I am a long lasting lipstick junkie. I try almost every lipstick or liquid lipstick I can get my hands on that claims to be touchproof, wearproof, budge-proof, kiss-proof…on and on. More often than not they do smudge. And when they don’t, as is the case with liquid lipsticks, they have a tendency to flake off as you eat, which can leave your lips not only patchy but also your teeth covered in little red flakes. Just what every girl wants! Except not.

I’ve covered the Lime Crime Velvetines, their Make Up Academy Luxe Lip Lacquer dupes, and Maybelline 14 hour Superstay lipsticks on the blog before, and these are all great products available across a decent range of prices with brilliant staying power.

I was doing some online beauty shopping the other day and needed to add a couple of quid worth of products to my basket to qualify for free delivery. There’s not much a couple of pounds can get you from the makeup aisle, so I chose a Collection (formerly Collection 2000) Lasting Lipstick in shade Queen of Hearts, thinking that for £2.99 I would at least be getting a nice shade red lipstick even if it didn’t last, as I suspected it wouldn’t.

But Oh. My. God. I am in love. So unexpectedly in love.

Collection 2000 ‘Queen of Hearts ‘Lasting Lipstick

This lipstick transfers as you eat and drink, so as I left a trail of rich red kisses all over my morning Saturday errands I assumed I was losing my lippie pretty fast. A quick glance in the mirror after a breakfast muffin and naughty Mocha Frappacino showed me that despite my reddened straw and lipstick smudged napkin, my lips were still perfectly red. There wasn’t even any wear in the centre of my lips, which is downright expected any time I eat wearing a lip product, irregardless of long-lasting claims or not. Yet my lips were even. I hadn’t smudged it everywhere. This product was a dark horse. A long lasting, pigmented, good quality and low cost dark horse. YEEEESSSS.

Part of the long wear might be due to the care I took in application. I’ve yet to test this out without my lip recipe, but given that this application I’m about to list produced results that outlast the Velvetine lip velvets at less than 4 times their cost, it is more than worth it. Said application is as follows.

First I applied a thin layer of concealer to my lips because I had misplaced my lip primer. I lined my lips in a matching red lip liner, applied a coat of the lipstick, blotted that coat down, and dusted on a touch of translucent face powder. I topped it off with a second coat of lipstick and blotted gently. It might sound like a lot of work, but this is the way a lot of women apply their lipstick for a full day’s wear, and I felt like it took less time than it can sometimes take me to apply products like the Velvetines or Lip Lacquers which are so pigmented that one wrong move under time pressure can leave you with a super hard job to correct a bad-outline mistake.

At the time of writing this I’m 5 hours into wear, have drank a glass of soda, eaten a bag of crisps and 3 breaded mushrooms in addition to my breakfast muffin and frappe (okay, it’s not been a great food day, judge me all you want but it’s been delicious) and all I’ve done to my lips is apply one thin touch up layer to correct only the slightest of fading because I like my lips to be perfect. With liquid lipsticks touch-ups after eating and drinking can lead to your lips feeling progressively thicker and more rubbery with dampened layered product over time, but this lipstick feels as comfortable–if not more so–as my other favourite product, the Maybelline 14 hr Superstay lippies, even after layering the product.  Considering these lipsticks are even cheaper than the latter, at £2.99 a tube over £6.99 a tube, this product is as much a bargain as a marvel. I’m sold! I’m ordering 5 other colours right now.

Update: A couple days later I’ve got my hands on two other colours, and am just as smitten with them. Swatches below.

L to R: Sweet Tart, Valentine, Queen of Hearts