Yves Saint Laurent's Vinyl Cream Lip Stain

Bye bye October (sadly), and hello November! I wanted to share my review of my experience with the Yves Saint Laurent's Vinyl Cream Lip Stain.

Soon it'll be my friend's birthday and I really wanted to get them some kind of expensive makeup product that you can't just get anywhere nearby. There is no YSL in the town I live in now. The only place I know of that's in Kobe, is to go downtown where all the famous brands are located. As some of you may already know, YSL is a popular makeup brand and its style is gorgeous. The funny thing about going into famous brand sections of the department store is that you can't just choose which one you want and easily purchase the product. Which clearly, I remember this same thing happened when I was living in the states. I can understand why they're very thorough and strict about their products especially when they are expensive. My only problem is that they really force you to purchase something else, even if it comes with a discount (pretty much the trick anywhere, I'll never get used to it though). It's like they can't release you from the store until you pass a certain test.

Once I bought the lip I thought was just right for my friend, I also bought the vinyl cream lip stain for myself. A lot of it was going out of sell, so it was quite popular. Once I told the lady I wanted to purchase those items, she sat me down behind the desk. She talked to me about the vinyl cream lip stain, because it is hard to remove. It's called 'lip stain' for a reason. So, she took out the YSL Demaquillant Expert Bi-Phase Doux expert makeup remover and said that that makeup remover was the only thing that can really clean and remove the makeup from the skin. I told her I would think about the makeup remover and just purchase the items I came there for that day. She was so persistent that she asked me, "What are you going to do if you can't take off the lip stain? It's very hard to take off and this remover is the only way to take it off." I know how these sells people work and I know they're only trying to do their job, but it's tiring. I kept refusing, but she couldn't back down. It was rather expensive, even with the discount. But~ because I'm such a nice person, I bought that too. I thought that maybe it'd be nice to try something else from YSL. And who knows, maybe it'll work a lot better with my skin than the remover I'm using now. However! I tried this lip stain several times already, and I use regular makeup remover (I use Hipitch deep cleansing oil) from the drugstore, and it came off just fine! It came all off. I was a little upset about it, but I had to think positive and it also saves me from making another trip to the store to get more removers. I also got membership to YSL, so more discounts for me!

Now to my review. Mostly the color I do use on my lips is always a red color. It could either be a subtle red (not too bright) or a dark red. So I bought YSL's vinyl cream lip stain #401 Rouge Vinyl. I'm in love with the color. It sort of has two different shades of red in it. If I'm in a light area, the color pops as a solid red, but in darker places, the color deepens and turns into a vampire esque dark red. It appears glossy and sexy. I like having a sophisticated look, especially for work.

Sadly, what I didn't like about the product is that even though it's a lip stain, when I drink from a cup or through a straw, it just easily removes the lip stain around the inner part of my lips. I constantly just have to retouch that area. Another thing I'm not really fond about is that it dries up my lips. When I apply it on, its liquid-base makes it easy to apply onto the lips, but in an hour or so, it starts to dry. By the end of the day, my lips become chappy. The one thing I have resolved from that, is to apply lip balm first (I use DHC's medical lip cream) and then apply the lip stain.

My overall review on this product. I give it 3/5 stars.
☆☆☆☆☆
Though it comes off easily and does dry my lips by just itself, I like their shades because they really know how to match my skin tone compared to other lip products I've gotten (aside from Etude House). There were so much to choose from and I think if there was another chance, I would probably just stick to their lipsticks since those do provide sort of a balm-base to it. I've always had a problem with dry lips, so if you're like me, I would recommend just their lipsticks. But if you want to experiment the lip stain yourself, go for it.