Quintessential YSL The Slim

Hello, here is one of the most beautiful works of art released in the beauty world this year. So beautiful, I felt it deserved an article singing its praises. This is makeup design appreciation and also an indulgence in fancy and wonder of a SINGLE lipstick.

Presenting: YSL's ROUGE PUR COUTURE THE SLIM MATTE LIPSTICK

"The Slim"

Described as a long wear leather matte lipstick and rightfully so as it is incredibly "long-lasting" that it leaves a stain that is quite difficult to remove without a good oil-based makeup remover (my preference - the legendary Shu Uemura Oil Cleansers) and even so, some rigorous rubbing of the lips.

As for the "leather" effect, I would describe it as a "stretchable" layer of pigment that does not settle into lines. It wears like a liquid lipstick. There is a subtle fragrance of rose, almost a touch of Mon Paris (one of YSL's joyous fragrance offerings).

The colour payoff is is as astounding as it looks. It is intense and true to what you see in the lipstick bullet. Be warned. One coat is enough.

So elegant in its simplicity, I was very much in awe when I first saw it. The cap is a matte metal case inscribed with the words "yves saint laurent". I always love the subtle detail that YSL puts into its products, almost like a hidden treasure, to be discovered.

There are 15 shades available. I was gifted this one - in shade 21 oddly named "Rouge Paradoxe". Perhaps so, because of its highly pointed square bullet in contrast or contrary to the usual design of a round or doe-foot lipstick bullet.

It is always a mystery to me how beauty brands conceive of the names of various shades of lipsticks when they already have such a vast collection.

The current collection (available in Australia) comprises of 15 shades with 10 more to come:

1 - Rouge Extravagant

2 - Strange Orange

4 - Fushsia Excentrique

5 - Peculair Pink

9 - Red Enigma

10 - Corail Antinomique

11 - Ambiguous Beige

12 - Nu Incongru

13 - Original Coral

14 - Rose Curieux

16 - Rosewood Oddity

17 - Nude Antonym

21 - Rouge Paradoxe

23 - Mystery Red

25 - Black Opium

The sharp edges were designed for functionality - they act as a sort of lipstick liner.

See photos below for more details.

These lovely lipsticks are available online at https://www.yslbeauty.com.au

They each retail in Australia for A$59.

In conclusion, well worth the price in terms of performance and design. A most covetable piece of makeup, so stylish, you might just buy it to stare at it on your vanity. Perhaps they should have named it "STYLE" (omitting "the" much like another icon, Facebook).