Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick - Perfect Dupe for Clarins?

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Balm Perfectors (full review) are by far my most worn lip product this year.  I’m completely besotted with the shade Red!  It’s so moisturising and the colour is so pretty, I can’t get enough of it!  Having said that, it’s a tad pricy of I’m going to repurchase this on a regular basis.  So I've been on a hunt for a good dupe for this beauty.

 

Then I came across the Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Sticks (£6.99).  They look like your standard lip crayons and I was expecting it to be just that, another lip crayon.  When I swatched it on my hands,  I was pleasantly surprised with the nice formula.  Instantly it reminded me of the Clarins Lip Perfector Balms.  This is what I’d call a dupe as it’s so so similar to the actual product!  The formula is almost identical – nourishing, balm-y and almost melts on to your lips.  You really won’t need a lip balm at all to hydrate your lips.

Just like the Clarins balms, the Max Factor Colour Elixirs are really comfortable to wear on the lips.  The shade Designer Blossom is almost an exact dupe for the Clarins shade Red, i.e. my favourite.  If you were looking closely, the Designer Blossom is ever so slightly warmer.  On my lips it looks exactly the same.  The Max Factor Colour Elixir shades are more pigmented than the Clarins versions.  The one other thing that is different is that the Max Factor Colour Elixirs leave a stain behind on your lips, whereas the Clarins ones completely disappear if you wipe them off.  The Clarins balms smell really nice, and the Max Factor Pen Sticks are unscented. 

For the difference in price, Clarins £18 versus Max Factor £7 – the Max factor colour Elixirs win by a long shot!  My one improvement of the Max Factor Giant Pen Sticks would be the crayon itself isn’t a retractable one, you have to sharpen it – this can be quite annoying, as I experience it with my NARS Velvet Matte Pencils.  However for the price difference, I can live with that one issue! I think this is the closest dupe I’ve found of a product that has made me happy to call it a dupe, so glad to have discovered it!

Have you tried the Clarins Lip Perfector Balms or the Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Sticks?  What are your favourite dupes from the high street?  Share in the comments below or tweet me @aspiring_london!

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Some of these items have been sent to me for review purposes.