For decades, lipstick has been the symbol of beauty and glamour. My mother will never go out without her lipstick, and sees it as a necessity. However, I believe the tide is turning.
Lipstick comes in a range of colours, and gives lips instant glamour. However, for some women, lipstick is nearly impossible to pull off. It's a common sight for me to see women with thinning lips coated in unflattering lipstick. If one's lips are thin, then most shades of lipstick will only draw to attention to this. Lip gloss, on the other hand, can be used to make lips appear larger, and glossier. Although lip gloss is seen by many as a "young" makeup, it is very flattering on many older women too. All in all, gloss flatters any lip shape. There are now many shades of lip gloss available, so that women of any skin tone can pull off gloss. Of course, clear lip gloss is also easy and goes on without any fuss. You won't have to spend half an hour applying it and then the rest of the day worrying about it smudging!
Lip gloss also goes with any look that you are going for. Wearing lipstick all the time can look over-dramatic and tacky, especially if you wish to do up the eyes nicely too! Gloss also can help make you look better-presented when you don't have the time to apply any more makeup, or if you are a low-maintenance girl. Lipstick can look messy when thrown on skin that isn't immaculate and flawless. It will draw attention to your flaws, especially if it's in a bright colour.
Another problem with lipstick is it's price. Quality lipstick can be very expensive, whereas there are many inexpensive glosses on the market, that will provide moisture for your lips at a low price. Cheap lipstick will rub off on other items easily, and soon fade. The colour often looks tacky, and your lips feel dry within a few hours of applying it. In fact, that problem isn't even restricted to cheap lipsticks. Many lipsticks can leave the lips feeling dryer that they were in the first place! Most lip glosses are formulated to solve this problem. They contain ingredients that moisturize the lips, even when the gloss runs out. If you do have a problem with glosses that dry out your lips, just choose a natural-ingredient gloss that contains beeswax rather than petrolatum. Natural glosses are much more widely available than natural lipsticks!
For the reasons above, I would rather have my lip gloss than lipstick. It's cheap, and you can get one shade (clear) that goes with every look and skin tone. It makes my lips feel moisturized and smooth, and Vaseline can double up as a moisturizer and a lipgloss! When I get ready in the morning, I am not very high-maintenance. Lip gloss makes my look seem softer and more feminine, and while it might not have the vixen appeal, lipstick is simply not worth the fuss!