Lips, Reviews

PR Sample

After the wildly popular YSL Glossy Stains, I guess everyone is getting on the uber-pigmented not-quite-a-gloss/not-quite-a-lipstick bandwagon. L’Oreal has had their Aqua Lacquers out for a while, Dior recently released their Addict Fluid Sticks, and Maybelline has a Color Elixir option (one of which I reviewed here). Next in the lineup is the new Revlon ColorStay Moisture Stain, which I was lucky enough to get a few of to try. They’re available to pre-order now from Walgreens, with a release date in mid-May, but displays have already been spotted in some places. You can see some more info on that from Nouveau Cheap. The pre-order price from Walgreens is $9.99, but as with all drugstore products, I’m sure the price will vary based on where you get it and what sort of sales they have running.

But let’s look at the goods, shall we? I received eight(!) of the twelve shades, so prepare for an onslaught of photos. If a picture is actually worth a thousand words, this will at least qualify as novella.

Packaging

The packaging actually reminds me a bit of the YSL Glossy Stains, albeit a much less luxe version. The rectangular acrylic tubes are clear, so the color you see is actually the color of the product, which is always handy when you’re looking for a certain color in an overcrowded lipstick drawer (I know I can’t be the only one with that problem). Also, these do come sealed – there’s a sticker on the back side of the tube and cap – so you can tell if someone has opened it up. The stickers are kind of a pain to remove, honestly, but I’d much rather deal with that than wonder if I’m inadvertently swapping spit with some jerk who decides to make their own testers out of the products on the shelf.

The applicator is also basically the same as the YSL version – an angled wedge shape. One dip into the tube pulls up about the right amount of product for each lip.

Colors

According to everything I’ve seen, there will be a dozen shades at launch, which is a pretty decent range. The ones I got all skew toward the bright/bold side of the spectrum. I haven’t seen the others in real life, but none of them really strike me as ‘my lips but better’ shades. Since this is a brand new product, I thought it would only be right for me to show you lip swatches of all of them.

001 India Intrigue

Bright, cool blue-based pink

005 Parisian Passion

Deep berry pink

010 LA Exclusive

Pale, icy Barbie pink

015 Barcelona Nights

Cool fuchsia

025 Cannes Crush

Bright, warm pink.

030 Milan Moment

If there was such a thing as pumpkin sherbet, I think it would be this color.

040 Shanghai Sizzle

Bold red

050 London Posh

Light pink/gold duochrome. Snarky editorial note: I honestly cannot think of any situation or skin tone where this would be a flattering color.

Texture, application & wear

The formula of this product is a really mixed bag. On the bright side, the colors are all very pigmented, and the finish is very shiny and glossy. Most of the colors are really pretty and bold, and I wanted to love them. Unfortunately just about everything else was a bit of a let-down. The product is very thick, feels heavy on the lips, and doesn’t spread evenly. I had the most trouble with the lighter shades (LA Exclusive, London Posh, Milan Moment), which I think you can sort of tell from the lip swatches. The applicator drags the product along with it, making it pool in spots, so it’s tough to get a clean line. For whatever reason it only wanted to stick to the outer part of my bottom lip, which is totally fine if my mouth is closed, but the line is really visible if I, ya know, talk or anything like that.

I’ll admit I only tested a couple of them for wear time; Barcelona Nights and Cannes Crush, which were the easiest to apply and my favorite colors of the bunch. After two or three hours, most of the product migrated to the outer edge of my lip and to the point where my lips meet, making it look like some kind of bizarre liner. Drinking my usual two cups of coffee sped up that process to about 45 minutes. The weirdest thing about them, though, is how they made my lips stick together – to the point that there would be strings of product connecting my upper and lower lips while I was talking. It was tough to get a picture of, but you can kind of see it in the picture below, especially at the corners of my mouth.

Most of them have a bit of a vanilla-y scent, but there’s also a strong chemical undertone. It’s not nearly as overwhelming as the chemical smell of the Maybelline Color Elixir I have, and it wears off within 10-15 minutes, but I did find it sort of annoying. If you’re bothered by strong fragrances, I could see this being an issue.

In Short: With all the other highly-pigmented, glossy-finish lip options out there, you won’t be missing out if you skip this one.

Revlon ColorStay Moisture Stain ($9.99) will be available at walgreens.com starting May 10, and presumably will be available wherever Revlon products are sold soon after that.

Products in this post were provided free of charge for consideration. All opinions are 100% my own, because life is too short to waste your time and mine with less-than-honest reviews.