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Lip stain might sound like a lipstick gone wrong—stain???—when in fact, it's a formula gone very, very right. As a lip stain obsessive, I've tried many and have picked my ultimate favorites. The best vary in opacity (from sheer and just-bitten to completely impenetrable), finish (from high gloss to low-watt matte), and texture (solid, liquid, or gel), but have one common attribute: These babies are going nowhere fast.
Pigment that just won't quit. The long-wear dries instantly to lock in color and provide smudge-proof resistant all day long. With a few swipes of the lipstick you can take your subtle lip stain to a full matte finish.
You know that just-blotted lipstick look that all the cool French girls wear? Generation G is the key to the effortless look. You'll actually see your lips shine through the stain but they will be a bit enhanced for a natural flush.
Parents give crayons to kids because they're slightly less permanent than markers, no? That's not the case with these chubby sticks, which leave behind both durable color and a satin-y, non-dry finish.
The tiniest dab of this oil-free gel—which comes in dark-to-light shades from deep blackberry to nude tea rose—last miraculously even under gloss or balm.
Honest Beauty Truly Kissable Lip Crayon
Rumored to be the lip color Meghan Markle wore on her wedding day, the creamy crayon is fit for a royal. It's hydrating thanks to coconut oil and shea butter and provides just the perfect amount of sheer shade. Pin this to your secret wedding Pinterest board now.
NYX Professional Makeup Epic Ink Lip Dye
What's cool about these matte paints is obviously their price, but also the innovative shade range, which leans darker, edgier, and more opaque then the fruity palette favored by most stains.
NARS Satin Lip Pencil
The NARS satin lip pencil packs a punch. Highly pigmented, this stick can replace any lipstick with a more permanent and less shiny finish. It comes in an array of rich colors like cardinal red and deep sangria.
Benefit Cosmetics Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain
Benefit Cosmetics Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain
This OG stain with a scandalous backstory (it was created to tint exotic dancers' nips) is still a cult favorite forty years later.
Cool kid brand Milk offers up an oil-based stain packed with vegan-friendly (of course!) ingredients like black currant and olive oil.
Cuckoo for coconuts? So is makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift. She packs the oil into all her creations, including this hydrating lip and cheek stain.
Yves Saint Laurent Glossy Stain Lip Color
YSL loves stains so much they came out with multiple iterations, but this version that offers a watercolor-like wash of color and mega moisture is a favorite.
Meet the one lip stain that can make our ELLE.com Deputy Editor feel less "dead inside." While it's marketed as an oil, the formula is more of a gloss meets lip stain. It's also a plant-based formula of plum, jojoba, and hazelnut oil so your lips will stay hydrated.
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