YSL Glossy Stain 01 Violet Edition

There has been a bit of buzz about the new YSL Glossy Stains on the internet. BritishBeautyBlogger wrote about them in November, the Beaut.ie girls are a little bit keen on them and Kate at Drivel about Frivol (love this blog name) has swatches of all the shades. These are a lipstick/gloss/stain hybrid and the idea is that they wear as long as a stain while giving a glossy finish. At the moment they are only available from Selfridges and on the www.yslbeauty.co.uk website in the UK, although they'll be launched at counter nationwide in February.

The finish of the YSL Glossy Stains reminds me of the Lip Ink system (I reviewed that here: Lip Ink Fire Red) except that the clever folks at YSL have got the stain and the glossy top coat all combined in one tube.

One coat gives an even stain with glossiness that lasts a good couple of hours. The stain remains after the glossiness has faded, although it looks less vivid without the sheen of the gloss, and it has faded considerably after three hours of wear (see my pictures below.) Reapplying to refresh the glossiness builds up colour, which is fine if you want to build up colour but not so good if you just want to refresh the glossiness although you could just use a clear gloss to do that.

Adding a second coat intensifies the colour density and glossiness, although to me it feels uncomfortably gloopy and I'm happier at one coat (I almost never wear lipglosses because I can't stand the sticky feel of them though, so it's worth taking that into account.) These are sticker than Chanel Rouge Allure Laques or Beaute Weightless Lip Cremes, but they are a different and glossier finish, and do tend to wear a little better in my opinion.

The delivery system is quite alcohol based (also like the Lip Ink) and you can feel the alcohol when you first apply it. The new, whizzy, wand applicator thing is actually quite good, although I do find it can deposit too much colour at the edges of my lip, which I need to blend down with a fingertip or separate lipgloss. Glossy Stains have the same perfumed rose scent of the Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks.

I bought 01 Violet Edition, which is a plum shade that's very slightly to the violet rather than brown side of plum to my eye. There are 20 colours in total, from nude to red and most shades you'd expect to find in a lipstick range.

Picture with one coat applied:

Second coat applied. It's not much deeper or darker, but it is more intense and glossier (and stickier.) 

One coat after 3 hours, a cup of tea and breakfast (complete with stray hair.) There is still colour, but the glossiness is gone and the colour faded. If you eat or drink, don't expect it to look like picture one for more than an hour or two. It hasn't dried out my lips though, and it has left a stain (my lips fade into my skintone when bare.) 

Picture in context of the rest of my face (with one coat freshly applied.) 

I do like the look and feel of (one coat) of the Glossy Stain, and I love the colour I bought. I will wait for a couple of weeks before buying others to check that the formula doesn't dry out my lips, but I'm quite hopeful as it hasn't so far with 5 hours of wear and one reapplication (I usually know almost straight away if a lipstick is going to bother my lips) and Kate at Drivel about Frivol has reported they don't dry her lips out with more continuous wear (she also has sensitive, dry, reactive lips.)