Lip Stain’s Got Your Back

On Monday, we learned you can use Lip Spackle to extend the wear of  lip gloss too, as opposed to only using it with lipstick. But what if you don’t want the opaqueness that comes with it? Or the color lightening effect? The pastelification of your sheer gloss? I recently heard another long-wear trick where you apply a lip stain first, then a gloss on top. It seemed like a great idea, so I had to test it out.

After doing a little research on the Sephora website, I decided to try their store brand Lush Flush Lip & Cheek Stain, which according to the reviews is even better than cult-favorite Benetint. (AND it's $16 cheaper! $12 vs $28.) I had tried Benetint ages ago, and I felt like it was impossible to get it to go on smoothly or blend well. Plus, it's too scary to take with you anywhere! Benetint is basically a small bottle of rose-scented pink dye with a brush, which was originally invented for strippers! While stripper-nipple pink is actually a really nice color, the watery product combined with the nail-polish-brush applicator never really worked that well for me.

Sephora’s Lush Flush has a more traditional lip gloss applicator and a thin gel texture, both of which make it easier to work with than Benetint. It's also VERY portable. I got the “Red Wine” color, which is called “Red Wine” on the website but “Merlot” on the tube. It’s pretty close to the deep berry pink color of Benetint, which I really like. It’s also available in Pinot, which is more of a red and Rose (presumably Rosé) which is a lighter pink. The product is actually made with red wine, hence the winey names. And, I guess, the whole “stain” thing too. Maybe my skin is just too dry, but I still couldn’t get it to blend on my cheeks. I tried again, right after using moisturizer and tinted moisturizer. It worked better, but you have to be lighting fast. You almost don’t even have time to put the applicator back in the tube before you have to start blending.

On to the real test! I tried it under a favorite lip gloss, Power Supply Lip Glass by MAC. Opposite of Lip Spackle, which lightens the shade of the gloss, the lip stain deepened the color, which I totally expected and actually appreciated. Over the course of a few hours, which included 3 pieces of gum, a glass of coconut water, plus short conversations at the dry cleaner, grocery store and drug store, it held up remarkably well. Most of the time if you’re just wearing lip gloss, it completely vanishes with no warning. (Lip gloss can be such a flake! But you love her anyway!) In this case, when the lip gloss eventually wore off, I was still left with the stain. Just like a real stain! This trick works with lipstick too. It's such a simple idea, I really can't believe I hadn't done it before.

A lip stain doesn’t offer any moisture, or prevent feathering and bleeding, like Lip Spackle does. It doesn't actually help the lip gloss/lipstick stay in place, you're just sort of hiding another color underneath for backup. But it’s a good one to have in your arsenal, particularly for the “I want to look good with minimal effort” days. Which is most days.