for a quick, glossy-plump touch-up and for more serious results while you sleep.
