How-to take off Longwear Lipstick

If you are not familiar with long wear or indelible lipsticks, their basic concept is that they start wet, dry after application, and you use a lip gloss over them to keep your lips feeling moist.

I am really bad about keeping up with my lips when I go out. I have fun, talk to people…and then I go to the lady’s and catch a glimpse in the mirror! Ugh! Where’d my lips go? Also when my beau sees my glossy, gooey red lips coming toward his mouth…he gets this look of fear in his eyes, like he is going to look like Heath Ledger as The Joker when it’s done.

So, for me, long wears are great for reds especially. The 3 colors pictured here from left to right are Cerise 300, a cranberry, but the color is deep and would be really nice on a pale blue girl, Crimson 310, a warm red that I love on my yellow skin and goes well with my red hair, and Beyonce’s Red 399, a vibrant red that darker skinned girls look great in.


I apply in 2 layers. The crimson looks good as one application, but you can still see a little lip through it, which is fine if you want to have a tamer red, but I want RED. So I apply once, leave your lips open and let dry completely, then apply again, leave mouth open and let dry completely. Don’t put on the gloss until all the tackiness is gone from the color coats.

But then there is the after. You are home and you now have this coating of epoxy-like lipstick on your lips that won’t come off. Don’t scrub your lips raw trying to get it off. The concept to these lipsticks is similar to alcohol based makeup that many theater makeup artists use as a waterproof makeup. The color will only dissolve with oil or alcohol.

Baby oil works really well. Soak a Q-tip in it and rub your lips, but not too hard. It will take a second for the color to start to dissolve.

The fastest way to dissolve the color and most effective is 99% Alcohol if you can get your hands on some.

Just be sure to apply a nice coat of vaseline after because it will dry your lips out, and it doesn’t taste great, but very effective.

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12 Comments

  1. I have found also that Carmex removes that kind of lipstick really well. Just let it sit for a moment and then gently wipe it off. Thanks for a great post-I have been looking for a new red!

  2. I really like this line and have been using it for a couple years. I had a failure with one of the pinks and had to throw it out, though. It just never worked right and would start to flake off after 15 or 20 minutes. It was one of those where the color is also a stick, not a gloss wand. Now that I’m thinking about it, the color stick was kind of crumbly on that one.

    Have you used that formulation or had any similar problems?

  3. Thank you for the red lip tips!

    I am a brown lady who will try the blue hued one. Let’s see if I can pull it off tomorrow without looking like a clown.lol.

    Have a great Valentine’s Day!

  4. I would not use isopropyl alcohol on one’s lips, as it is very toxic and shouldn’t be ingested. Everclear is cheap, 95 percent ethanol and will dissolve it, and is usually what I do. Of course, a little iso won’t kill you, but the effects are blindness and 99 is awfully concentrated!

  5. Oops, I misspoke. Not blindness, still toxic. Sorry bout that! I stand by ethanol, though. Hey, that might be interesting to note for those of us wearing longlasting lipstick to the bar, yes?

  6. i absolutely HATE this stuff. i always eat my regular paint off. i am a lip biter out of nerves i guess. so i thought this stuff would be the answer. it does wear off on the inner lips faster than the outer lips and i have to reapply. but reapplication with this lip paint is a MESS. and of course its hard to get off. i was using Vaseline. i threw it out and went back to rimmel moisture wear.

  7. Thanks for this! I have the same trouble with my lips when I go out. It seems like after 2 cocktails, all my lipstick is on the glass. And thanks for pointing out a color for darker women (although I refuse to believe Beyonce uses drugstore lipstick).

  8. Also try the Infallible lip gloss. Today alone I’ve been wearing it for about 5 hours, including a nap. No fading, no wearing off on the inner lips, no flaking, and it didn’t even wipe off on the pillow.

  9. I have had nothing but bad luck with these types of products either they get dry and flake off or my lips feel like vinyl and crack if I smile to big. I absolutely love Outlast lip stain by cover girl. It goes on like a marker has a good flavor and gives you that natural look or ad some clear gloss to ramp it up a notch. Reveling has a line called Just Bitten with more intense colors and an attached gloss stick, but it does have a realtor weird flavor that I found off putting.

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Welcome to the Bobby Pin Blog! I am Lauren Rennells and as a hairstylist, makeup artist, writer, and generally artistic over-achiever, the Bobby Pin Blog is my outlet for thoughts and research about vintage hair and makeup trends and how to recreate them today. Thank you for stopping by!

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