Talk about a product with buzz: Lip plumpers have it. Literally.

A hot category in the cosmetics market, many of them actually give the lips a temporary buzzing sensation when they re applied or a tingling, stinging, numbing, cooling, or burning feeling.

Masochism aside, why would anyone pay good money for that?

For bigger, sexier, moister lips, as one company says.

Fuller lips with no waiting. Fuller lips that are affordable from less than $10 to $35 and up. And here s the best part: fuller lips with no collagen injections.

Such promises, say people in the beauty business, speak to a wide range of women, across age groups, who want what nature denied them or is stealing back with time.

About 21 percent of lip consumers seek plumper lips, said Sarah Vickery, PhD, senior scientist for P&G cosmetics. The company s CoverGirl brand includes IncrediFULL volumizing lipstick that promises fuller-looking lips instantly with a formula that draws moisture to the lips.

We don t have claims on the degree of plumping, but 84 percent of women say that their lips look fuller instantly, said the chemist in a telephone interview from Hunt Valley, Md.

I think fuller lips have been the trend as of late, and this is the least invasive way to get that look, said Melanie Peralta, spokesman for DuWop Cosmetics.

People have different reactions to the product, she acknowledged in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. It s not really possible to get lips like Angelina Jolie s without going under the knife, but it does plump lips.

DuWop says its Lip Venom was the first lip plumper on the market, created in 1999 by company founders Cristina Bartolucci and Laura DeLuisa, who discovered the basis for the Lip Venom formula in Ms. DeLuisa s spice cabinet.

It seems that every cosmetic company has a lip plumper now, like everyone has a mascara and a lip gloss, Ms. Peralta said.

Here s the Lip Venom back story: Ms. Bartolucci was working as a Hollywood makeup artist and Ms. DeLuisa as a hair stylist. They noticed that actresses who came to them for touch-ups after filming kissing scenes had naturally flushed, plumped lips. The two women decided to create a product that would mimic the effect.

So, Ms. Peralta continued, they went into Ms. DeLuisa s kitchen and tried things like crushed mustard seed and cayenne pepper. The whole basis of it is to increase the blood circulation to the lips, she explained.

The formula that eventually came out of a lab is a blend of essential oils including ginger, cinnamon, and wintergreen in a jojoba oil base, Ms. Peralta said.

When people try Lip Venom, they feel the tingling. It is the blend of those oils that causes the blood to rush to the surface of the lips, which flushes and swells them slightly, she said. The original product, a gloss, has grown into a line of Venom products with silver, gold, or pink shimmers and Venom 2nd Sin, which the company says has collagen-boosting ingredients and a cooling sensation rather than the tingle of Lip Venom (which starts right away for some users and takes a minute or so for others).

The effect of the Lip Venom products isn t permanent, Ms. Peralta said. You just continually apply it.

Like the Lip Venom approach to enhancing lips, Urban Decay Cosmetics Big Fatty Lip Plumper, introduced in the fall of 2005, is created with African chili, jasmine, and hyacinth and results in up to a 20 percent fuller and noticeably pinker pout. The effect lasts up to three hours, according to a company press release.

Its Blow Lip Plumper, introduced last summer, takes a different approach while still promising instant results that include a numbing sensation. The magic, the company says, comes from phospholipids that when applied attract moisture from inside the lip environment and inflate to plump up lips.

N.V. Perricone M.D. Cosmeceuticals also takes the hydration approach with its Lip Plumper cream that is designed to be applied on and around the lips, either by itself or before lipstick throughout the day. Lip Plumper does not burn or harm the lips to create a more voluptuous look, the company states on a product fact sheet.

Ms. Vickery, the P&G product development scientist, agreed on the potential for harm from natural essences that act as irritants to cause temporary swelling and sensations such as stinging.

That s not really great for the lips, to be honest, but it is one popular method, said Ms. Vickery, whose company in 2006 introduced its plumper that uses a two-step treatment of smoothing and hydrating.

Such two-step products, she explained, lay down a base that acts likes a spackle, filling in fine lines and wrinkles. The top coat, clear gloss or color, includes a humectant that pulls in water to create a fuller look, along with conditioners and vitamins to improve the skin.

CoverGirl s IncrediFILL, she continued, works through intense moisturization of the lips that lasts for eight hours. The formula has what she calls a signal to the user that the product is doing something an ingredient that causes a bit of a cooling sensation, but not at an irritant level.

Avon promotes its ANEW Clinical Plump and Smooth Lip System as a two-part treatment [that] addresses thin lips, aged lips, and the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles around the lips.

Packaged in a two-sided click pen, one end delivers a smoothing treatment around the lips to minimize lines and vertical wrinkles, and the other end applies a plumping treatment on the lips, formulated to boost collagen and improve the shape of lips.

It s been a hit with customers, according to Avon representative Susan Patton of Northwood, who said most of the women who have bought the product from her are in their 30s to mid-70s.

I ve sold over 130 units of it since the product was introduced in March, she said. That number includes repeat sales already and positive reviews including one from a smoker who told Ms. Patton that the product has diminished the pucker lines typically created around the mouth by the cigarette habit. She uses it two to three times a day and says she ll never live without it.

Ms. Patton said she also has used the product and seen improvement. Unlike the tingling sensation of many plumpers, ANEW leaves a feeling like when you put ChapStick on, she said. It feels like something is on your lips, almost like you can feel it smoothing, Ms. Patton explained. Her lips looked fuller, she said, but not huge, nor so much larger that someone might comment on the effect.

To Ms. Peralta, the DuWop Cosmetics spokesman, a lip gloss without zing is missing something.

I like the tingling. Now to me it s become the norm.

Contact Ann Weber at: aweber@theblade.comor 419-724-6126.

First Published June 30, 2007, 10:59 a.m.