111. Maybelline Superstay 24 Color-THE TEST!

Maybelline Superstay 24 Color in 510 Red Passion RRP £8.99

One of those wonderfully tempting, purse draining offers from Boots-the 3 for 2-led me to purchase Maybelline Superstay24 Lipcolor. I have to say, the idea of 24 hour colour appealed to the lazy girl in me. I always forget to take lipstick or gloss out with me, and on the rare occassion I do remember...yep, I forget to actually reapply. DOH!

Long out-dated pop culture catchphrases aside, it does bug me that I spend my mornings carefully applying the slap, only to look flaky and faded after a few hours of tea drinking, sandwich eating, and if I'm very lucky, some smooches.

So here's what Maybelline say:

"MEET THE LIPCOLOR THAT STRETCHES THE LIMITS OF LONGWEAR AND LASTS UP TO 24HR.
NO CRUMBLING.
NO FADING.
NO TRANSFERRING.
NO DRYING.
NO SMUDGING."

Sounds perfect/too good to be true right? After perusing the amazing colour selection, and finally settling on 510 Red Passion  I decided to put these claims to the test!

HOUR ZERO: Freshly Applied


Applying easily like a lip gloss, this goes on so smoothly. You have to leave it to dry for 2 minutes before you apply the nourishing balm. I like to finish the rest of my make up, or style my hair in between the two steps to avoid waiting around like a bored thing. In those two minutes, I can feel my lips dry out and practically weep for the balm-or at least they would if they had the moisture for tears. After the balm is on, I absolutely love the colour and how matte it looks considering the gloss style application.

HOUR THREE: After tea drinking



Still a gorgeous striking red-though not a patch of this striking red was left on the rim of my mug of tea! So far, so good,!

HOUR SIX: After lunch (...and more tea) and balm re-application



After devouring most undaintily, some toasted cheese sandwiches (plural); this is the result. Strong even colour remaining on the majority of the lip, but starting to fade at the edges and corners. This is something that was barely noticable in person, and is just more obvious in a zoomed in lip focused photo. After going outside in the cold air, my lips had started to feel a bit dry, so I popped some more of the balm end on, and they felt soft once more.

HOUR TEN: After dinner and beverages



Starting to notice some definite fading at the corners of my mouth now, as well as some of the fine lines in my lips showing themselves. I have to say though, that as a whole the colour has remained, and it has remained very bright!

HOUR THIRTEEN: After smooching and teeth brushing



That's right, I brushed my teeth and removed the rest of my make up but avoided my lips for the full 24 hour experience. The colour has definitely faded all over, and come off completely at the inner edges and corners of my mouth. As I was just having a hot date with my kindle this didn't matter, but obviously if I'd have gone out for drinks without re-applying, fully trusting in my 24 hour lips, I'd be disappointed as well as a bit skanky looking.

HOUR TWENTY FOUR: After more smooches and a good night's sleep



This attractive image was taken the next morning, 24 hours after application. There's fading all over and obviously quite a lot has completely come off overnight-what can I say? I'm a mouth breather.

So lets review Maybellines selling points:

NO CRUMBLING: Perhaps if I hadn't eaten so heartily or drank so much tea, this would've been true, but its clear from the photo's it happened at some point.

NO FADING: Again with the eating and drinking, but the colour did remain remarkably strong for much longer than any other product I own.

NO TRANSFERRING: Very true! Apart from my lips, I saw not this colour on any glasses, mugs, cutlery, clothes or boys lips! Congrats Maybelline!

NO DRYING: Half right. I found the lip colour part of the product very drying, but presumably this is why the balm end is included. As long as you keep topping up with the balm, your lips will be perfectly soft. Though if you have the effort/memory to reapply this, I assume you'd previously have been making the effort to reapply colour.

NO SMUDGING: Correctemondo as far as I can tell! No "red passion" smeared its way down my face or on my teeth, which I am very very pleased about!

To summarize! If for some bizarre reason, you truly are planning to wear this product for 24 hours-perhaps you're going out straight from work...to a sleepover-I recommend either not eating and perhaps just drinking through a straw. However, if like me, you'd just like to look nice for more than a couple of hours, either at work, a day out, or a night on the town, then I think the staying power of this product is better than most, if not the best! Just be sure to top up on the balm!