This lipstick from Prestige [price - $7CAD approx] is from their Color Persist line - not sure if its still on the market or not. Prestige is available in some Rexalls, though I've never seen it in a location here in Toronto. I got mine from a sale at London Drugs.
The shade Returning Rouge is neither my most favorite color shade nor the perfect lipstick formula, but its a nice enough one. This a blue based orangey red, that looks brighter on tube than on lips.
I forgot to take a picture of it but this lipstick has a central core layer of lip balm. I dont see this replacing a lip balm but it does mean that unless the weather is really chappy you can skin the lip balm if you dont have very dry lips.
As you can see from swatch below, the color comes off as a coral reddish shade. The finish is more like a shiny satin; it applies super smooth, in fact so smooth that you can end up with a thick layer of color if you apply multiple dabs. The color applies 3/4 opaque in the 1st swipe; to get the full intensity, you can build it up- I suggest using a brush to avoid the product layering on, cos its really very very smooth!
This is a beautiful color and I think, this shade will suit a lot of skin tones - warm & dark skin tones much better than cooler skin tones, cos of the coral color. Coral is one shade that really works only on warm or darker skin tones; to get a Coral shade to look nice on a pale or cool toned skin, it has to have either hints of peach or really strong tones of blue in it.
You dont need a lip balm with this lipstick - unless you have really dry lips. However, I noticed a strong tendency to feather and for the color to drift to the corners of the mouth - using a lipliner is a must do with this lipstick.
Overall: For the price, this is a nice lipstick. I don't have any strong recommendations as neither the formula nor the color is very unique. Its just a nice shade for the holidays.
