Once upon a time (September 1998) in a land far away (My local Body Shop) a fair maiden (me at a young enough age that I didn’t need undereye concealer) found a subtle red lip stain marker. It was perfect – my lips but better.

Since this was my first time trying a lip stain, I was amazed that I could apply it in the morning and it stayed on all day. My perfect, “I’m not wearing any makeup, my lips just look this red naturally” lip stain.

You of course know how this story ends – when I went to replace it, they had discontinued that color.

I have been searching ever since for that perfect shade in a lip stain. Every color that I have tried has been close, but not quite – I wasn’t looking for a bold red, just a subtle red. And any time I tried mixing stains together, I’d end up with a weird mud brown color. And I loved the staying power of lip stains- even long-lasting formulas wouldn’t last through the day like a lip stain does. Nor do long lasting formulas provide as great a base for lipstick or gloss – any creamy color will last ten times as long over a lip stain.

ABOUT LIPTINI

So I was very excited when I found the Liptini brand. Their very refreshing philosophy towards makeup is based on “cocktailing” – mixing together different elements to get a variety of looks.

Liptini has a wide range of products, but it was their Lip Liqueur Lip & Cheek Stains that caught my eye. These stains can be worn alone, under lipstick or gloss, or as a cheek stain. Best of all, they can be mixed together to get your perfect shade. For once, I can actually augment a base shade with another color and not end up with a very unflattering brown!

Armed with a few beautiful Liptini colors in an attempt to recreate my perfect shade, I started with a base of Maraschino, a cherry red. The color was consistent and one coat yielded a sheer color, and two layers was pretty close to my perfect color – I was thrilled already. I then added a light coat of Cherry Brandy(a sheer, cool mahogany). That was really, really close to a perfect replacement, but it wasn’t quite there until I added Kirsch (a sheer, light garnet – absolutely stunning on it’s own or with clear gloss on top of it) that I had my long lost color. Ah…now my decade long search is over!!!!!!

THE EXPERIENCE

While each layer takes about twenty seconds to completely dry, the whole application process using three different stains took less time than applying lipstick with a lip brush. And of course once you have your base color the way you want it, adding lipstick or gloss can add more polish and impact.

I was surprised at how nice the applicator is – it comes to a fine tip at the end of the slant, so I can line all the way to the corners and do my “always smiling” trick – without going beyond your lip line, angle the applicator up a bit when you get to the corner (like how you would if you were lining your lips with a standard lip liner). You will look like you always have a pleasant look on your face – which is great if the corners of your mouth tend to turn down. I haven’t been able to do this before with a lip stain applicator, so for me, this is another plus of Liptini.

It’s the rare brand that combines a fun concept with a great product – but Liptini does it well. In addition to the Framboise Cordial Shimmering Lip & Cheek Tints (I will be reviewing two other amazing Liptini Cordial Shimmering Lip & Cheek Tints in a couple of days), I’m going to pick up the Grenadine Straight Up Lipstick (which looks like a great pink for spring) and Blue flame Topper Lip Gloss to create endless great shades with my new favorite lip stains!

WHERE TO FIND IT

You can find Liptini Liqueur Lip & Cheek Stains at Liptini.com and Makeup.com for $16.50 each.

Stay tuned for most of my Liptini Tint experiments (Liptini has turned me into a mad makeup scientist!) and the beautiful Liptini Cordial Shimmering Lip & Cheek Tints!