Earlier this month, YSL released their Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains online at Sephora, sending the beauty community into a frenzy of curiosity. In light of their limited accessibility, accurate swatches were difficult to come by online.
Since I tend to gravitate towards YSL’s lightest offerings (Rouge Volupte #1 Rouge Volupte Pearl #108 and Rouge Pur Couture in Blonde Ingenue), I ordered #18, Rose Pastelle, sight unseen.
Retailing for $32, this oxymoronic hybrid combines the depth of a stain with the sheen of a gloss, creating a lip product chimera, the likes of which we’ve yet to see up until this point. It has a doe foot applicator which spreads the product onto lips with ease.
#18 is a pale baby pink with a cool, almost lavender undertone that becomes more stain-like over time and a few applications. The formula is weightless…it feels like a light balm, but seems to “set” in a few minutes, much like the Rouge d’Armani line.
Rose Pastelle is definitely the lightest stain I have encountered…above, it is swatched lightly and then more heavily. Note the cool pale baby pink tone and glossy overcoat.
While the glossy element wears off over a couple of hours, it is not as drying as other stains I’ve experienced. Additionally, even with a light pink, the stain deepens! The image above shows the swatches after they have set (in about 3 minutes) and have been wiped off with a tissue. The stain that #18 produces is subtle but undeniably detectable…I love that it is not a garish hot pink to which most stains on the market default.
But how does it look on the lips one may ask? The image above says it all…#18 is a soft and cool pink with a natural sheen that wears evenly. I recommend this little gem of a science experiment, and, while I do not wear it everyday, I do keep it in rotation in my handbag because it is just so fascinating to apply.
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