I’m a sucker for cute packaging, so when I spotted the bunny ears and smiley faces of the Tony Moly Petite Bunny Gloss Bar, I just couldn’t resist. Since the Tony Moly brand is from South Korea, you have to look for websites that sell Korean cosmetics. I ended up buying mine from eBay, mainly because the price was more reasonable (re: affordable). As a note: counterfeit cosmetics do exist, particularly those that are highly popular and sought after. I did my due diligence to scope out the seller–established sales, customer reviews, total number and variety of items on the shop, etc.–before purchase.
My eBay purchase included the two Bunny Gloss Bars (number 03 Juicy Apple and 09 Neon Red), along with some other things that I hope to review at a later time. I got the goods delivered promptly (a little over a week) and everything was packaged very tidy in a small box. The individual gloss bar measures 4.5 in / 11.43 cm, which fits into the palm of my hand easily and the bunny ears gives my thumbs a gripping point when carrying. Both gloss bars had a label affixed on it that had a bunch of tiny Korean text which I could only make out the bar code and 03 or 09 numbers. I’ve read that Korean cosmetics have manufacture dates on the product, but I found imprinted on the bottom of the tube “EJN 20150912” followed by Korean text. I’m guessing that’s the use by date?
When uncapped, I noticed the scent of the gloss bar. I didn’t so much smell the 03 Juicy Apple, but for some reason 09 Neon Red had that sweet cherry-strawberry flavor reminiscent of children’s lip balms or cough medicine. The actual gloss bar is a creamy column that extends to about one inch via twisting the bottom tube, which I suppose is an average amount of gloss when compared to other lip products. I had some difficulty getting the 09 Neon Red bar to retract and ended up having to use my finger to gently press it back inside the plastic tube.
As far as the color: it’s actually rather sheer; you have to add a couple of layers before the color becomes really noticeable. The samples I swatched on my arm had a good 4-5 applications for the color to appear. And when I look at the 2 colors side by side, they do look rather similar, though this could be due to the lighting as I took the pictures rather quickly in the car during my lunch break. I found the actual application on my lips a bit on the greasy side for the 09 Neon Red. The texture is buttery soft and applies smoothly, but I didn’t find it to be moisturizing or very long lasting.
Overall, the Petite Bunny Gloss Bar is a combination between gloss (goes on in a shimmery-sheer fashion, but not exactly moist), and colored lip balm (bar that applies smooth and gives a touch of color). The product lists for $8.00-15.00 depending on which website you visit, but I paid $5.75 per shade from eBay. This was definitely a splurge purchase, based purely on the cute factor of the product packaging. There are a total of 9 shades but I’m not sure I would buy the remaining 7 shades.