L'Oreal has recently put out what has long been called a probable dupe for the expensive Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Vernis a Levres Glossy Stain called L'Oreal Colour Riche Caresse Wet Shine Stain. Apparently a requirement for naming of these lipstick/glosses are that they are a mouthful. Henceforth I will refer to them as YSL Glossy Stain and L'Oreal Wet Shine Stain. I will try to go over the pro's and cons on each of these and then give an overall opinion. This is based on my experience of having the YSL for months and the L'Oreal for a few weeks.



Packaging: I have several YSL items and they do excel at luxury packaging. While the YSL Glossy Stains are plastic, they still have a nice weight to them and feel smooth and luxe. The L'Oreal Wet Shine Stain is lighter and feels very sleek. It fits in your hands easier and fits in my makeup bag better too. It's a bit longer but quite a bit slimmer. It doesn't feel quite as luxe as the YSL, but it's pretty decent.



Applicator: Both applicators are sort of flattened doe foot, but have some significant differences. The YSL Glossy Stain applicator is slimmer, angled and has longer fibers. The L'Oreal Wet Shine Stain applicator is straight, fat and a little puffy like it is made of foam. I personally prefer the YSL applicator because it allows me to really wipe off product to put this on in thin layers (my preferred method of application for these as described below).

Available Colors: The color selection for the YSL Glossy Stains is amazing. There are 15 available on the YSL beauty website currently and 24 on Sephora right now. There are so many red's that I have a hard time choosing. However, L'Oreal doesn't have much variety in the darker colors of this line right now. And the pink I got (Stubborn Plum) barely shows up on my lips. Hopefully after these are out for some time there will be more colors that come out in the darker range. The red I have pictured (Endless Red) is the only red they have and I had a hard time choosing another color to try out (they were buy one, get one 50% off when I purchased mine).


Ease of Application: This is where I feel the YSL Glossy Stain wins, hands down. This is because they build up so nicely and can be either a wash of color or opaque. I did not have this experience with the L'Oreal Wet Shine Stain. With the YSL Glossy Stain, the trick is to really layer it. For the each application, I run the applicator across the edge of the tube to get as much off of it as possible and then put it on the lip like you would a stain. It doesn't go on completely even, so then I re-dip the wand and repeat until I get the color I want. If I want an especially glossy appearance, my last application is done without wiping off the excess on the applicator. When I attempted this method with the L'Oreal Wet Shine Stain, I was never able to really even out the color because each layer was SO translucent. It was okay when I applied it like a gloss, but I don't always like to have a thick glossy lip.  YMMV, of course.

Price: The YSL Glossy Stain is $32 for 0.20 oz. The L'Oreal Wet Shine Stain is normally about $10 (but drugstores usually have sales so you can get it cheaper) and comes in at 0.21fl oz.

Overall: The L'Oreal Wet Shine Stain is a decent dupe, but I still prefer my YSL Glossy Stain. I prefer the ease of application and the color selection. However, with the huge price difference, I think that the L'Oreal is worth it for the price, if they get more colors.


Currently Wearing:


Currently Listening To:

Other ways to follow me: 

Twitter: @RecordsRedLips
Instagram: RecordsRedLips
Pinterest: Records & Red Lipstick
Vine: RecordsAndRedLipstick

Disclaimer: This post contains my own opinion. I have not been sent these items for consideration and/or review.