Not Watermelon: By Terry Laque de Rose Glossy Balm in Devil Rose

I'm gaga over yet another gloss, but this time it ain't no pansy watermelon.

That's the tube there in the photo. The decidedly purple hue is the actual colour of the stuff itself, a By Terry Laque de Rose glossy balm in a shade called Devil Rose.

And that's Devil Rose there on my lips, that entirely wearable, sheer berry colour. Love.

A lightweight, shiny version of Terry de Gunzburg's famed, luxurious Baume de Rose, Laque de Rose ($57 CAN) goes on completely without stickiness. Moisturizing and comfy on lips, it comes in the prettiest rose-scented shades -- this brave, bold purple is the only hue that dares you to test the adage "don't judge a book by its cover."

de Gunzburg, by the way, is the makeup artist responsible for YSL's best-selling Touche Éclat brightening pen. She's beauty-industry cool. "Purple has become the new black and light purple has become the new brown," she said when my writer friend Liza Herz and I met her at Holt's a few months back. In fact, purple is her signature, the colour of her packaging, and always somewhere in her colour-cosmetic collections (this season's eye shadow shades are Milky Marshmallow, a soft lavender, and Black Grape, a deep, slightly blackened purple; $44 CAN each).

I confess, though, I did judge this colour by its "cover." I thought it was fabulous in the tube so it had to look fabulous on the lips, and I was right. So there. *grin*

In Canada, By Terry cosmetics and skincare is available at select Holt Renfrew and Sephora stores.