Archived Post

How important is your lip color's longevity?

Again, pretending I’m a more “normal” person, I think something that lasted 3-5 hours without worry, was easy to touch-up, and was comfortable to wear would work well for me. I wouldn’t mind reapplying after lunch or dinner but wouldn’t want to have to touch-up my lip color every couple of hours if all I did was drink/talk.

— Christine

21 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Julia Avatar

I am a die-hard gloss girl, so longevity is very relative and not a priority. I expect to reapply multiple times through the day and don’t mind it, so I value comfort more than lasting power (usually long-wear glosses are on the dry and super sticky side).

LindaP Avatar

I would love to have that to think about. No lip color lasts on me ever. And I’m not willing to wear a dried out matte formula, so I reapply a lot. I have been looking for my HG lipstick all my life….still searching.

Christine B Avatar

For me it depends what I am doing and the particular shade, for a day in the office/ out and about I would not expect a long wear-time through tea/coffee/lunch breaks- and am fine to top up. In addition I want a comfortable lipstick, not a more chunky or drying formula like long-last lip colours tend to be. This means my expectations for daytime sheer/ neutral shades, comfort shades, is limited to 3-4 hours, but I do expect even wear!

For brighter, saturated more ‘going- out’ or event/ evening shades I do expect better wear. I do not want to worry about lip colour when enjoying myself! For the odd occasion I can cope with being a bit more dry too… There is also the issue for me that bolder colours tend to be extremely unflattering when they begin to fade…

I suppose longevity for me comes down to a combination of when/ where I would be likely to wear a particular shade, the saturation of the colour, comfort of the shade (drying etc) and how it looks when it does start to go! Because of these I tend to like satin/ sheer/ gloss formulas at work/ daytime and matte/ liquid formulas for occasions/ evening.

Carla Avatar

Since I’m physically disabled, I really do not get out much.
When I do go out, though, I can’t dart into a restroom for bonafide touch-ups, so longevity is important to me.
To that end, I wear a similarly-colored stain under all of my lipsticks, and “touch-ups can take the form of a quick and not-necessarily-precise reapplication of gloss, without the use of a mirror.

Shannon. N Avatar

Carla, my mother and I are both physically disabled as Well. My mother’s confined to a walker, and iv never seen such a sassy, confident women like my ma before!

My tiny 5 foot mother will be scooting around in her walker re applying her tinted lip balm/gloss not caring about if people are looking. She always says people stare at her all the time because she’s physically disabled so she might as well look cute LOL!

Carla Avatar

Shannon. N, I love your mother’s style!
When I became wheelchair-bound at 36, it quickly became obvious that people were going to look at me, so I decided I was going to give them something to look at! So I acquired some weapons-grade makeup and brushes/tools, and learned how to use them.
It’s more fun than hiding, or feeling embarrassed to be alive.
But back to lipstick longevity: Today I’m wearing a Colourpop Lippie Stix(can’t quite figure out the singular for that one!). It’s a matte finish; I applied it at about 9:30 a.m. , with a bit of gloss over it, and there’s still a faint stain at 3:15 p.m.
I love it when cheap products kick asterisk!

MacKenzie G. Avatar

Since I prefer glossy, satiny, creamy, etc. lip colors, I am fully content with the fact that they just don’t last as long as matte or liquid to matte lip products. That being said, if all I have to do after like 3 hours is touch them up, I’m fine with it. That’s another reason I prefer these kinds of formulas, I find them so much easier to touch up. So I guess you could say longevity isn’t really important to me. However, if for whatever reason I’m wearing a more long-wear lipstick (a lot of really bold or unique colors come in more matte, long-wear formulas), I do expect it to last around 6 hours on me as long as I’m not eating anything too heavy. I’m even okay with fading just so long as it fades evenly. But, if I put on Bite Beauty Kale and 4 hours later you can see the pink of my lips through the green in the center, then we have a problem (that’s never happened).

Mariella Avatar

I would love to find longer lasting lipsticks that aren’t either matte or drying (or both). So it’s a trade-off since I’d rather have moist and comfortable lipsticks at the expense of longer wear. So long as a lipstick fades off/wears off nicely and evenly without leaving that unattractive “ring” around my lip-line, I’m reasonably happy.

Nancy T Avatar

Lipstick generally *hates* me even though I love it! Yeah, weird relationship between it and me. If I can get 3-4 hours before needing a touch-up, I’m happy. If I can get 5-6 hours, I’m ecstatic! What is the bane of my existence is the icky goo that happens with many a lipstick right where my lips meet, which I have an equally icky habit of literally biting off my lips. Probably TMI, but it’s just a subconscious action. So, because lipsticks that do this obviously don’t last as long on me, it impacts weartime.

Shannon. N Avatar

It really depends on the day! If I’m just around the house, running errands, or seeing friends I don’t care if I have to reapply.

But if I’m at work. I need my lipcolour to stain, and really hold onto my lips! As a public speaker I need my lipstick to last through lots of water/tea drinking and talking. And I usually don’t have time to nip into a bathroom and blot my nose let alone re apply!

MoMerrell Avatar

Honestly I am not too picky about that. I expect for a matte and liquid lipsticks to last a good 3-4 hours at least. Everything after 3-4 hours is extra and great. If it lasts while I’m eating, even better. I expect a good cream lipstick to last a little less than the liquids and mattes.

All of this is depending upon the formula and how my lips to react to it so it’s up in the air. If I love the formula, I don’t mind reapplying if it wears off sooner rather than later. It’s lipstick so I am not expecting a 24 hour wear no matter what says!

Genevieve Avatar

It is reasonably important to me – as I wear creamier lipsticks I accept the fact that they do wear off more quickly than lip stains and possibly matte lipsticks. And it is pretty easy to re-apply lipsticks as against eye shadows.
But I do like it when a lipsticks stays on for a couple of hours. My mature lips do need the comfort and hydration factor of creamier lipsticks.

Brittany Avatar

For day-to-day, I really don’t need my lip color to last long, especially if I’m just going to be at work or something. I can just reapply after I eat. I’m not someone who gets out of the house often, so I never really feel like I’m somewhere that I wouldn’t have time to reapply a lipstick. I’m constantly reapplying lip balm all day, anyway. 😛

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!