Luckily, there are a few alternatives that suit cash-strapped needle-phobes. After a MakeUpAlley deep-dive into the top-rated offerings, I started with Dior Addict Lip Maximizer. It is beautifully packaged, left my lips soft and glossy and healthy-looking, but there was no discernible improvement in volume. Next, I tried NIOD Lip Bio-Lipid Concentrate , which smelt... funny. Not bad per se, but overly sweet in an artificial way. Nevertheless, I smoothed some over my lips and almost instantly felt a telltale tingle. Minutes later, my lips were plumped but slightly red around the lip line (something that persisted no matter how careful I was when I applied it), meaning you don’t want to apply this too close to leaving the house. Too Faced’s Lip Injection has some breathless reviews online, but I found it unbearably painful (and I like to think my threshold is pretty high after years of waxing, threading, and gruesome sports massages). I couldn’t tell if it plumped my lips – I had to wipe it off after less than three minutes. Buxom’s Full-On Lip Polish definitely temporarily inflated my lips and the tingling was minimal, but the glossy finish confused me. I wanted something that would make my lips look fuller so I could apply lipstick over the top, so the stickiness was a problem.