Like it or not, lip gloss is trending again and is here to stay. While lip gloss has come a long way from the clear, tacky substances of old that were often bursting with glitter, it’s evident that some products have made greater strides than others. Lip gloss is notorious for being sticky, drying or having lackluster shine, making it challenging to find the perfect variety.

Anastasia Beverly Hills claims their lip gloss has a smooth, creamy formula that delivers high-shine color. The formula provides multidimensional pigment with over 15 shades to mix and match and is supposedly non-drying. As a bonus, the brand is committed to cruelty-free product formulation.

We tested Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss to see if it gave our lips great color and mirror-like shine. Here's what we found.

We asked an avid lip gloss wearer to use Anastasia lip gloss in the shade Kristen and tell us about their experience. Our tester has tried many high-end and drugstore lip glosses over the years and prefers them to lip stains. Their top priority is finding a lip gloss that's easy to apply and doesn't get sticky.

Anastasia Lip Gloss is a high-shine gloss with multidimensional pigment. In addition to offering shine, it also gives lips deep color.

Lip glosses get their shine and smooth formula from an emollient, usually a mineral or vegetable-based oil. This differs from lipsticks, which use a blend of oils and waxes. Wax gives lipstick a matte look and vibrant color. Wax also allows lipstick to be long-lasting, which is why lip gloss tends not to last as long as lipstick.

In addition to offering a basic clear shade, Anastasia Lip Gloss comes in 15 additional colors. The colors are pigmented, so you can wear them alone if you’re looking for just a touch of color to complete your look. The brand recommends layering the lip gloss over lipstick to enhance the color and add a mirror-like shine. Anastasia lip glosses can also be layered on top of each other to create a custom look.

You can apply Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss as lightly or heavily as you want. Keep it in your purse or your pocket so you can refresh whenever you feel like the color or shine is fading.

Overall, we were impressed with Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss. The packaging is attractive, and we thought the lip gloss tube size was generous. It has a brush applicator instead of a squeeze tube, making it much easier and more precise to apply.

It only took one coat on our top and bottom lips to attain the perfect amount of coverage. The single application left our lips glossy and hydrated with subtle pink-nude color — it was the perfect daytime look.

The gloss never dries down, giving us a mirror-like shine without flaking or stickiness. We found ourselves reapplying throughout the day since Anastasia Lip Gloss isn’t long-lasting. However, that’s true of most lip glosses, and we thought it faded well compared to the previous lip glosses we tried. We appreciated that even as the gloss faded, our lips remained smooth and hydrated, never once flaking or looking dry.

Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer offers explosive shine in six shades that flatter all skin tones. It leaves lips looking instantly fuller and smoother with shea butter to condition lips.  Available at Sephora

MAC Lipglass contains jojoba oil to help soften and condition the lips while creating a high-gloss, glass-like finish. The 19 shades are pigmented, very shiny and can impart subtle or dramatic color.  Available at Ulta

Tower 28 Beauty ShineOn Jelly Lip Gloss is a non-sticky gloss that comes in 10 shades. It has the shine of a gloss, the comfort of a balm and a touch of color.  Available at Sephora

Anastasia Beverly Lip Gloss retails at $16 for a .16-ounce tube.

You can buy Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss at Ulta.

The color is one of our favorite features of Anastasia Lip Gloss. Many lip glosses are first and foremost shiny with minimal color, but we thought Anastasia Lip Gloss was the perfect combination of pigmented color and high shine. You could wear it on its own without lipstick underneath, especially considering the many other bold and vibrant colors the brand offers.

We appreciated that Anastasia Lip Gloss lasted for hours and didn’t flake or turn sticky as it faded, which can happen with other glosses. It also has a great scent. Overall, we thought it felt very comfortable on our lips all day long.

The most significant need for improvement with this product is the lasting wear. We kept Anastasia Lip Gloss on hand at all times, since we needed to reapply often throughout the day.

While it’s not our experience, some users have reported the color bleeding or becoming blotchy and even flaking occasionally. Others found Anastasia Beverly Lip Gloss to be too sticky for their liking. Additionally, a few thought the color lip gloss they received didn’t match what was shown online.

Based on our experience, we feel Anastasia Lip Gloss delivered on its promise to give our lips great color and mirror-like shine. It’s one of the most hydrating lip glosses we’ve found, and we appreciate that it didn’t flake or turn sticky throughout the day.

We recommend Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss to anyone looking for a hydrating lip gloss to give high shine, especially those interested in highly pigmented colors to wear alone or on top of lipstick.

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Bre Richey is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money.

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