Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Stunna Lip Paint

I’m not just a little late to the party with Fenty Beauty – I actually completely missed the date! Sometimes, even being a beauty writer with 15 years experience behind you doesn’t get you on the right lists, and I missed the Fenty Beauty launch at Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh last year.

It was an early morning launch, so doubtful if I would have made it, but, well, an invite would have been nice. So, I followed up on the launch and was sent information and promised a product at some point. Days turned into weeks, turned into months, and I have to admit I just gave up on it all. You can’t cover them all, so I just crossed it off my list, and moved on.

And then, just a few weeks ago, a package arrived at my house – containing a Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Stunna Lip Paint in Uncensored – a true red.

So, I thought I better give it a go, and review it – and here it is. Late is always fashionable, right?!

The brand claim this to give ‘One Stroke Intensity, 12 hour matte wear, with an unrivalled precision wand’. The wand.

I am going to talk about the wand in great details, but for now  let’s see what Fenty Beauty and Rihanna say about this lip paint.

Fenty Beauty says:  When life’s all about taking risks, wearing red lipstick shouldn’t be one of them. Enter Stunna Lip Paint: The love child of high-impact color and low-maintenance longwear in one head-turning red that’s got everyone’s name on it. It is, hands down, the perfect shade of red, hand-picked by Rihanna and obsessively tested to make sure it looks incredible on everyone. Equal parts class and sass, Stunna Lip Paint goes from zero to 100 in one stroke of its lip-defining precision wand, making it easier than ever to dress your entire pout in show-stopping, soft matte pigment. Its serious 12-hour hold is so weightless, and dries down to the perfect shade. if that weren’t enough—Stunna Lip Paint won’t feather, staying kissably smooth. In other words, it behaves so you don’t have to. 

Rihanna says: The perfect red is hard to get right, and it’s really hard to find YOUR red that works on your skin tone. She chose this bright beautiful red because it sets beautifully on every skin tone. I wanted a lipstick that wouldn’t budge – even as you eat, even as you make out.

So, my turn.

My verdict: I know red lipsticks. I’ve been wearing them since the mid 1980s, when I was a 14 year old Madonna obsessive. I trialled one a week for ages on my old blog, Beauty Bombshells. For the current matte trend, I am in love with Smashbox Always On Liquid Lipstick in Bang Bang. So, this was going to have to be good to beat that.

The positives are the colour – I like it. It’s perfectly matte, and it lasted reasonably well. However, I could not get a grip on that wand AT ALL. it has a funny sort flat, ball shape, hard to decribe, and every time I have tried to apply this lip paint I have struggled. I’ve ended up with TOWIE-style lips, like I’ve gone a few rounds with a load of injectables. It’s been virtually impossible to apply this product to my top lip without going right over the lip line. I just can’t use the wand! I know it’s probably me, but something about it just has a life of its own – it won’t let me line the actual lip line!

I adore the packaging, it’s super -retro cool, and the colour and quality of the lip paint is great but I will have to use it with another wand if I am to use it again!

I had top lip trouble with Rihanna’s Stunna Lip Paint

This is the only Fenty Beauty product I’ve tried. I’ve no idea if I will ever get another one, but if I do, I hope application is a lot easier.

If you want to have a go yourself, Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint, £19, is available from Harvey Nichols, and fentybeauty.com