Review: Dotom Lip Plus Plumper (Keybo)

This product was sent to me for review purposes. Please note that there is an affiliate code advertised.

Lip plumpers can be a very dividing product – people either love them or can’t stand them at all. Personally, I like the look of fuller lips but don’t like when they’re overdramatic, so these will generally give me the subtle effect that I’m after. I’ve tried quite a few of them already and they can really vary in level of intensity and effectiveness.

The one that I’m reviewing today is from Keybo, a kbeauty brand that’s completely new to me! The packaging for this actually caught my eye first but I wanted to try this out because I’ve been enjoying glosses on my ‘lazy’ make up days, and felt like this would be a good way to kill two birds with one stone (i.e. be both lazy and have nice lips). In the end, I think that this is a pretty good lip plumper, though it isn’t one that I reach for all the time – for reasons that I will discuss below!

The Dotom Lip Plus Plumper is available on BB Cosmetic for USD$11.40 and is also available in five shades. You can also use my code for 5% off (QAL3F6ZA8YZ)!

For now though, let’s get into this review.

Product Description

The product description on the BB Cosmetic website is a bit confusing as I feel that it’s been auto-translated. I also can’t find anything else on the official Keybo website so I’ve just given a brief summary with what I can understand.

Basically, this is a lip plumping gloss that contains olive oil, castor oil and menthol to give an instant fullness to lips. The longevity of its effects differ from person to person but the product description claims that it may feel hot for 10-30 minutes, with a plumpness for 3-5 hours.

As this product is menthol based, it makes lips tingle when first applied. This is a normal reaction to the ingredients and actually means that it’s working – that is, this literally makes your lips swell (in the best way) instead of just creating a glossy illusion.

The Dotom Lip Plus Plumper is available in five different shades (of which I have two). The below list has some approximate colour descriptions by me, as I feel that the translation is a bit over the top:

• 01 Spring Glass: Clear gloss
• 02 Spring Tulip: Subtle pink gloss
• 03 Spring Tangerine: Juicy orange gloss
• 04 Autum Delight: Warm deeper pink gloss
• 05 Winter Flame: Warm orange-red gloss

Packaging

As I mentioned earlier, the packaging is definitely what drew me in at first. The plumping glosses come wrapped in clear plastic (with no unit carton), which I personally don’t mind as this is very common for a lot of lip products. I also think that the actual tube is pretty enough to warrant this.

The packaging is made from a frosted plastic which is lightweight and decently sturdy too – the quality isn’t substantially amazing but there’s no issue with it either.

The tube has a gradient design where the pink becomes transparent towards to bottom to give an accurate representation of the gloss colour. I love this because I’m forever losing track of my lip products and this is a great way to see the shades at a glance. The use of the transparency means that it is totally accurate too, so there’s no messing around with labels and shade names.

In the below photo, you can see that Autumn Delight is wrapped in the plastic whilst Summer Tangerine has been taken out – the name of the shade is printed on the plastic, so will be removed. After this, there is a label on the base so you still have some reference to the shade (though not as clearly).

Personal Experiences

The BB Cosmetic website actually doesn’t have any proper swatches and I personally feel that the official swatches (which I found on the website) aren’t accurate either – so I was really taking a stab in the dark here. I chose Summer Tangerine and Autumn Delight because they’re ‘safe’ shades for me gloss wise. However, I actually found that the colour differences between the two are very subtle. They are not nearly as pigmented as the official swatches say they are.

As you can see in the below photos, the glosses have more of a tint to them and are mostly transparent. Unless you’re really packing it on, the shades will be almost the same so I don’t feel like this is a product that you’d want to collect – just buy the one (or two) shades that you feel you’ll gravitate towards the most.

For application of the Lip Plus Plumper, the ‘tingling’ sensation lasted almost half an hour for me – though it was shorter if I wore the gloss over other lip colours. I would find it comparable to the Soap & Glory Pillow Plump – you can feel it, but it isn’t painful or overly uncomfortable. My only recommendation would be to wait until after you eat to apply this, as you can taste the menthol.

After a few minutes, I can already see that my lips look plumper and lines are smoothed out. The effect is still quite natural and is more of an enhancement than anything. I would say that my lips stayed that way for approximately 1-2 hours (not as long as the product claims), but was very easy to reapply – as I would have had to with any other gloss anyway.

You can see from the above swatches that, although the two shades look very different on my hand and in the tube, the nature of the translucent gloss meant that it was affected by my natural lip colour. The two shades are so close after application that, unless you’re really analysing it, then I don’t think anyone will notice the difference.

I have used this gloss both alone and over the top of other lipsticks. They work well by themselves and have a smooth finish (hydrating, doesn’t stain or dry out lips). When used over other products, it still gives a similar plumping effect (though a bit more mild) and is smooth enough that it doesn’t affect the what it’s layered over.

All in all, the Dotom Lip Plus Plumper is a nice product, although I find the description and official swatches misleading. However, I doubt that I would be reaching for this often, as I personally prefer glosses with more pigmentation. It will really come down to your own preferences too.

Here’s the verdict!

SO WHAT IS IT?

A tinted, menthol based plumping gloss

THE GOOD

• Really pretty packaging
• Easy to tell shades apart (from the transparent tube)
• Mild tingling formula, doesn’t irritate
• Smooth and hydrating finish
• Doesn’t stain or cling to dry spots
• Easy to layer over other lip products

THE BAD

• Inaccurate official swatches
• Very sheer pigmentation
• Short term results (lips don’t stay plumped for long)

RATINGS

• PRICE POINT | 3/5
• PACKAGING | 4/5
• FINISH | 4/5
• PIGMENTATION | 1/5
• COLOUR ACCURACY | 2/5 (The actual shade is accurate, just not the pigmentation)
• PLUMPING | 4/5

OVERALL RATING? 6/10

WOULD I RECOMMEND?

It depends on what you’re after really – if you want a barely there tinted gloss with a decent plumping effect, then you will like this. For me, it just didn’t really suit my personal style. I was also disappointed with the swatch accuracy but the shades that they have are pretty basic and the formula is sheer enough to just eye ball it.

WHERE TO GET IT FROM

The Dotom Lip Plus Plumper by Keybo was gifted to me by BB Cosmetic, where it is available in five shades for USD$11.40 each. Remember that you can also use my code for 5% off – QAL3F6ZA8YZ.

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