Review: Sephora Collection Rouge Infusion Lip Stains

I was cleaning out the photos on my Iphone, which I am horrible about doing and found the lip swatches and photos of the Sephora Rouge Infusion Lip Duo that I had bought and tried months ago. Oops. In any case, I wanted to share my thoughts because these seem to have amazing reviews and I don't want anyone to get swayed. I had bought the set at my local Sephora inside JCPenney and thought it was an excellent deal. What I failed to realize at the time was either the product was super super old, I got duds or they expire well beyond the time listed on the packaging.

Sephora claims "This must-have lip stain delivers intense color with no sticky residue. It provides buildable coverage for a natural, sophisticated, or glamorous look. The weightless formula leaves lips stained, soft, hydrated, and refreshed upon application."

The set came with a mini of Red Essence #10 and full size Fuchsia Concentrate #05 and the back claimed they are good for 6 months after opening. I would question that as well as their shelf life unopened since I owned them for all of a week before I tested them on my lips. They smelled like paint but they didn't last like a long-wearing lipstain might (where you might accept the horrible smell because of the amazing lasting power, for instance). Each color applied and became patchy under an hour of wear; even when a light layer of product was used, even with the claim that they are buildable.

If too much product is applied, the product started balling up on the lips and almost flaking away (that's Red Essence above by the way).

The same thing happened with the Fuchsia color. It did not last through drinking. See below coffee mug for evidence. This was after letting the product dry, or at least I would think it would have dried after 10 minutes.

In case you were wondering, they don't taste good either.

And while it stained the outside of my lips a faint fuchsia color, it got the same balled up dry and crackly texture as the red.

Some of the reviews on Sephora indicate that these have a nice smell and last for ages, so as I said, it's possible I bought an old and/or bad batch, but what I would recommend is if you try these, make sure you stay away from those on sale and try to buy recent stock if you can. I wound up returning mine.

I would definitely recommend the L'Oreal one I tried over these.