Hello friends!
Sorry for my little hiatus, as mentioned in my goals post I tend to have phases of obsessing over beauty and then phases where I want nothing to do with it. I’m excited to get back into sharing my thoughts on beauty, but spoiler alert, we’re starting with quite the doozy.
Color: The 01 shade is a classic YSL shade; bright red as described by the Sephora website. Normally I would add a little more of my own thoughts but honestly, I think bright red is about as descriptive as you’d need! It’s got a pinky/orange base to create the incredible vibrance.
Finish: On application, due to the way the formula is (more on that later), it is high shine but dries down to a completely matte finish.
Packaging: The sample packaging I have varies from the full size packaging, unfortunately! My product is a clear tube with a shiny gold lid and a black YSL sticker on it. The full size tatouage product is a square shape, with a gold metal lid and “YSL” engraved into it. I will admit it does have a beautiful and luxurious look to it!
Applicator: The applicator is another huge difference between sample and full size, which I can’t help but wonder might be why application was so different and uncomfortable. The sample size product is a regular fluffy doefoot, which absorbs a lot of product and I think applied way too much. The full size applicator looks to be flat and mostly plastic, with just a small bit of fluff for comfort on application; I imagine this also regulates how much product will apply onto your lips.
Application: Applying this product was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m not being dramatic. Luxury products have a habit of being fragranced, and this is no exception. The product has an intensely strong floral smell that translates to alcohol and is incredibly off-putting.
Upon actually applying the product to my lips, it felt terrible. The formula is watery thin and was weirdly cold, and I immediately wanted to take it back off. It was kind of hard to apply evenly across my lips because of this, and it got all over my teeth.
Transfer: Disappointingly, I found that this product transferred as much as a regular liquid lipstick despite being considered a stain. I figured it would transfer as the top layer of product came off, but no matter what or when I was eating I still saw a ring of red show up on my food. In total transparency I only wore this one time to test so it’s possible the transfer isn’t quite as bad as I remember, but I’m not willing to test it again (sorry!).
Fading: I felt like just like the transfer, the fading of this product was more similar to a liquid lipstick than a stain. The color faded away after around 6 hours, faster than my best liquid lipsticks. Similar story to the information regarding transfer, I wasn’t willing to keep testing after my first poor experience.
Comfort: I unfortunately didn’t find this product very comfortable, either! Really, the top three things I test for in a product and this was such a miss! I usually have problems with thicker, mousse products being less comfortable but in this instance it was a thin one that caused me so many issues.
Overall: I knew I was due for a big fail after having so many average to amazing products in a row, but I didn’t think it would be quite this bad! In the product’s defense, I dislike lip stains and hadn’t realized that this was a lip stain and not a liquid lipstick, so putting it on was quite the shock to the system. Still, I was unimpressed with the formula and don’t want to keep it in my collection, so I won’t. I can see why other people may love this, but unfortunately it’s just not for me!
Price Point: This lipstick can be purchased for a whopping $45 on the Sephora website! It was previously available for $31.50 on the YSL website, but seems to be fully out of stock at this point. I’m not sure if it will come back at that price, but if you’re super interested in grabbing this I’d keep an eye out.
Karissa Talks Beauty 