I bought a few colors of this and my opinions on them are varied. First, I bought "Passion" which is a very pretty hot pink. I was a little disappointed when I figured out that the balm isn't a twist up, but just a weird little nub stuck on the end of the stick that is VERRRYYY easy to cut off when pulling off the cap. Regardless, the color won me over. Very pretty and pigmented but still natural and great on my skin tone. You can get different intensities in color depending upon how many coats you apply. No smell and no feathering and the color lasts forever, even after eating. I wanted a red color to do a pinup look, so I went with "Gothic". Ugh. Ugly and dark and drab and not at all flattering. Waste of money. I chalked it up to a poor color choice and bought "Flame", which is a red that's a few shades lighter. It's not AWFUL, but it's still sort of odd. It straddles the line between pink and red and it looks weird as the color wears off from the inside of your lips and stays pigmented around your lip line. Doesn't have nearly the staying power as "Passion" and the color isn't a TRUE red, and nor is "Gothic". I WILL buy "Passion" again, but that's it.

pros:
- pretty natural
- cheap

cons:
- doesn't stay long on my lips (PROBABLY FOR ONE HOUR TOPS)
- can be drying
- not available in my country

overall:
i got this in passion, and it looks pretty natural on me, nothing fanciful. not exactly a lip-product sort of person, and i only ordered this online on a whim so i'm probably not going to repurchase this.

i love this product, i bought it yesterday, it's highly pigmented, and it stays on for 24 hours or more, until now, as of typing this, my lips are like naturally reddish pink, and i only applied it once yesterday, rare application i think will make this product cost-efficient, i was able to buy it for 567 Philippine peso, or more or less 15 dollars. it's hard to remove though:)

This is absolutely horrible! I bought it for around $2 at CVS because the shade Lust was 75% off. The first time I tried it out, it was okay. The stain lasted pretty long. The color was way different than the tube (It was like brown. Not really wearable...) I figured I'd save it for days when I didn't want to reapply lip color. But now I can't do that...Because the marker end won't even work anymore! The marker is dried up and parts of it seem like they flaked off. I can't get any color off of it at all! I used it ONCE! I got this on clearance and I'm still really mad that it's completely useless. Honestly, if I had paid the full $10 for this stain, I would've returned it in a second. But even though it was on clearance, I'm still returning it. Please, do not waste any money on this product! It is CHEAP! Just a terrible product!

I bought this on a whim, and am pretty pleased. I got the shade "Mystical" which I can't seem to find again (weird), but it gave me a nice natural-looking stain -- my lips, but amplified.

I wanted to love this. When I first applied it, it was really nice, I liked it I admit. It really does last when you apply it right and let it dry. But when I took this off, the outer ring on my bottom lip dried in the oddest of way. There was nothing I could do to moisturize it or exfoliate. It stayed like that for about a week. And it was almost like my that part of my lip had these little, 'fried up pores.' I don't know how to describe it...It's probably just me though, I don't see anyone else having this happen too! If this has happen to you please, pretty please let me know!

UPDATE:
My lips don't do this anymore with this product...
BUT, honestly...it's way way too expensive. NYC has amazing ones for 4 bucks and I hear the new E.L.F. ones were pretty good, for 2 dollars. No matter how smooth and moisturized your lips are, it will always attach to some patch on your lips. I can never color in my lips fully,
I feel like I have to shake the crap out of the pen. Just, not a good buy. The color selection is very nice though. It has last me a while too and maybe if I need a good color in stain form, I'll look out for these. I just hope that drying experience I had last time never happens again! *shivers*

I bought it in the color Passion, a very pretty light pink. When I first put it on, it kinda scared me since it's so pigmented, more than I thought. The trick is to apply it by dabbing on your lips, this way, you can control how intense you want it to look.

staying power: very good! found it hard to wash off
packaging: ok, wish the balm was retractable

I just got this passion lip stain 2 days ago. I loved it the minute i put it on...it was a really pretty pink and it stayed on for a long time....even overnight! The packaging took 2 people to try and open it and it was just a pain. It was fine on my lips yesterday...but today it seemed to be out of the ink.....it was not of very good use and only lasted 2 days and it was also pretty expenisve. I think it was about $4.50. I have to buy another one but I was not very happy when it ran out of ink 2 days into its usage.

So I just bought this a few hours ago at CVS, on sale for bogo 50% off. Usually I can't pass up those types of deals. I applied one of them when I bought it and it's still sitting pretty on my lips, and I've been drinking soda ever since, so staying power seems pretty good for me. I love lip stains, and as a previous review said, the color doesn't "sit" on your lips, it stains it as if it were your natural lip color. The effect can be very beautiful if you choose the right color. The two colors I bought were darker than I thought they would be, but I'm ok with that. The packaging is awful, however. The wrapper is a pain in the butt to get off and once I did get it off, the cap popped off unintentionally on the balm and the balm just detached from the stick. Boy did that make me mad. BUT, the balm is very high quality and feels nice on your lips, not too shiny and gives the perfect matte look to again, aid in the appearance that your lips are naturally the color of the stain. I'm pretty sure I might go back to CVS tomorrow and buy 2 more of these stains in the lighter colors.

The color is gorgeous, no doubt about it, but this product has no staying power. I thought that a stain would stay put better, but a cup of coffee and it was mostly gone. Granted, I am one of those who "eats" he lipstick and all I will have left is the outline. The applicator is a hard felt-tip marker, like you expect to buy it for school supplies. It tears at the lips. The balm that comes with it, is really nice and soft, but you have to be extra careful putting that cap back on or you will make a mess with the balm.

I bought it in color "Lust" and love it - not too bright, not too sheer. But I will not buy it again, because I am too busy to stop every hour and reapply this lip stain.