Head of beauty Zoe put Boots’ viral lip liner stain to the test at Royal Ascot, and was left very impressed by the results…
One beauty trend that I definitely think is here to stay is lip tinting. Gone are the days when you’d apply lipstick and have to spend the rest of the day touching it up in a mirror. We’ve entered an era of long-lasting tints that promise colour for hours on end, with no need to reapply.
I was first introduced to them (a little late, admittedly) when I tuned into Love Island All Stars last year, when Elma Pazar was in the villa. I spotted her peeling off a lip formula and immediately needed to know what it was. As it turned out, it was Sacheu’s now-viral STAY-N Lip Liner, £12.
Stocked at Boots, this long-wear lip liner keeps your lips in line all day and night. Infused with hyaluronic acid and vitamin E for conditioning benefits, it also cares for your lips while it’s working its magic. You could blend it slightly to get a full lip tint, but I like the way Elma applied it in the morning while she’s doing the rest of her make-up before peeling it off ten minutes or so later to reveal perfectly lined lips that lasted her most of the day while she was lounging around the pool. I also spotted Elma applying it before bed so that her lips were lined with a kiss-proof colour before the lights go out.
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Anyway, consider me converted because I placed a Boots order as soon as I discovered it was this £12 buy she was using, and I’ve used it weekly ever since. I don’t use it every day, because sometimes the setting and peeling off process feels like too much admin for me on a no-makeup day, but any time I want a lip look that will last me longer than an hour, I pull it out of my make-up bag.
Case in point: this week, I needed a lip look to see me through a day at Royal Ascot. I knew the toilet queues would be long, so I wanted to make sure my lip colour was as low-maintenance as possible. I applied the shade P-inked at 9am before leaving, and amazingly, when I took a final selfie at 5pm, it was still in tact.
You can actually see from my before and after how well the Stay-n Liner worked. I only used it on the borders of my lips as a liner, and used a regular lipstick to fill the centre of my pout. While the middle of my lips rubbed off relatively quickly, the tinted borders remained, dare I say, flawless. All-in-all, the tint lasted about ten hours before it began to fade.
If you think you’ll use the lip liner stain as often as I do, I seriously recommend taking a look at the pack of three bundle you can pick up from Amazon for £30. You save £6 off the price of buying them individually, and it means you have a choice of shades for all events this summer.
If you’re looking for another long-lasting stain option, our shopping writer Meghan also swears by Wonderskin’s Wonderblading Lip Masque, £18 in a whole host of shades.