It’s officially spring! And it seems like El Niño (and Karl the Fog) got the memo here in the Bay, because we’ve had nothing but sunshine for the past few days.
Also, now that it’s warming up, I’m busting out the lip stains, which might be my favorite beauty items for the spring/summer months.
They’re crucial! They’re great for naked face days, no-makeup-makeup days, and basically all days that ends in “-day.” I like them because they’re low maintenance, and they last. One of my all-time favorite lip stains is the one I get from a cherry Popsicle. 
But today I’m bringing you one of the latest launches from MAC, the MAC Versicolour Stain Collection, which is a gloss/stain fusion formula available in 16 shades ranging from nudes to peaches, oranges to fiery reds, and magentas to deep purples. There’s a shade (if not, like, three of them) for everyone, and they’re going to be permanent!
The formula is smooth and feels quite nourishing. These are also hella pigmented, with the exception of Long Live the Night, which is a nude. I wore Preserving Passion (a deep wine) one day last weekend, and it lasted all. day. long.
I started the day wearing it as a gloss, and the shine started to wear down about an hour or so later, but my lips retained a satin finish for most of the day after, progressively fading to a matte stain over the course of many hours.
Lip stains can be intimidating because if you mess up, well…you’re done for, but the Versicolour tube and applicator makes application a lot easier than usual. The applicator is a pointy doe foot that doesn’t pick up too much product (for me, anyway). The stopper is also a lot lower than the lip of the actual tube, which makes wiping excess product off of the applicator a breeze.
While I love the convenience of doe-foot applicators, they sure do load on the product sometimes, and that always gets me into trouble, so, needless to say, I’m a fan of lip stain reservoirs.
The collection has a flirty, summer-lovin’ color story that is only enhanced by the shade names. I wouldn’t call the collection groundbreaking…but I do think that these really are quite exquisite lip stains.
First, they’re very pigmented. Every swatch below is just one coat, and I blotted all of the excess away in the bottom rows to give you an idea of how each shade looks as a stain. I have a good feeling that these will perform well on a wide variety of skin tones.
Long Live the Night – Pale warm nude
Constant Craving – Mid-tone blue pink
Tattoo My Heart – Bright pinky coral
Let’s Stay Together – Mid-tone warm pink
Ceaseless Energy – Bright raspberry pink
