Tested 5. Kept 1. The 4 kinds of lipstick most of us over 40 own, side by side with the one my readers keep asking about.

By Susan  |  Updated October 2026

Every week a reader writes me some version of the same email.

"I have a makeup bag full of lipsticks and I don't wear any of them. What am I doing wrong?"

My answer is usually the same: most of those lipsticks were made for younger lips.

So I did what I should have done years ago. I took the four kinds of lipstick almost every woman my age has tried, added the one my readers keep asking me about, and wore each one for a full week. Same routine, same errands, same Sunday dinner with my sister, who will tell you if something looks off before you've sat down.

I'm not naming brands. I wanted to see what each kind of formula does on lips that are thinner, drier and paler than they used to be.

What I was looking for

I checked four things.

1. Does it pick a shade that actually suits me, or do I have to guess?
2. Does it feel moist, or do I notice it on my lips by noon?
3. Does it stay out of the little lines above my top lip?
4. Can you see it in a photo?

1. Department store cream

The prettiest tube in the bag and the most expensive thing I tested.

Shade: I picked it under store lights. At home it was a full step too dark. Every woman I know has one of these, bought for a wedding, worn twice.

Feel: Creamy at first, heavy by lunch.

Lines: It found them by midmorning.

Photos: Strong. Maybe too strong.

Kept? No.

2. Drugstore long-wear

Shade: Fine, if you're willing to try four of them first.

Feel: Tight. Dry by the afternoon. I caught myself licking my lips every few minutes, which is its own problem.

Lines: It stayed put on top, but the dryness made the lines look deeper.

Photos: Yes, and you can see the cracks in them.

Kept? No.

3. Matte liquid

Shade: Bold, flat, very of the moment.

Feel: Like nothing for an hour, then like a coat of dried paint.

Lines: Flaked into them by the end of the day.

Photos: Great at 9 a.m. Rough by 5 p.m.

Kept? No. Matte asks for perfectly smooth lips. Mine haven't been perfectly smooth since the nineties.

4. Tinted balm

Shade: Barely there.

Feel: The best of the first four. Soft and easy.

Lines: No trouble, because there's hardly anything there.

Photos: My sister held up her phone at dinner and said, "Are you feeling okay?"

Kept? It lives in my coat pocket. It's not a lipstick.

5. The one my readers keep asking me about

I'll be honest, I'd put this off because it sounded like a gimmick. A stick that looks like nothing in the tube and turns into your own shade on your lips.

Shade: It went on without color, and a few minutes later my lips were a soft rosy shade I'd never have picked in a store. My sister tried it at dinner and got something deeper. Neither of us had to pick a shade.

Feel: Moist. Not waxy, not sticky. It has jojoba oil, squalane and vitamin E in it, and it feels like it.

Lines: Light enough that it didn't sit in the little lines the way the cream did.

Photos: Visible, but it looks like my mouth, not like makeup.

It fades softly instead of all at once, so the afternoon touch-up takes two seconds and no mirror.

Kept? Yes. It's the only one I've reordered.

The short version

See the one I kept ›

What I'd tell a friend

If your lips have changed, the shade you used to buy probably won't work anymore, and picking a new one under store lights rarely goes well. I'd look for something that works with the color your lips already have.

Tested five. Kept one. The other four are in a bag by the front door for my niece, who is twenty-six and can wear anything.