Worth It: Affordable, Natural-Looking Lip Stain

Much unlike many a magazine editor who recommends you buy all sorts of crap that they most likely got for free, your Jezebel staff doesn’t get jack shit (other than books, unsolicited). And that’s how it should be. But on our own time, in our personal lives, we still buy stuff. Thus we’re introducing Worth It, a daily recommendation of random things that we’ve actually spent our own money on. These are the things we buy regularly or really like, things we’d actually tell our friends about. And now we’re telling you.

Truth be told, I bought Maybelline SuperStay by accident. I had recently purchased a bright yellow dress and was going immediately from work to a party. I ran into the nearest drug store on the way and grabbed a tube of what I thought was a regular lip gloss in a deep red shade. It ended up a happy accident, because now I’m hooked.

I’ve never really experimented with lip stains before. This was stupid of me. It’s truly a gift to slap on some lip stain at the beginning of your day and be done with it; throughout the day I only need to use clear gloss or chapstick. The stuff promises to stay in place for 24 hours, but in my experience it depends on the color you choose. I own it in two different colors (#40 Eternal Sunset and #15 All Day Cherry). The pink shade will fade out by the end of my work day (so let’s say it lasts 8-10 hours, which is pretty good), but the bright red shade stays put on my lips for over 24 hours sometimes — which is nice for when you want to wake up looking a little more put-together. Ahem.

Like I said, I’m no expert on lip stains (or beauty products in general, really) but having gloss on one end of a tube and the color on the other is certainly handy. A word of warning, though: when you paint your lips with the stuff, it will stay there for hours. You have to want this. And make sure you’re not sloppy with “coloring inside the lines” of your lips or you could end up looking like a Juggalo.

Maybelline SuperStay Lip Color, $9.99 at Drugstore.com.

Worth It only features things we paid for ourselves and actually like. Don’t send us stuff.