Danica Porter was happy with the way she looked. She enjoyed applying new eye-shadows to her big, almond shaped brown eyes and adding the latest blushes to her smooth, even complexion. But, there was one part of her face she absolutely hated. Her lips.
"I know everyone wishes this, but I really, truly wish I had Angelina Jolie lips," said Porter, 18.
Jolie, a popular Hollywood actress, is well-known for her full, pouty mouth that many women desire to have.
"It just looks so good when you have full lips. My lips are so small," said Porter, who also said she loves make-up and frequently shops at stores like Sephora, a leading retail beauty chain in Europe and the U.S. Sephora sells everything from lipsticks to wrinkle creams to lip enhancing products.
These lip enhancing products were exactly what Porter and other women desiring full lips wanted. The best-selling lip enhancement product at Sephora, according to Sephora's website, is DuWop Lip Venom. The product claims to enhance the natural color and shape of lips by increasing circulation in the lips.
An excited Porter bought the lip enhancer, hoping she could finally achieve the look she wanted through this over-the-counter product.
"I want full lips, but surgery is out of the question," she said.
Although surgery is not an option for Porter, mainly because of her parents' refusal, it is still a normal and common procedure called a collagen injection.
A collagen injection, which just means a fat injection, plumps and adds "fullness to lips," according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' website.
The procedure "works best on thin, dry, light-colored skin," according to the site. But, over-the-counter lip enhancement products, like DuWop Lip Venom, don't have any guidelines. This adds to their popularity.
The active ingredients in this product are cinnamon and ginger, which are natural irritants to the soft, sensitive lip skin, causing the lips to become irritated and then swell. When the lips swell as a result of the irritation, they look bigger. But, the effect is only temporary, said Christen Norris, 20, who also bought DuWop Lip Venom in hopes of Angelina Jolie lips.
Norris said the gloss "tingled" her lips and that she did see a slight enlargement of them, "but only for maybe a half hour or so."
Although the irritation caused by the gloss comes from all-natural ingredients, frequent use of the product, meaning frequent irritation of the lips, has some women wondering if this may have a negative effect on their appearance.
"If it only lasts a half hour, I'm going to put it back on again and again. I wonder if my lips can handle all that," said Porter.
Porter worries that her lips may start to look even smaller or discolored as a result of all the irritation caused by the gloss.
But according to Washington, D.C. area dermatologist, Jay A. Barnett, these over-the-counter lip enhancers are safe to use, but don't do anything except fool women into thinking their lips might become enhanced for long periods of time.
"Why do people fall for these things?" Barnett said.
- Ritu Sharma, Associate Editor |
