YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis a Levres Glossy Stain Review & Swatches

My first experience with lipstain/cheek stain was when I purchased the Schick Stick off of HSN about 10 years ago (it might have been even be longer than 10 years ago).

Yeah, the Schick Stick, sounds like a razor to me. But actually it was a cheek and lip stain housed in a tube with a sponge applicator. It was created by the super friendly, utterly gracious, and oh so gorgeous Morgen Schick (she e-mailed me randomly a few years ago just to say hello and thanks for liking her product, I was gobsmacked to say the least).

Morgen, to this very day, still sells her brilliant cheek stain/lipstain and it remains a fond favorite of mine.

Lip and Cheek Stains have evolved so much though. New packaging, formulas, etc…where as before the market was lacking, now the market is saturated with all kinds of stains.

I think one of the main complaints about stains is the irony that they have such a long wear time on cheeks but go drier on lips and sometimes don’t wear as well.

The new Yves Saint Laurent Glossy Stain is testimony that hope is still alive for a lip stain that wears all day with a hydrating formula.

Take a look!

This is a completely new, innovative take on lip stains. YSL successfully created a formula that has a soft, hydrating feel with a light glossy finish and an incredible wear time. As I mentioned above, dryness is a deciding factor for many when it comes to lip stain purchases. I also think lip stains have the potential to look unnatural, over done, and far from natural used on their own since there isn’t any glossiness to the formula and this in turn also leads to dryness.

The Yves Saint Laurent Glossy Stain combines all the elements of a gloss, stain, and creamy “lipstick” into a single product. This hybrid formula has the long wear of a stain, the creaminess of a liquid lipstick, and the shiny finish of a gloss.

The texture is a thicker cream with a fresh floral scent and taste. No worries about the fragrance, it’s very pleasant but I do think it deserves mentioning for those who are a bit sensitive. The slanted sponge applicator saturates well with color and a single swipe will get color easily onto lips. The texture becomes thinner during application and glossier almost water-y in consistency but very pleasant and cooling on lips. It stains lips a very natural shade, nothing overly done, nothing gaudy. I found both shades I tried were very natural and could build up easily to a more sophisticated color pay off should you desire a deeper look for evening wear. The finish is shiny but not that you’d get from a gloss but enough to be noticeable on lips. I find the shine factor is one of the first things about the gloss that fades. I’d say it remains shiny for about half the wear time and proceeds to wear off and leave behind the stain beneath. This is actually where things become very interesting…wear time will vary but I can get at least six to seven hours of stain from it and about four hours of stain with the glossy finish in place.

(Coral Fuave)

(Mauve Pigmente)

YSL took this release very seriously and released over 15 shades. I like the variety factor, it means they thought out the formula and overall product out very well and took it serious enough to give the consumer a solid color selection. The size is a very generous 0.20 oz as well at $32. By YSL standards, I think the price proves spot on for what you are getting however, if you’re used to keeping your beauty budget on a stricter leash you might feel it’s expensive.

Overall, YSL Glossy Stain is an incredible product. You don’t have to compromise here, you can have your cake and eat it too in the fact this works as a gloss, stain, and a lipstick all in one (you might want to take that into consideration if price factors into your major beauty purchases). The comfortable light wear, the glossy finish, variety of shades, etc…are all things to rave about but in the end, I think the thing to really rejoice in here is the amazing wear time.

(Swatched Left to Right: Coral Fuave & Mauve Pigmente)

Great, great stain.

Well done YSL.

This deserves a Muse Approval.

YSL Glossy Stains are available now at your favorite Yves Saint Laurent counter as well as online at www.yslbeautyus.com

Have you tried them?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts if you have!