Is it me or most tinted lip balms do more moisturizng than colour tinting? Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 is the exception to the rule.
But is that a good thing? Let’s find out:
- What’s In Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15?
- Colour
- Texture
- Pigmentation
- Fragrance
- How To Use It
- Performance & Personal Opinion
- Who Is This For?
- Who Is This Not For?
- Packaging
- Does Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 Live Up To Its Claims?
- Price & Availability
- Do You Need It?
- Dupes & Alternatives
What’s In Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15?
NATURAL OILS
The base of Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 is made up of three natural oils:
- Castor Oil: A moisturising oil with antibacterial activity. It feels a little sticky on.
- Jojoba Oil: Very similar to human sebum, this moisturising oil sinks in quickly without leaving any residue behind.
- Grape seed oil: Derived from grapes, this moisturising oil has powerful antioxidant properties that help you fight free radicals and the premature wrinkles they cause.
All these oils have one thing in common: they create a barrier on the lips that slows down water loss, helping to keep them soft and supple for longer.
Related: The Complete Guide To Castor Oil In Skincare
OCTINOXATE
Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 promises to provide essential sun protection. But the only UV filter it contains is Octinoxate.
Here’s what this means: Octinoxate is an UVB filter. But it’s totally useless against UVA rays. So how did the lip treatment get SPF 15?
SPF only measures the protection you’re getting from UVB rays. You could get SPF 50 and still be totally unprotected against UVA rays! Shocking, I know.
Sure, protection from UVB rays only is better than nothing. But you can’t rely only on this lip balm for sun protection. UVA rays cause plenty of damage, too.
Related: What’s The Difference Between UVA and UVB rays?
Colour
In the tube, Berry is a scary warm and dark plummy red shade. But once applied, it turns into a subtler pinkish purple.
Texture
Lightweight and creamy.
Pigmentation
It’s not so sheer you can’t see the colour, but it’s not so intense to provide full coverage. It gives you more than a hint of colour – just what you’d expect from a tinted lip balm.
Fragrance
Usually, I’m a sucker for citrusy scents, but I find this one very unappealing. Rather than fresh and sparkling, it is bitter and sugary. And synthetic. Luckily, I can’t smell it once it’s on the lips, but its scent doesn’t make application very pleasant for me.
How To Use It
Apply it every time you feel your lips getting drier or you want a bit of colour on the lips.
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Performance & Personal Opinion
Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 is one of my fave tinted lip balms – mainly because the colour actually shows up on the lips! (You’d think that’d be a given, but nope).
One coat provides one soft wash of colour that shows up even on pigmented lips, but if that’s not intense enough for you, you can always build it up.
Yet, no matter how much you apply, the colour remains wearable. It’s a great choice for those who want to try a vampy shade but fear they can’t pull off anything too intense (*raises hand*).
Plus, it’s fairly moisturising. This tinted lip balm leaves my lips soft, smooth, and hydrated for two to three hours, depending on whether I’m having a light snack or not.
But it’s not as rich and moisturising as my favourites lip balms (Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm Shea Butter & Vitamin E SPF 25 and La Roche Posay Cicaplast Levres Barrier Repairing Balm).
They are the lip balms I turn to in winter when I’m trying to prevent or heal chapped lips. Fresh Sugar Berry, instead, is for days when I just want a bit of colour that also offers some hydration.
BUT, it doesn’t provide adequate sun protection. Please, please, please, don’t rely on it to keep your pout safe from the sun.
Who Is This For?
Anyone looking for a vampy tinted lip balm that provides both colour and hydration.
Who Is This Not For?
- Chapped lips
- Sun protection
Packaging
Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 comes in a sturdy purple packaging that’s as practical as it’s beautiful.
Does Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 Live Up To Its Claims?
| CLAIM | TRUE? |
|---|---|
| A cult-favorite hydrating and smoothing lip balm that offers clear, sheer, or effortless color with long-lasting moisture and essential sun protection. | It does NOT offer adequate sun protection. But everything else is true. |
| Swipe once for a hint of hue; more for buildable color. | True. |
Price & Availability
$24.00/£19.50 at Blue Mercury, Cult Beauty, Nordstrom, and Sephora
Do You Need It?
Yes for colour, not for hydration or sun protection.
Dupes & Alternatives
- By Terry Baume De Rose Nutri-Coleur in Bloom Berry (£36.00)
- Weleda Tinted Lip Balm Berry Red (£6.95)
Ingredients
Active Ingredients: Octinoxate 6.74%
Inactive Ingredients: Cera Alba (Beeswax), Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Hydrogenated Olive Oil Decyl Esters, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Parfum (Fragrance), Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Passiflora Incarnata Seed Oil, Sucrose Tetrastearate Triacetate, Ribes Nigrum (Black Currant) Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Polyglyceryl-3 Polyricinoleate, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Vanillin, BHT, Propyl Gallate, Limonene, Citral, Benzyl Alcohol, Linalool, Geraniol, [May Contain: CI 15850 (Red 6, Red 7, Red 7 Lake), CI 15985 (Yellow 6, Yellow 6 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5, Yellow 5 Lake), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), CI 45410 (Red 27, Red 27 Lake, Red 28 Lake), CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide)]
I love these tinted lip balms. There was a really nice trio at Sephora during the holidays and OMG, I wish I purchased it 😛
Monica.
Monica, they are lovely, aren’t they? I’m sure they’ll do another set this year. 😉
lovely colour! i like your eye make-up.
Robin, thank you. I’m glad you like it.
I don’t really care for tinted lip treatments/balms, but that is a pretty shade! I also like whatever it is you’re wearing on your eyes! Very pretty!
Lisa, thanks. It is very pretty, isn’t it? This lip treatment is pigmented enough that you can wear it just for the colour
Oh, I love that shade, Gio! And it looks great on you, especially with the purple shadow. I used to use Fresh, but oftentimes the bullet would break off of the tube. It happened twice. Each time I bought it at the Fresh Store in Boston, and it was too far away to return it plus I don’t think I knew you could return makeup at that point. At that price, it was too expensive to buy and have it break. So I stopped buying it. They’ve probably fixed that problem by now. That shade is very tempting!
Allison, oh no! Lip products shouldn’t break that easily, especially when they cost this much. My tube sounds pretty sturdy, so I think they have fixed the problem, but if it should break too, I’ll let you know.
Yes, this has happened to me with the Birthday samples I received from Sephora a couple (?) of years ago. I was in the process of applying the light blush color and then I felt the product give. It just wouldn’t stay stationary. I tried everything I could but nothing worked.
I was devastated…I loved the color but was very hesitant to buy a full size if this was going to happen.
Gio, please give an update on your tube after you’ve been using it for awhile. Thanks.
Bianca, yours too?! The packaging must have been very bad. Let’s hope they have improved it. Mine doesn’t seem so fragile. I’ve been using it for a few weeks, and so far, the bullet hasn’t broken. If it does, I’ll surely let you know immediately.
Pretty! That color suits you well.
Melissa, thanks. It is a very pretty shade indeed.
I really like your pictures.
Doctor V, thank you.
The packaging is cute and the color looks beautiful, but it’s too expensive for a lip balm in my opinion :/ x
Stavroula, I agree. As a lip balm is quite expensive. But I consider it more as a sheer lipstick cos it provides more colour than hydration.
Thanks for reviewing this one I’ll give it a miss. I’ve got the lip treatment from Fresh and while I like it for hydration the smell is the same – lemons/sugar but it reminds me of toilet cleaner!
Annette, lol. The scent is awful, isn’t it? I hope they’ll change it soon. It’d be great if it were just citrusy, without that dollop of sugar that ruins everything.