We're Clapping Back At This Painful Instagram Beauty Craze

I have a love-hate relationship with wasabi. I love it in my soy sauce (as most sushi eaters do), but I remember eating a whole gob of it in middle school while trying to impress my crush during a round of "Truth or Dare," and I've been semi-scarred ever since.

But when your boss says jump, you ask how high. Or, in my case, when your boss says, "The Internet is using wasabi as a lip plumper, you in?" you do a hail Mary and meekly nod.

We decided to test the wasabi against another lip plumper to see how they compared. I sat down with my co-worker Camille (who already has the most beautifully plump lips) and she was just as skeptical as I was. I've always been curious about making my lips fuller, but never imagined a sushi condiment would be the way to get there. Would it burn? Would I cry? What if I got it in my mouth? These were the questions buzzing through my head.

We started with the Soap & Glory lip plumper on our top lip only. It went on smoothly, tasted minty, and tingled a little, but looked nice and glossy. I don't think my lip grew any bigger, though.

Then, we reluctantly moved on to the wasabi on the bottom lip, which — not gonna lie — hurt pretty damn badly. There were tears and some cursing involved — and the fact that my lips were already really dry certainly didn't help. I looked ridiculous and though my lips turned a deeper shade of red, they didn't get any plumper.

So, what did we learn? Wasabi should remain inside your mouth, not on it — unless you want a good laugh and a spicy sting.