I love the concept of lip stains, because I am very lazy, and the idea of one-time application and all-day wear is very appealing. Unfortunately, most lip stains work horribly for me, drying out my lips, wearing away unevenly, settling into lip lines, and just generally looking and feeling awful. But still, I hold out hope.
When I was in Berlin for a conference this summer (any other CogSci folks here?), I visited dm drogerie markt, a common German drugstore, several times, and swatched a bunch of products that looked promising (because unlike here, drugstores have testers in Europe––what a concept!). One was the Manhattan Colour Splash Liquid Lip Tint in 94R Red Tulip, which initially swatched extremely orange and I thus disregarded it, until it came time to wipe my hand free of swatches, when the prettiest coral-red stain was revealed. This stain lasted 24+ hours on my hand, and my interest was further piqued. On our last day, the boy and I visited a dm before heading to the airport, and I picked up a number of things that I'd seen earlier and still wanted, including this stain, because I figured I would regret it if I didn't. Plus, it was, like, €3,95, so I didn't really have much to lose...
The doefoot applicator actually works really well with this stain, which probably speaks to the quality of the formula more than the packaging. It spreads evenly and easily, and dries similarly. Like many stains, it makes my lips a little itchy and scrinchy when it's drying down (about 5 minutes), but after a few minutes it ceases to be noticeable. There are several things that make me inclined to forgive the initial scrinchiness:
1) It doesn't actively dry my lips out. They feel like they could use some balm after a whole day of wearing this and nothing else, but that's true for most lippies. Plus, you don't wear a stain expecting it to be moisturizing (or if you do, you're always disappointed).
2) It wears so well. I apply it on pre-balmed lips that have been blotted, let it sit for a couple minutes, blot using a tissue, then reapply. I find that the initial application can sometimes be a little uneven, but doing the blot-reapplication thing resolves that completely. Then I do my thing (by which I mean, spend a few hours drinking and eating pretty much continuously) and am amazed at how intact it is a few hours later.
3) While it does fade some after a meal, unsurprisingly, it does so quite evenly and gradually, so you have plenty of time to touch it up before it gets anywhere near ring-around-the-mouth-y. Usually with brighter shades I have to be very careful about reapplying so I don't end up with scary clown mouth, and I don't have to for this one!
4) The matte stain finish makes the rather intimidating color much more approachable. The first few hours, it's an orange-leaning red, and usually, I stay away from orange at all costs. This one is much more wearable! Plus, as it fades, it becomes cooler and pinker, which makes it look like I've changed lippies without having to actually do anything. Laziness ftw!
5) Unlike some stains, this one is perfectly happy to be layered over itself and reapplied, no weird buildup or gunkiness.
So, yeah. Ich liebe diesen Lippenstift. I wish I'd picked up 54L So Paris, too. Sadly, these are only available in Europe (possibly only Germany, actually?), and they are apparently limited edition. If you happen to be in the area, though, I definitely recommend picking one (or all) up. For swatches, see here, here, here, and here (alles auf Deutsch). Grade: A
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| So orangey! |
1) It doesn't actively dry my lips out. They feel like they could use some balm after a whole day of wearing this and nothing else, but that's true for most lippies. Plus, you don't wear a stain expecting it to be moisturizing (or if you do, you're always disappointed).
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| Left to right: L'Oreal Infinite Fuchsia, Manhattan Red Tulip, L'Oreal Endless Red, Catrice Pinkadilly Circus. You should definitely view this in not Google Chrome, as it's way too fluorescent in that browser. |
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| 2 minutes later, after wiping with tissue. See how much cooler Red Tulip has become? That stain lingered for 3 DAYS, including through vigorous salt scrubbing and 3 showers. |
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| Applied at full strength, pre-haircut. Wearing my baller linguistics t-shirt (front: Diachrony Now. back: Synchrony Forever. It's hilarious if you're a linguist), whose font matches Red Tulip almost exactly! |
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| Post-meal stain, post-haircut! |
5) Unlike some stains, this one is perfectly happy to be layered over itself and reapplied, no weird buildup or gunkiness.
So, yeah. Ich liebe diesen Lippenstift. I wish I'd picked up 54L So Paris, too. Sadly, these are only available in Europe (possibly only Germany, actually?), and they are apparently limited edition. If you happen to be in the area, though, I definitely recommend picking one (or all) up. For swatches, see here, here, here, and here (alles auf Deutsch). Grade: A
