The Korean Lip Stain That Stays Put for 8 Hours

As a person who primarily writes about food for a living, I eat widely and often, which makes most lipsticks and their brethren moot points in my beauty routine — I long ago gave up on finding a stick that would actually stay put through my rigorous food schedule.

But there are times when I want to look like a lady while eating like a linebacker, and in those moments, I turn to our friends in Korea, who have never failed my oddball beauty needs. Browsing at an Asian cosmetics store, I came across squeeze tubes of what looked at first to be regular lip gloss, in pink, red, and orange hues so bright they veered toward neon.

The cashier quickly explained that the colors weren’t nearly as vibrant as they looked on the packaging; in fact, she said, they left you with a subtle tint that, she swore, would not move for upwards of eight hours — after you peeled it off your lips, that is.

Intrigued by the prospect of a lip stain that literally stained, and because I inherently trust the knowledge of Korean teenagers, I bought a tube of Berrisom My Lip Tint in the Lovely Peach color. A quick Google search at home revealed warnings that the peel-off process could damage chapped or unhealthy lips, but I remained unfazed. After applying a thick layer of the syrupy gloss to my (relatively healthy) lips and waiting 15 minutes for it to dry into a plasticky shell, I peeled it off in one swoop per lip, quickly and painlessly.

I was left with a pretty, coral-y flush embedded directly into my lips, with all of the pigment and none of the gloss. The robust lip tint is sometimes called a tattoo, but I would say that refers more to how long-lasting than intense the pigment is. You know how you look after a good makeout session, when all the blood rushes to your lips? Berrisom’s tint is kind of like that — natural looking, but mysteriously sexy. And, most importantly, the color didn’t budge through my marathon day of eating and drinking, which is no small feat indeed.

Fresh is already famous for its lip treatments and exfoliants, but the new tinted lip creams are both utilitarian and pretty. I’m drawn to Buff, a nude shade, which is the color of my lips if my lips were shiny and carried the slight tinge of shimmer. There are also oils in the creams, which usurp any threat of dryness. — Ashley Weatherford, associate beauty editor, the Cut

A great lip color works no matter the weather forecast. NARS’s new liquid lipstick formula, Velvet Lip Glide, makes wearing bold colors ridiculously easy. The formula doesn’t bleed, it’s long-lasting, and the pigment is rich and shiny without looking like a full-out gloss. Longtime NARS fans will notice that the doe-foot tip for Velvet Glide is plushier and more flexible than that of their lip glosses. That extra little design improvement in the applicator makes it easier to line your lips and fill them in. —Kathleen Hou, senior beauty editor, the Cut