In the immortal words of Harry Styles, “I don’t know if I can ever go without Watermelon Sugar High.” But I don’t know if I really need the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Lip Pop. Is this K-Beauty lip balm worth the $22 price point? Keep reading for my honest review with swatches.

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A Little About Glow Recipe

Glow Recipe is a certified, Clean Skincare brand at Sephora that launched in 2014 with a mission to bring fun, whimsical K-beauty inspired products to the US market. Glow Recipe was founded by Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, both of whom are still co-CEOs of the brand.

During the height of the clean beauty movement, Glow Recipe shot to fame with their Watermelon line of products. In fact, when the brand launched the Watermelon Glow Sleep Mask it had a 5,000 person long wait list at Sephora and sold out multiple times. The brand is well-known for its Instagram-worthy packaging, sensorial textures, sweet fragrances, and hyped formulas.

As a clean skincare brand, Glow Recipe emphasizes their ingredient standards. Moreover, the brand’s products are ingredient-driven. In other words, the brand develops its product lines based on natural ingredients used in their formulas: watermelon, avocado, banana, papaya, etc. Even the packaging takes obvious inspiration from its natural ingredients.

Watermelon Glow Lip Pop Claims

What does Glow Recipe say about the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop?

Say hello to your new favorite do-it-all lip product. This no-rinse, scrub-to-balm formula exfoliates, hydrates, and deposits a pop of pink color. 

Intensely nourish with amino-rich watermelon extract and vitamin E and prevent moisture loss with coconut oil and watermelon seed oil. Edible flower-derived AHA naturally smooths lips and coconut flower sugar gently exfoliates and melts away dead skin and flakes. It also delivers a pop of pink that’s unique to your skin, meaning your lip flush will be as one-of-a-kind as you are.

To condense Glow Recipe’s claims, the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop is a do-it-all lip pop that will exfoliate, intensely nourish, and deposit a pop of pink.

Packaging & Price

The Watermelon Glow Lip Pop comes in a whimsical looking light pink tube. In terms of the color, the blush pink perfectly matches to the rest of the brand’s Watermelon range.

From a material perspective, the tube and inside component are made of a lightweight plastic. The choice of material and design of the lip pop is quite surprising given that Glow Recipe is known for using glass packaging.

Meanwhile, the balm, itself, looks more like a lipstick than a traditional lip balm. To be candid, the balm and packaging look and feel quite cheap.

Price-wise, the Glow Recipe Lip Pop retails for $22.00. This is $3.00 cheaper than Fresh’s cult-classic, Advanced Lip Therapy ($25.00).

Is Glow Recipe Cruelty Free & Vegan?

Glow Recipe is Leaping Bunny Certified, which means they are verified as Cruelty-Free. Also, the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop is Vegan.

While the Lip Pop ingredient list includes fragrance, the formula is free of Parabens, Mineral Oil, Sulfates, Phthalates, and Drying Alcohol. Finally, Glow Recipe is a K-Beauty brand that is considered one of the most popular and trendy clean skincare brands. In fact, the brand is certified clean at Sephora.

RELATED: Check out my ultimate roundup of affordable Cruelty-Free brands.

Ingredient Analysis

As always, I like to include a simple ingredient analysis within my reviews. With the current fear-mongering in the American beauty market, it is so important for consumers to familiarize themselves with ingredient lists rather than letting brands dictate what is “clean” vs what is “dirty.” With that in mind, keep reading to understand the top 10 ingredients listed in the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop.

Top 10 Ingredients in the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop

Ingredient	Common Usage
Diisostearyl Malate	A common lipstick ingredient used for its emollient properties.
Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate	A common emollient used to provide long-lasting, protective emulsions in products like lip balm. Also, known for providing a rich, cushion-like feel and glossy finish.
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene	A synthetic liquid used to replaced mineral and silicone oils in formulations. Within formulas, it acts as a waterproofing agent and emollient to help prevent moisture loss & improve the texture of skincare products. Also, this ingredient is known to enhance the dewy, glowing look of the skin.
Phytostearyl/Isostearyl/Cetyl/Stearyl/Behenyl Dimer Dilinoleate	An occlusive skin & hair conditioning agent.
Polyethylene	A plastic (synthetic polymer) with many cosmetic functions such as in facial scrubs or as as a stabilizer, binding agent, thickener, and film-forming agent in moisturizers.
Diphenyl Dimethicone	A high shine phenyl-substituted silicone fluid for use in skin care, sun care, antiperspirant and haircare formulations.
Jojoba Esters	A complex mixture of esters from jojoba oil and hydrogenated jojoba oil with a wax-like texture that functions as an emollient and occlusive agent for skin or as an exfoliating ingredient in scrubs.
Tridecyl Trimellitate	A synthetic ingredient used to enhance texture or soften skin.
Dipentaerythrityl Hexahydroxystearate/Hexastearate/Hexarosinate	A skin conditioning & viscosity controlling agent.
Caprylyl Methicone	Caprylyl Methicone gives a product a silky, smooth feel. Also, this ingredient may plump the skin and temporarily reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Thoughts on the Lip Pop Ingredients

Like most brands, Glow Recipe heavily emphasizes the benefits of ingredients that aren’t the top ingredients used in the Lip Pop formula. However watermelon & coconut extracts are in the top half of ingredients listed in the formula.

Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of emollient and skin-conditioning ingredients in the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop formula. Additionally, stabilizers are listed among the top 10 ingredients.

Application & Wear-Time

Formula-wise, the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop feels stiff. In fact, it feels similar to a traditional bullet lipstick. However, it is far less creamy than a satin formula and doesn’t tug on the lips like matte formulas.

Despite claiming to provide gentle exfoliation to the lips, I do not notice any gritty or bumpy texture. Instead, the formula glides across the lips quite nicely.

Color-wise, the balm leaves a soft, bubble gum tint to the lips that gives them a healthy glow. With each reapplication, the tint becomes much stronger. Therefore, be aware that too many reapplications throughout the day might make it look like you’ve been sucking on a watermelon lollipop all day.

In terms of longevity, this lip balm is not as long-lasting as my favorite prestige and affordable formulas. More specifically, I notice that my lips feel drier much more quickly. Therefore, I a find myself reapplying the lip pop much more frequently throughout the day. Moreover, the formula is too lightweight for me to apply as my nighttime lip balm.

Where is the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop sold?

Glow Recipe sells the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop through its own website, Sephora US, and Sephora Canada. The balm is available in various kits,* as well as individually. In the UK, the Lip Pop is available at Cult Beauty.

Final Thoughts on the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Lip Pop

Overall, I enjoy using the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Lip Pop. This lip balm is a fun, whimsical looking lippie that provides a light boost of hydration to my chapped lips. Also, I enjoy the light bubblegum pink tint this balm gives to my lips.

With the above said, I do not notice any exfoliating benefits as claimed. Moreover, the formula isn’t nourishing enough to work as my overnight lip balm. Therefore, this balm fails to live up to the claim to provide intense nourishment.

Is the Watermelon Glow Lip Pop worth the hype?

The Lip Pop is a lovely, lightweight tinted lip balm that deposits a pink pop of color on the lips. This lip balm is worth the hype for summer-time usage or for individuals that live in warmer climates that don’t get super dry. As New England resident, this balm is too lightweight to completely save my lips from the cold Fall and Winter air. Although only slightly cheaper than Fresh’s Advanced Lip Therapy, I still prefer my holy grail Fresh Treatment.

At $22.00, this lip balm is is by no means a must-have given the wide range of high-quality, affordable formulas available at the drugstore. Therefore, I’d only recommend this balm to someone looking to splurge specifically on Glow Recipe or to someone looking to buy a kit that contains this balm.

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Have you tried any Glow Recipe products? Do you want to try the Glow Recipe Lip Pop? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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