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. So this is Worth It, our 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.
I'm on the edge of "Worth It" acceptability today, because this Stila lippy actually came to me (and a thousand other people) free at a Betsey Johnson fashion show. (That's me, breaking all the rules.) I'm writing about it not because it was swag but because it's a fucking excellent lipstick.
Firstly and most importantly, it lasts like a motherfucker. Once I've applied and blotted, this lipstick doesn't rub off. Not on clothes, not on skin, not on your water bottle and not on your make-out partner. The first few times I wore it of an evening, out of habit I excused myself after dinner to perform the spot-check/re-apply that is typical of most "long wearing" lip colors. Only to find there was nothing to check, and nothing to reapply. This lipstick will outlast dinner and drinks and snacks and forties and kisses and anything else you can throw at it. It just doesn't rub off, period. For evidence, I have included a gallery of Facebook photos of myself wearing this self same lipstick at various times of the day (read: night)/points on the continuum of drunkenness. Stila, take a bow.
The formula is not chalky or drying (though you should make sure your lips are not flaky or chapped before applying; rub your toothbrush over your lips to exfoliate if you're in need). The color is rich and doesn't feather or shift: it stays right where you put it. This is not a lipstick that will betray you. If you wear it, you will probably never find yourself in a cramped bar bathroom, well the wrong side of midnight, trying to rally, trying to concentrate with every molecule of your being, long enough to re-draw the lippy that left you high and dry three drinks ago. 'Fuck this fucking shit! Why can I not make you symmetrical, idiot stupid lipstick,' you will likely not ever curse, to yourself, while some impatient chick bangs on the door.
I'm still wearing the same hot fuchsia pink Johnson, in her infinite wisdom, saw fit to give critics and press last September. (The color is named "Caprice." Like the Page 3 girl!) At first I thought it was a weird color with potential possibly limited to costume parties, but it totally grew on me. I've got my eye on the classic red Stila does as well. Because who wants to spend their life re-applying dumb old lipstick? I don't have the time.
Stila Long Wear Liquid Lip Color, $22 At Sephora
Worth It only features things we paid for ourselves and actually like. Don't send us stuff.