8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
The quintessential movie star lipstick
Date of Review: Jul 31, 2007
The Bottom Line: Clarins Le Rouge combines the elegance of movie-star red lipstick with a modern formulation that wears well and won't dry your lips.
I first encountered this amazing old-school lipstick in a meeting with the product development and pr departments at Clarins about five years ago, when I was a beauty editor. At that time, light lip gloss was in fashion, as it is now, and no one wanted high-pigment lipstick.
Le Rouge changed all that for me. The head of Clarins PR insisted I try on the reddest red and while I was terrified I was shocked when I saw how amazing it looked. Instant pillowy lips a la Lauren Bacall in a film noir, with a finish somewhere between dewy and matte, and super-moisturizing not drying.
She gave me a few tubes and I was hooked! To this day I still buy it.
What's funny is, I gave my 80-year-old grandma a tube, and she loves it as much as I do.. so it works for all ages.
A great tip for this formulation: If you're not in the mood for all-out color, apply some lip balm then a coat of the lipstick over the lip balm. Then blot it. You'll have a gorgeous, natural sheer berry stain--two products for the price of one. Plus, this is how makeup artists do it, so they can control the amount of color.
