Fresh Sugar Cream Lip Treatment in Blush & Buff review and swatches

I love Fresh so I was so excited to see the new sugar cream lip treatments pop up in my local Sephora! I got samples of Blush and Buff to try.

I chose Blush because I can't resist mid tone mauve pinks (similar in tone/concept to Buxom Dolly or Bite Currant) and the Sephora SA talked me into a sample of Buff because she said it was the sheer balmy one. I have no idea why they are selling Buff as a sheer balm - it is a strongly pigmented coppery nude.

As you can see, the texture of the Fresh sugar cream lip treatment is thick and goopy. Both of these shades contain shimmer. The texture of the product seems inappropriate for the packaging they chose - these are so thick and pigmented that they should be in liquid lipstick style tube and wand applicators instead of a squeeze lip balm type tube. They are much too pigmented to apply with your fingers or without a mirror.

Swatches
 

A note on my photos: I don't do any editing except to add descriptive text and a watermark. None of these pictures are retouched for color or texture, so feel free to zoom in and check out my pores :) For my lip swatches, the left side is my bare lips and the right side shows Blush on my top lip and Buff on my bottom lip. I am wearing the Skin79 green bb cream topped with the Essence All About Matt translucent powder on my skin in both pictures.

Overall Thoughts: 

• On my fair, cool toned skin, Buff is a really unflattering color. If you have similar skin to mine, expect it to pull orange. 
• The pigmentation with this formula is a double edged sword - it does provide more color than the more sheer Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment stick formula (like Rose), but it is tricky to apply in a flattering way. I often find it looking streaky and have to pay special attention to making sure I don't apply outside of my lip line. If I am using a tinted gloss balm in a squeeze tube, I expect to be able to quickly swipe it on, and I wouldn't dare apply these without a mirror. 
• The formula is not super moisturizing and is pretty sticky
• Most of the shine from the formula seems to come from the shimmer, the gloss finish isn't that long lasting 
• Same sweet lemon scent as with other Fresh products
• The formula is odd. These are too sticky to be a lip cream, not moisturizing enough to be a balm, too metallic to look natural, packaged wrong to be a liquid lipstick, and aren't actually that glossy aside from the shimmer. I don't really get what these are. 

The bottom line is this - I am glad I got samples, because I am not planning on purchasing full sizes.  If you have tried these, leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought! I predict this formula will be very polarizing.