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YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain Review, Photos, Swatches

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain ($34.00 for 0.20 fl. oz.) is a deep, burgundy-berry with a glossy finish. MAC Lust for Life is lighter, pinker. Chanel Crushed Cherry is brighter, redder. MAC Rebel is more berry-hued. MAC Lasting Achievement is more muted, less red. See comparison swatches.

For the life of me, I could not get this to apply evenly; it just seemed to stick, settle, and gather in various places all over my lips. It’s not unusual that a deeper, vampier shade does some of that, but I was quite surprised the extent to which this did all those things. The color coverage is semi-opaque with a noticeable change and tint to the color, but the product has some translucency that enables the natural lip color to come through–just slightly. Obviously, given how wretched this looks on my lips, despite its long-wear of six and a half hours, it’s hard to recommend it. The glossiness lasts four to five hours, and then the color lingers and lingers well to six hours. There’s a residual stain that continues for another two hours or so. YSL’s Glossy Stains have a sweet, fruity scent but no discernible taste. I wouldn’t describe it as hydrating, but it’s not drying over the six hours it wears for.

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain
YSL Violet Edition (01) Glossy Stain

31 Comments

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Elyse Avatar

Too bad it applies so unevenly! That color is gorgeous on you! What I really wanted to comment on is your eye look, though. Wow wow wow! So lovely! I’m going to try to emulate it, heheh.

Wwendalynne Avatar

I’m sorry, but I find the finish awful on this one.. Maybe I would prefer over lipstick. This whole YSL glossy stain line is rather confounding. I picked up a couple of these from the rebel nude line and it’s a bit like owning mystery gloss and the word gloss is a bit misleading. It appears to be one colour in the tube and then totally changes upon application. The gloss part, on me personally, disappears rather quickly and the stain kicks in and the stain is really super patchy and doesn’t look anything like the tube colour. Just not my cup ‘o tea

AmyD Avatar

hey wwendalynne – just fyi, the rebel nudes line, from what i gather, is meant to be a line of sheerer shades that you can wear by themselves or layered with another glossy stain. the original collection of shades tends to be rather more pigmented than the rebel nudes.

Rad Avatar

Yikes that looks quite bad – i’m quite surprised that this also got a B-. I’ve seen some stuff recently get lower than this and they don’t actually show up as looking as bad as this does. As with the Urban Decay highlighter, has this scored higher just because of longevity because I think the fact that it just does not look good should score it lower – i.e. it just doesn’t work as a gloss, tint, lipstick etc. But thats just my opinion of course 🙂

Christine Avatar

It’s not very fair to say, only take off X points for X defect for every other product, and then take off extra points to make it even lower because it would be a very arbitrary methodology. I consider almost 60 different characteristics (not all of them apply to every product) and assigned point ranges for each them, so I can assess things more subjectively and consistently. One rating system can’t be perfect, but I try to at least make it fair and consistent–just like you can clearly see that it being long-wearing is holding up the grade. That’s exactly as it should be. I absolutely took off points for streaky, uneven color–and it lost 20% off its grade essentially as a result of that, which is quite substantial!

I completely understand that as a result, this product isn’t going to be on many people’s wish list (it wouldn’t be on mine) – but that’s why each post has written reviews, photos, and swatches, too, so the whole story is told! 🙂

Becca Avatar

It’s too bad that this doesn’t work on you Christine, it’s a lovely colour on you!

I bought this shade two weeks ago for a wedding and it’s been my go-to ever since! I find applying it in layers helps to build an even, lasting colour. When I try for full opacity right off the bat, it gets blotchy like yours did.

Christine Avatar

Hey Becca!

Thanks for the tips! I’m glad it’s working well for you 🙂

It definitely seems to be one that’s better as a sheer layer than anything too opaque. How long do you wait between layers? I find this is a finicky product to layer, as it dries to a totally different consistency!

Becca Avatar

I usually wait two minutes, the time it takes to line and wing my eyeliner! It can be a little finicky, but the colour is pretty dramatic on me (very pale skin), so I don’t need more than a thin layer or two!

PT Avatar

Actually this and #2 work beautifully for me: I have never had patchiness issues in the application. The key is to wait the couple of minutes between the first and second application. I also start by slightly lining my lips with the side of the applicator and then filling in with the flat of the tip.
Another way that these two darker colors work for me is over a light stain (like Sephora’s or UD’s). In that case a single application is already beautiful and lasts many hours.

lou Avatar

Call me crazy, but I kind of like the messy/punky look, and I genuinely wonder whether it hasn’t been made intentionally so. Perhaps not, in any case – I dislike gloss to begin with, so it’s cheap talk for me! lol

Ghyllian Avatar

Hi! I own this product in ths shade since its launch March 2012 (France) and it is gorgeous and not patchu at all (and I own 3 more: #4, #14, #31).
It is important to know how your lips would react to these. For me (dry lps), I put my balm first and a few seconds I put a first layer as I would do if it was only one (don’t “close/stick” your lips when applying this) and then a second layer. I don’t wait. Dont (again stick your lips together until the formula changed into the glossy finish. Also th color gets deeper while drying.
That’s it!
(I’m a NC 44/45 and this #1 by YSL is my va-va-voom color! yeah)

Ghyllian Avatar

Oh well, that’s weird though. Thanks for your reply.
For the others, be careful : My first experience while testing these was “some scary fun” .
I’ll always remember when on a friday afternoon I tried #1, then # 14 then #10, then #1 again the same day (wihin a few minutes) on my dry lips – without any balm….My lips stayed stained until monday morning as it burned a bit my lips (very sensitive): they wera stained with the #1 color all the week end! With some balm on it I was like with permanent make up LOL.
Now know with balm before, it’s ok 😉

Chloe Avatar

May I ask how you apply the YSL glossy stains? I own a few, including this shade, and I have never come across the finish that you got. I start by applying a thin layer first and blending in with my pinky or ring finger. After it has dried down, 30 seconds or so, I apply a second layer, a third if needed/desired. I find this technique works best for the YSL glossy stains, especially for darker shades such as this one.

Christine Avatar

Hi Chloe, I just apply one layer unless it’s not even, and then I fix as needed only if I have actually missed a spot by applying a little more a minute later. But I don’t apply more just to make it more opaque! I then wait about 20-30 minutes before photographing. This is the only shade that I had issues with – and I applied it the same as other Glossy Stains.

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