Sally Hansen Lip Inflation Color-Full in "Embrace"

Embrace is a fun orangey-salmon color with a hint of red.  Plus, it tastes and smells like cinnamon, and it really has great pigmentation and a decent amount of plumping!  I'd say it's a good one.

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in "Sponge Cake"

"Sponge Cake" seems to be one of the most popular NYX colors, and I can see why!  I picked this up because I saw so many good reviews for it, and I am not disappointed at all.  This really looks like a more expensive lip gloss, with great color payoff, and extremely small sparkles, so it doesn't look glittery, but it still looks nice and shiny.  It's not very sticky, and the color is a neutral medium pink, perhaps a bit on the warm side, that would probably flatter any complexion.

L'Oreal Color Juice lip gloss in "Melon Punch"

Melon Punch is a sheer orangey color.  It's not sparkly or that shimmery (maybe a teensy bit of shimmer, but nothing to remark on), just nice and shiny.  Plus it smells great!  I'm not sure if the drugstores are still selling this, but I was certainly happy when I picked this up at 75% off at CVS!

Milani 3D Glitzy Glamour Gloss in "Stylish"

Stylish is a sheer orangey color with oodles of sparkles.  It's not nearly as pigmented as "In Vogue" which I also swatched, but it's still nice.  Besides, orange can be a tricky color with lips, so the more sheer, the better.

MaxFactor Maxalicious Glitz Lip Gloss in "Guilty Pleasures"

Amazing holiday party color!  It's unfortunate that MaxFactor has been discontinued in the US, because this is the kind of color I could really see myself repurchasing.  It made appearances on both Christmas and Valentine's Day, so clearly I like it a lot.  It's a good sparkly red and it's not sticky at all!

ELF Plumping Lip Glaze in "Fuchsia Fanatic"

I'm not a huge fan of the plumping lip glazes, because the color payoff isn't good, they taste weird, and they don't really work.  Having said that, they're sort of fun to try out, and they only cost a dollar each.  I got one in "Fuchsia Fanatic" and it's probably the best one I have, because it's one of the only ones with a color that actually shows up.  It's more vibrant and cool than it looks in the pictures.

L'Oreal Infallible Lip Gloss in "Coral Sands"

I was excited to try the Infallible lip glosses because there was so much hype about them, but positive and negative--all in all, I'm not super impressed, but I do find myself reaching for Coral Sands quite often because it's so flattering with my skin tone.  This gloss is sticky, so if that's a turn off for you, be warned.

NYX Round Lip Gloss in "Chocolate Moose"

I really like this color.  The color payoff is amazing...just one swipe and your lips are a beautiful copper.  For some people, copper might seem weird for a lip color, but it goes really well with my coloring and I enjoy it.  I could see this lip gloss being too "90s" for some people, but it's great for me!  It's slightly metallic, so if you hate shimmer, stay away.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in "Pink Afterglow"

This color seems to be a real classic for the Revlon Super Lustrous collection.  Other colors get discontinued, and this one seems to keep going strong.  It's not the most exciting color--it's just an extremely sheer medium pink with tons of sparkles.  But I could see where this could become the "go to" lip gloss just because it's fail proof.

Above with no flash, below with flash.

Maybelline Shine Sensational Lip Gloss in "Cherry Kiss"

This is a decent, extremely sheer lip gloss.  I prefer a little more color payoff--I didn't buy something red just to end up with something clear!  However, you really can't go wrong with a basic lip gloss like this.

Above without flash, below with flash

L'Oreal Glam Shine Dazzling Plumping Lip Gloss in "Diva" (700)

Okay, so these have been discontinued but I snagged several of them years ago, and surprisingly they still "work".  They haven't expired or anything, and I believe this one, Diva, I got in late 2003, because I wore it to my first freshman dance in high school and loved the way it looked.
These glosses might have too much sparkle for me now, but they're still fun.  There really isn't much of a plumping effect, but my lips look smooth and shiny when I wear them, so that's good.  "Diva" is a rich, medium reddish pink with tons of multi-colored sparkles.  You end up noticing the sparkles more than you notice the actual color!

Above, with no flash.  Below, with flash.

L'Oreal Glam Shine Dazzling Plumping Lip Gloss in "Muse" (500)

This is a color I rarely reach for.  First of all, the Glam Shine lip glosses are fun, but possibly too sparkly and while they claim to plump, they really don't. (Although the sparkles might make your lips look bigger in theory).  Muse is a light purplish pink with considerable sparkles. One thing these lip glosses definitely have going for them is significant color payoff.  One swipe will really do the trick with this lip gloss.  Unfortunately, you can't really find these anywhere these days.  I think they've been discontinued.  It's possible you could still find them on Ebay, though, and I think some of them are probably worth the journey.  This isn't my favorite color, but I have others that I love.

Above without flash, below with flash.

NYX Round Lip Gloss in "Whipped"

This is a good creamy light pink lipstick.  It avoids the light pink pitfall, which is that it ends up being too creamy and opaque, and you can end up looking like a corpse.  This is a great way to do a "pale lip" if you're a little phobic of light lip colors.  It's pigmented, but not so pigmented that you need to apply carefully.  This is a good lip color for day-to-night.  Sheer enough for daytime, but buildable enough for nighttime to match with a smokey eye.

With no flash (above)

With flash

Sally Hansen Lip Inflation Extreme HD in "Gigabyte"

I'm not usually a fan of sheer lip colors--I like creamy, pigmented, fun lip colors.  However, it's obvious from looking at this tube of lip gloss that you are going to get a clear, sparkly, slightly pinkish gloss.  The sparkles are out of this world--this is probably the sparkliest gloss I own.  Also, it actually does plump your lips, at least temporarily.  It tastes and smells like cinnamon which I absolutely love, and you can feel a tingling sensation (which some might not enjoy, but I like)

As you can see in the picture above, Gigabyte is almost entirely clear, but there are visible sparkles.

Top picture with no flash, bottom picture with flash.

Hard Candy Plumping Serum Volumizing Lip Gloss in "Girly Girl"

Okay, I'll admit I'm disappointed.  I thought Hard Candy was going to be a great brand, because everyone seems to be raving about it, but this lip gloss was a pretty big disappointment.  First off, there is practically no payoff.  In the tube it looks like it's going to be a light nude, but it's actually almost entirely clear, with sparkles.  Oh well.  Also, there's absolutely no volumizing effect (at least I don't think so) plus it makes my lips peel and feel really weird, and it's super sticky. Yeah, stay away.  But for the hell of it, here are some swatches since it's not an ugly color.

with no flash (above and below)

with flash (below)

Black Radiance Illusions lip gloss in "Posh Plum"

Now, this was a bit of a wild thing for me to get.  First of all, I'm white and these colors are more targeted toward darker skin, and more importantly, I look bad in purple lip glosses.  But it wasn't too expensive, and I thought it would be fun to try out!  Bottom line: not for me, but possibly cute on other people.

Here is "posh plum" inside with no flash.  As you can see, there aren't really any sparkles, but there is a slightly prismatic effect.  It's not very pigmented--you'd think it would show up bright purple due to the color in the tube.  However, it is a decent plum color.

And here is "posh plum" inside with the flash: (oops! I colored outside the lines a bit)

ELF Super Glossy Lip Shine in "Malt Shake"

ELF's super glossy lip shines are a really great find--for just one dollar, they smell like vanilla grape (more grape than vanilla) and they are beautiful, non-sticky pigmented colors.  I bought this lip gloss in "Malt Shake", which I expected to be more of a frosty brown color, but instead it's a warm, sheer reddish brown- absolutely perfect for olive or warm toned skin girls!

Here is "malt shake" indoors with no flash.  It's a bit darker than this picture indicates, but it's a fabulous subtle, darker nude shade.

Here is "malt shake" with the flash inside:

And here it is on my arm!

Sally Hansen Smile Brightening Lip Treatment in "Dazzling"

Sally Hansen promises that their "smile brightening lip treatments" will make your teeth look whiter.  I'm not so sure that this lip gloss served its purpose, but it certainly is a nice sparkly color!  I got it in "Dazzling".

Here is "dazzling" inside with no flash.  It's a nice mauve dark pink.  On the cool side, but not overpowering purple.  It's a bit sticky, but not too bad.  The packaging is pretty cute too.

Here is "dazzling" again inside with a flash.  As you can see, there are some pretty evident sparkles!

And here is a swatch of "dazzling" on my arm, with a flash:

Milani 3D Glitzy Glamour Gloss in "In Vogue"

When the Milani 3D Glitzy Glamour Glosses came out, I was thrilled!  These looked so glamorous and dynamic, I just had to try several. Here are some swatches for "In Vogue".

In Vogue is a very bright, bold magenta color with oodles of glittery sparkles.  Definitely a "going out" lip color, not meant for daytime.

Surprisingly, it's not too sticky, but extremely pigmented!  A really great drugstore find :)

In Vogue inside with no flash (this one is pretty accurate- although the color is slightly brighter and bolder than this)

In Vogue inside with flash (warmer and brighter with the flash)