Formula Overview

$19.00/0.12 oz. - $158.33 Per Ounce

Per the brand, the new formula is supposed to be "the creamiest, most cushiony and unbelievably pigmented lipstick to ever cross your lips" that is "comfortable" to wear. I don't know if the brand has actually tried the plethora of other lipsticks on the market, because I can tell you that after swatching all 40 shades back-to-back, these are nowhere near "the creamiest" or "most cushiony" or even "unbelievably pigmented." They were, on average, much creamier than the original formula, but a fair number of shades were firm and dense enough that short strokes was better for application otherwise there was noticeable tugging. Some shades were pigmented, some shades were uneven or sheer. The mid-tone shades seemed to be the best overall in terms of application, pigmentation, and how they looked on the lips, whereas the shimmery shades were often sheerer, gritty, and drying while the deeper, vampy shades were lacking pigmentation and could apply streakily.

They seemed to have longer wear than most lipsticks (five to eight hours) but have been lightly to intensely drying, depending on the shade, and I found that wearing them back-to-back made the drying aspect more pronounced. They had a strong, sweet, burnt sugar kind of scent that was noticeable when initially applied, but I didn't detect during wear.

I did not review all shades in the original Studded Kiss formula as it wasn't feasible for me to purchase all of those at the time, and after trying what I did purchase, they weren't promising (often very dry, stiff, and painful to use with a drying formula). From what I can tell, some are better (see: LUV (Original) vs. LUV (New); Coven (Original) vs. Coven (New)), some are worse (see: Gold Blooded (Original) vs. Gold Blooded (New); Poe (Original) vs. Poe (New)). The shimmery shades seemed worse for the reformulation, and the glittery shades are like the grittiest sandpaper across one's lips; I felt like I was ripping my lips off when applying both Gold Blooded and Piaf with Poe not being far behind.

Browse all of our Kat Von D Studded Kiss Crème Lipstick swatches.

Ingredients

Octyldodecanol, Dimethicone, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Isononyl Isononanoate, Candelilla Cera/Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Hydrogenated Polycyclopentadiene, Polybutene, Polyethylene, Microcrystalline Wax/Cera Microcristallina, Silica, Isostearyl Palmitate, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Vp/Hexadecene Copolymer, Water, Calcium Silicate, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Mica, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Sorbitan Oleate, Caprylyl Glycol, Cera Carnauba/Copernicia Cerifera Cera (Carnauba) Wax, Lauroyl Lysine, Propylene Carbonate, Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate, Ethyl Vanillin, Benzyl Alcohol, Aroma/Flavor, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Lecithin, Palmitic Acid, Benzyl Benzoate, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Acrylates Copolymer, Tin Oxide, Iron Oxides (Ci 77499), Red 7 Lake (Ci 15850), Red 6 (Ci 15850), Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891).

Formula Overview

$22.00/0.18 oz. - $122.22 Per Ounce

The formula is supposed to have “24-hour wear” with a “liquid stain base” that “feels like nothing” on the lips that can be worn “on its own” or layered “as a veil” over another lip color. There’s a lot to like about the formula, and I think as far as the concept of “lip toppers” go, it offers the versatility of actually being easy enough to apply to wear on its own but still be useful layered over other products for a shimmering effect. The doe-foot applicator worked well with the formula, as it spread the color and sparkly bits across the lips quite evenly. The coverage ranged from shade to shade with most having medium, buildable coverage in a single layer, which was in line with the description. They dried down and were transfer-resistant (until eating/drinking/licking of lips) but still had a great shimmering effect that made them look wet, even when they dried. They were more comfortable to wear than I anticipated–lightweight and just a little drying.

One of the bigger downsides is that it’s not going to wear 24 hours. Just about every single shade (all but Thunderstruck) stained my lips intensely, which helped prolong the wear, but the product breaks down with water, just plain water, and of course, it is removable by a slew of removers, including oil which one might encounter during a meal. I found deeper shades stained well but removed unevenly and left behind stained lines and patches on my lips that did not dissipate for almost 24-hours post wear. I didn’t notice that the lip color did not take well to water initially, as I didn’t see any transfer on my glasses, but when I rinsed after I brushed my teeth (where I cup water in my hands, so less elegant than drinking from a glass), I had lip color running like crazy.

This led me to pay even more attention the next time I wore the formula, and sure enough, color lifted with just a sip of water and transferred onto things like paper (but not glassware) and the back of my hand. Some shades made it through meals better than others with the worst offenders lifting more noticeably from the center of the lips. The formula survives some eating and drinking, but the more you drink, the less it survives, and even careful eating/drinking yielded noticeably faded wear between eight and twelve hours of wear. I don’t think a brand would advocate 24-hour wear but expect you not to eat, drink, or even brush your teeth! I would consider it long-wearing in the grand scheme of things with solid six to ten hour wear depending on the shade. They do stain significantly less when layered over something like the brand’s Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks but can seep through more emollient lipstick formulas.

Browse all of our Kat Von D Everlasting Glimmer Veil Liquid Lipstick swatches.

Ingredients

Isododecane, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Mica, Hydrogenated Polycyclopentadiene, Hydrogenated Styrene/Isoprene Copolymer, Silica, Silica Silylate, Magnesium Stearate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tin Oxide, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499).