Sephora Collection Cream Lip Stain Review

I got this from Sephora NZ when they had a free shipping weekend. I'd remembered seeing Lily Pebbles say good things about these so I wanted to try it out for myself.

I bought the shade Always Red and it is a gorgeous classic red shade. The applicator is good, it's not too large and has a nice angled tip to allow precise application.

The formula is somewhat similar to the Jeffree Star Liquid Lipsticks in that it is not uncomfortable to wear and that is last for a good amount of time which is important.

While it is called a 'Lip Stain' it's more like a liquid lipstick, the colour is opaque and lasts well.

As it states this is a cream lip stain, so it is designed to "stain" your lips in a sense that it provides long lasting lip colour. I picked up a couple of these to see if there were as good as some of the other long lasting lipsticks I own. Wasn't too bad in all honesty.

The packaging remind me a lot of the OFRA long last lipsticks, coming in a clear acrylic tube, black twist off lid with the applicator attached to the inside. Making a striking contrast to the colour showing from the inside, which is great for easy identification of what colour you want to wear.

Formula is very pigmentation and has a velvet smoothness that allows you to evenly apply in one coat the colour to your lips without going patchy, even the darker shade! It has no odor that I can detect, and settles to a semi matte finish for the matte shades and a shimmer to the satin shades , with both finishes there is a little bit of a sheen to it so it moves slightly during the day not like some of your hardcore mattes that won't budge at all. However they keep up for a good 4-5 hours if your don't eat or drink anything, but reapplication to tidy it up is a breeze as the non drying actually means you can top it up without dragging the remaining product on the lips about which can cause it to flake and feel awful.

Removal is easy too at the end of the day with an oil cleanser, just a quick swipe and it lifts it all away. Shades owned: polished purple (lovely pure purple) strawberry kisses (hot fuchsia toned pink with a slight shimmer) and marvelous mauve (pale fig colour)

I first purchased this item when Sephora opened the NZ website, I had been really wanting to try a matte liquid lippy and couldn't go past this price! I know it says RRP $25 above but it is $17nzd on the Sephora site - bargain!

The first shade I bought was 'Always Red' - it is a stunning blue toned red, in my opinion the perfect red! The pigment is amazing! It goes on really smooth and is not streaky. It is a dark/bright pigmented red so it can be a little fiddly to get right! Don't use this one if you are in a rush!

I have used it with liner and without, it lasts as well either way. I also didn't have any feathering either way.

It is a matte so yes it is a little drying, however nothing crazy! It was far less drying than I expected!

Wear time... ageeeeees! This lasts me a whole work day. I can drink coffee and eat with no problem. Some oily foods do cause it to break up/dissolve a little and I can need a touch up then, but it touches up well.

I loved it so much that I went back for another shade. Infinite Rose - this is a really pretty rosy shade. it is nice and subtle. I like to wear this one with a liner as it isn't quite as pigmented as the other. You can really play with this shade with different liner shades underneath. It is great for work!

I was sent a sample of this stain in red which isn’t really my colour but I tried it to see what the formula was like. It was easy to apply and I found the applicator quite good at evenly dispersing the product. I’ve tried stains before and they either cause my lips to completely dry out or it has dried down patchy. This did neither, it was comfortable to wear to the point where I forgot I had it on and although the colour did fade it was fairly even. I’ve found the best thing to remove it is micellar water and then you’re not rubbing and tugging at your lips. I will definitely purchase this product in another shade.