Red lips: Who wears it best
I love red lipstick. I wanted to see how each one looked. So I took a bunch of photos.
My criteria:
Quality of the colour
Matte appearance
Stain last and resistance
Red lips
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Red lips 〰️
Violette, Petal Bouche: $25. This is my absolute favourite. Apparently the maker spent years perfecting the precise colour of velvet red roses—and it certainly worked. It is the definitive matte red lipstick. $25.
10/10
Handayan: $9.99. This cheapo friend came from Amazon, but I happen to love it. You get a slight hint of gold shine as it dries and it’s a little more cherry or true red compared to Violette. It stays well and feels good. $9.99 for 6 colours, including this one.
9/10
Kat Von Dee, Outlaw: $21. I’m a big fan. I don’t think the colour is as rich and full as these other two, unless you layer it a few times. It has that similar slight gold shine, but not as vibrant as the cheap one from Amazon. $21.
8/10
Kat Von Dee, Nahz Fur Atoo: $21. I love the richness of this colour and the slight gold shimmer. It stays on matte, which I much prefer over a gloss or slight shine. This means it bleeds less.
8/10
YSL tatouage couture velvet cream lip stain, black cap: $38. I wasn’t such a fan. The images give the impression it’s a bright true cherry red and matte finish, but I found it to be sightly more pink with too much shine for my taste. It doesn’t stay well—smudging and bleeding too easily.
3/10
NARS, powermatte lip pigment, brick red: $28. For colour, this one is one of my favourites. A classic bold red, applies precisely, and looks great. It doesn’t stay as nicely as KVD or Violette since the liquid is much finer. This does mean it’s more easily removed.
9/10
Lancome (newer version linked): $28. This one is incredibly old—it’s one of the first reds I tried to purchase for that classic look. It’s a cream stain that easily bleeds and doesn’t achieve a thick full colour. In the tube it looks more vibrant, but once applied it’s thin and smudges veery quickly.
2/10
YSL tatouage couture liquid matte lip stain, gold cap: $37. I loved the look of this red in the tube, but once applied the vibrance was really hard to achieve. As you can see from the finish, it’s shiny, not matte. It bleeds easily and smudges fast. I was kinda disappointed. Slightly better than the cream version.
4/10
NYX lip lingerie XXL smooth matte liquid lipstick: $9.59. Again with this one, the colour is pretty thin and takes several applications to build. It stays more firmly than YSL but still smudges and doesn’t appear matte. I prefer to use this one as a stain to blend rather than a full red lip.
5/10
Dior Rouge Forever Liquid transfer-proof liquid: $39. I was really hopeful about this one being the ultimate cherry red lip stain—the price point, packaging, and colour in the tub looked promising. Ultimately, it goes on thin and isn’t nrealy as matte as you’d hope. It’s less smudgy than the YSL stains, but still doesn’t achieve the richness the cost and packaging seem to promise.
5/10
