My Favourite Daytime Lipsticks

For a special event or for an evening out, I love a red lip. But day to day I feel a red lip is sometimes a little much. So I've found a few vintage-look friendly alternatives I'd like to share with you. 

In no particular order, here are my favourite go-to daytime lip colours:

Benefit Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain layered with Benefit Lip Balm

I love Benefit Rose-Tinted Cheek and Lip Stain! This is the product I use daily as blush and occasionally use on my lips as well. 

As a cheek stain it's unstoppable! Nothing looks more natural and has more staying power in this application. As a lip stain, it's got its issues - it tastes terrible, it is not long lasting and it tends to stain the  inside of your lips with much more pigment than the outside of your lips. However, with a little help - and this is where the lip balm comes in - it is great! 

The stain acts as a base, giving the lip balms' colour more depth. The result is a rosy pink, slightly glossy lip that works well with any look - day or night. 

And the gloss by itself is also lovely, just a more subtle hit of colour on the lips. 

Both of these products are a bit pricey - The cheek & lip stain at $30 and the lip balm at $20 (the Benefit website doesn't seem to be selling the lip balm anymore!! I hope it's not discontinued! I just bought a new pot recently at my local pharmacy..), but they last forever! I use the cheek and lip stain every day and buy only 2 bottles a year.

Here is the stain on my lips before the lip balm. I recommend careful application here. Take your time and concentrate the colour on the outer edges of your lips. 

You can see how icky it looks...it settles into the fine lines (eep!) around my lips and looks blotchy..

This is after the application of the lip balm over the stain. You can see here how the lip balm hides all of the imperfections of the lip stain and the result is very pretty!

And my mug with the stain and lip balm. It's a hint of red, but not in your face like true red lipstick. 

MAC Cyndi Lauper Viva Glam Lipstick

I love this lipstick. I would marry it if I could. And what you see in this picture is all I have left people...   Waaahh!! And it's a discontinued Viva Glam colour. I went back and bought another after I bought this one and kept it in my freezer until I was ready to use it I loved it so much after I bought the first one. 

I've heard there are good 'dupes' out there for this colour and I will shortly be searching the universe for them.. I will bring back my findings. 

For $16 this lipstick is amazing! It is a beautiful coral pink colour (very vintage friendly). It is creamy and has incredible staying power. It looks good day or night and with any manner of outfit. 

I didn't want to waste any by putting it on to take photos for this blog post, so I an providing a picture of me wearing this lipstick from another post. 

So, unfortunately friends, you can't buy this one, but if you know of any good substitutes or you love this colour as much as me and want some company to whine with about it being unavailable please talk to me! 

And my new favourite:
Revlon's Colorstay Ultimate Suede

I saw commercials for this product and am always interested in a lipstick that promises to stay put all day, so I went out and bought myself one. This colour is 'Finale' (095) and shows very true to colour in these photos. This colour is a pretty close match to my MAC Cyndi, but it's a little more coral and less pink. 

This lipstick set me back $15 and was worth every penny! It goes on well and has great pigment and delivers what it promises! It actually stays all day! I do have to reapply once during the day, but that ain't a whole heck of a lot after eating, drinking and the occasional kiss from The Boy! We even shared a can drink the other day and he didn't walk away with lipstick on his face after! Impressive! 

Unlike other all day lipsticks this is a one step application - which I love. And you can wipe it off with a kleenex if you've mucked up. It's not so permanent that you need makeup remover to get rid of it. It does feel a bit waxy after a few hours, but I think that's part of the magic...it never feels dry though. 

Here it is up close and personal:

My only beef with this line is that there is no true red shade. This seemed to be the reddest shade available. I'd be over the moon if Revlon released a true red shade in this lipstick, but I'll take this one for now! 

And there they are! My fav daytime shades.

What are your go-to daytime lipsticks? Do you prefer subtler coral and pink shades like me? Or do you wear red day and night? 

Lisa.xo