Back in 2014, I reviewed City Lips, a lip plumping gloss.
City Lips plumps lips with a combination of hyaluronic acid, collagen-producing oligopeptides and natural oils and extracts. The formula doesn’t use potentially irritating ingredients like peppermint or cinnamon. City Lips makes lips look bigger by getting rid of dryness and making lips look juicier and fuller. Wrinkles are diminished.
Though I am lucky and don’t have thin lips, I do have chronically dry lips. For me, City Lips reverses the dryness and makes my lips look healthier and feel more comfortable. If you do have thin or dry lips, City Lips is so worth trying. The formula works both instantly with lips looking healthier and shinier immediately and bigger over time. City Lips reports the results of a study “performed specifically on women with thin, dry lips showed that oligopeptides… decreased lip wrinkles by 29% and increased lip volume by up to 40%…in just 28 days”. I do believe it because my lips look so much better when I use City Lips routinely.
Since 2014, I have purchased City Lips a couple of times, stocking up when they had a substantial sale. In fact, I still have a tube that I had been using for ages. I’m on the City Beauty email list, so I know about sales as well as new products. I enjoy the witty and informative emails from Victoria, the City Beauty creative director.
Imagine my delight when 5 years later, City Beauty reached out to me again and sent me a slew of their products including the new and improved City Lips! I received three tubes: Clear, Sun Diego, both of which I own currently or in the past, and new Pink Nude. You can see the original City Lips in the photos that I took in 2014 below.
City Lips has gone through a major facelift since the last time I purchased! The box that it comes in is more substantial, more eye-catching with its city skyline motif and more premium to match its premium price point. But it is still recyclable, and that’s what I’ll do with it.
The tube that City Lips comes in has gone through a major change, and like the box, it looks more premium and more enticing.
Yet it’s still about the same size, 5 ml. And the easy to use bent wand is the same.
Basically, City Lips Lip Gloss looks a lot more glam. And with the clear tube, you can really see the shade as well as how much is left in the tube. Good move, City Beauty!
When I looked at the ingredient list for the new vs. the original, they look about the same, maybe with the order changed around for some of the ingredients. You can check out the current ingredient list at the end of the post.
In terms of the formula itself, I think the version of Sun Diego, a peachy pink sheer formula with gold shimmer, is probably about the same. However over the several years that I’ve had my tube of Sun Diego, the formula changed over time and thinned out. My new tube of Sun Diego is nice and thick, without being super-sticky. It’s certainly well past time to toss my old tube!
I use City Lips primarily to keep my lips hydrated and healthy. I often use Clear at bedtime, and what I love about it is that I can still feel it on my lips in the morning, unlike some other lip balms that disappear overnight. When I wake up, my lips still feel protected and hydrated. Yes! In addition to overnight use, Clear can be used underneath other lipsticks. Just wait a couple of minutes to let City Lips dry down, and then apply other lipstick on top.
Before I dipped into my new City Lips tubes, I visited the City Lips page on the City Beauty website, and I discovered something that got me very excited! City Lips now has a greatly expanded number of shades and finishes. In addition to Clear that I love to use at night, there are a mix of warm and cool-toned sheer shades, shimmer shades, and new opaque shades! In fact, City Beauty sent me a tube of one of the opaque neutrals, pretty Pink Nude.
Check out the complete list of 20 shades here. It’s the opaque shades that have got me really excited. Opaque glosses are my jam. There are 10 neutrals, brights and reds to choose from. In addition to Pink Nude that I now own, I already know that I want Crimson, a cool-toned deep rose
and Red Velvet, a cool-toned deep red
Here are swatches of my three new City Lips shades:
City Lips Plumping Lip Glosses are still priced at $35 and are available on the City Beauty website. City Lips is cruelty-free and parabens-free.
City Beauty has another new lip product that I’m eager to tell you about, but I will save that for another post coming soon!
Have you tried City Lips?
Ingredients: Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, VP/Hexadecene Copolymer, Phenyl Trimethicone, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, PPG-51/SMDI Copolymer, Silica, Petrolatum, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Dipalmitoyl Hydroxyproline, Microcrystalline Wax, Tribehenin, Glycerin, Octyldodecyl PCA, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Water, Caprylyl Glycol, Benzyl Nicotinate, Flavor, O-Cymen-5-OL, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Sorbitan Isostearate, Sucrose Distearate, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Ceramide 2, PEG-10 Phytosterol, Sodium Cocoyl Amino Acids, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Saccharin, Sarcosine, Crithmum Maritimum Extract, Magnesium Aspartate, Potassium Aspartate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Cananga Odorata Flower Oil, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Stearyl Glycyrrhetinate, MAY CONTAIN: Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Synthetic Wax, Red 7 Lake, Stearyl Triethoxysilane, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Red 6 Lake, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Red 40 Lake, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Tin Oxide, Mica, Red 27 Lake, Carmine, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Copper Powder, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Benzoic Acid, Bismuth Oxychloride. May Contain Carmine as a color additive.
These sound so effective, and the colors are so pretty! I would wear Nude Pink all of the time! I am glad to hear that they are moisturizing. It’s unusual that it doesn’t contain peppermint oil, as do so many of the lip plumper, but that is definitely a plus for you since you don’t use peppermint-based lip products.
No peppermint! City Lips Plumping Lip Gloss make lips look bigger and fuller by making them healthier and not dry. With HA, collagen-promoting peptides and natural oils, lips look juicier and bigger. I love this gloss, and I often wear Clear at night. It works!
These sounds amazing and yes, Crimson and Red Velvet are stunning!
These sound amazing!! My lips are dry all the time and can’t find anything that works!! Thanks for sharing!!
Teresa, I’ve been a longtime fan of City Lips primarily because I have such dry lips, and City Lips Lip Gloss makes them feel so good. I would say that City Lips Lip Gloss is one of the most hydrating lip products I use. I am pretty sure that it was in a best lip balm post that I wrote a couple of years ago. My other fave is Dr. Lipp Miracle Balm or Dr. Lipp Original Nipple Balm (they’re the same product but in different color tubes). I often use City Lips Clear Lip Gloss at night, and it’s still on my lips in the morning. I am thrilled that they came out with opaque glosses because now I can wear them during the day especially when my lips are dry. Crimson and Red Velvet are on my to buy list coz those are my shades!
Crimson is definitely the color for me! I just have a couple of questions… Are they sticky like is my hair going to keep getting stuck to my lips? How long would you say the staying power is? And are they super transferrable?
Thanks, Allison I know I can never go wrong with a product you recommend.
Thank you, Paula! I am a big fan of City Lips because I have such dry lips. The thick glossiness that I feel on my lips is what makes my lips look “juicy” and bigger when I wear it. I have struggled with how to describe the degree of stickiness. The gloss dries down somewhat, but what I like about it is that it definitely feels like I have a protective coating on my lips. For me, that’s a plus. I use the Clear a lot at night, and when I wake up in the morning, it’s still there – another plus for me. I was wearing Pink Nude today while I was outdoors shoveling for more than 2 hours. There was an occasional breeze, but it wasn’t terribly windy. Once during the 2 hours a piece of hair did get stuck. As far as being transferable, yet they are because they’re a gloss. After eating, I have to reapply like with most lipsticks and glosses that aren’t liquid mattes. I am very excited about Crimson and Red Velvet because I love red glosses. My other favorite lipgloss (that isn’t a dry lips fixer) is from Anastasia Beverly Hills. I have 2 of them, and I love the opaque shades. However, ABH doesn’t have any good reds. I have a gorgeous mauve, but I wish there was a red! At any rate, I hope this helps, Paula!
The colors are so pretty I am going to have to get some of the clear. I wake up and reach for my lip balm each time.
I’m hoping they’ll have a sale soon, Gloria, because I want to pick up the two opaque reds. I use the Clear most often. This is either my third or fourth tube!
Wow, I love the effect, Allison. The glosses sound really beneficial, not just cosmetic. I have been using Laneige lip sleeping mask but I don’t think it has h. acid which I’m currently obsessed with! I need to checked these out.
I’m excited to try these. SunDiego and Pink Nude look so great. My lips are thin and they seem to be getting thinner so hopefully thee will make me feel better about them.
Marcia, when I tried the new opaque Pink Nude, I thought of you since I know you often like pale neutral shades like this. I’ve been enjoying wearing it myself! I love City Lips Lip Gloss because it makes lips look fuller by making them look glossy, juicy and healthy with hyaluronic acid, collagen-producing peptides and essential oils. It is so hydrating that Clear is one of my go-to balms at bedtime.
They look so pretty. Thanks for sharing!
I got the same shades you did and I love them!
Yay! I’ve been using Clear and Sun Diego for years, and I was delighted to see the new packaging. The opaque Pink Nude was a wonderful surprise!
I’ve never used City Lips but these sound really nice. I usually don’t like lip plumping products because of their irritating nature. I like the pink nude shade.
That’s what’s so good about City Lips Plumping Lip Gloss: it doesn’t use irritants. Basically, it makes look bigger by making them healthier and fuller rather than dry and shriveled. It uses hyaluronic acid, collagen-producing peptides and essential oils. It’s one of my key “lip balms”! I’m so glad they have opaque glosses now so I can wear colored glosses during the day rather than only the Clear at night.
Cute line! I haven’t seen this brand before but that’s why I love beauty blogs so much!
I haven’t heard of this brand! It looks nice although I’m not a gloss gal.
Looks nice on you! I’m not a huge shiny look but it looks good hear!
I love that they are rich but not sticky!!! I will have to check this line out!
Just to clarify, they’re a little sticky but not super sticky. Definitely worth it for me because they’re so hydrating
I like that these seem to have just a hint of color rather than a full-on lip, and the moisturizing factor is a huge plus for me.