Review: Wet n Wild Fergie Vicious Varnish High Shine Lipstain Collection

Press Sample

As promised, I'm continuing my series of reviews of all of the new-for-2014 Wet n Wild and Fergie products, and today I'd like to show you the Fergie Vicious Varnish High Shine Lipstains. These are now available for purchase at Walgreens and they are permanent, not limited edition. I received all ten shades for review a while back, and now that I've had some time to test them, here are my thoughts.

NEW Wet n Wild Fergie Vicious Varnish High Shine Lipstain Collection

(retail: $3.49 each, 0.17 oz) 

The lid has the little "F" insignia for Fergie:

And the shade name is printed on the bottom of each tube:

The applicator is one of those spatula-like applicators that's flat and rounded. It has a lot of give to it, meaning it bends very easily during application. For me, this means you get less control than a traditional doe-foot applicator (more on that in a bit).

Swatches in numerical order:

Left to right:
A301 Voguing Madness, A302 Flawless, A303 Street Queen, A304 Giving Realness, A305 Legendary Face


Left to right:
A306 Global Fierceness, A307 Ball in Vienna, A308 Runway Red, A309 Epic, A310 Throwing Shade

All of the shades in this range are cremes (no shimmer or glitter). My favorite of the ten:


A306 Global Fierceness

What I love about this shade in particular is that it's not quite red, but it's not rose or fuchsia either. It's like a dusty rose-ish, mauvish red, if that make sense. It's a wonderful color for when red might be too bold, but you still want something deeper than a nude or pinky-brown. I adore this color.

To give you an idea about the staining power of these lipstains, here's what my arm looked like after using three makeup wipes to try and remove these swatches:

Texture and consistency: These are what I wanted the Megalast Liquid Lip Colors to be. Personally, I found the Megalast Liquid Lip Colors to be drying in that long-wear lip color type of way. I didn't like the way those felt on my lips so I'm thrilled to report that these do NOT feel the same way. At first, the Vicious Varnishes feel like you're applying a traditional long-wear liquid lip color (think CoverGirl Outlast All Day Lip Colors), but you don't need a clear balm after applying these, because they don't become dry or cakey, and they don't suck all the moisture from your lips in the same way that traditional long-wear lip colors tend to do. But the texture is not light-as-air or gloss-like. It's heavier than a gloss or traditional liquid lipstick, but there's a slickness and a cushiony feeling to them. The consistency is thin like a liquid lipstick, and a bit runny. 

Application: Due to the applicator (see my description earlier in this post), it's not easy to master application, but it's doable. Since the applicator bends, you don't have as much control with these, and since they are wildly pigmented and also a bit thin and runny, it's quite easy to make a mistake during application, especially if you're in a hurry. My best advice is to wipe down the brush a bit, take your time, and build in thin layers. The payoff is worth it.

Pigmentation: Quite simply, these are crazy-pigmented. The pigmentation of my swatches definitely translates to the lips, especially for the medium and deeper shades (the lighter shades are nicely pigmented as well, but not quite as pigmented as the deeper shades). I would certainly call these lip colors full-coverage, and if you don't get full-coverage on the first application, I'm willing to bet you will on the second pass.

Staying power: On average, I can get 6-7 hours of wear with the medium and deeper shades in this range, and about 3-4 hours for the lightest shades in the range. Of course if I eat tacos or something like that, they're not going to last the full 6-7 hours, but they can take me through a full work day when I'm having a light salad for lunch, no problem. What I REALLY love about these is that, in addition to the color, the SHINE sticks around for a long time as well. Usually shine is the first thing to go when it comes to me and lip color, so this is kind of a dream-come-true. Oh, and as you can see in my swatches above, these definitely stain the lips as they wear down, and that stain lasts for several hours. 

Flavor and fragrance: This is where I might lose some of you. These lip colors have that strong plastic scent and taste that you get with most traditional long-wear liquid lip colors. I'm not going to lie--I dislike the flavor and the fragrance, but the good news is that both the flavor and fragrance fade quickly. If you can get past that initial burst of "plastic" and wait it out a few minutes, you should be fine.

One more thing: I've noticed that the texture and staying power of these can vary a little bit from shade to shade. So if you tried one shade and found that the texture and/or staying power was lacking, I would suggest exchanging it at Walgreens (they accept returns/exchanges on used products) for a different shade. You might find that another shade performs much better for you, and I think these are worth the extra effort.

FINAL VERDICT: If you love the idea of long-wear liquid lip colors but you hate the heavy, cakey, drying feeling that comes along with them, these are for you. The Fergie Vicious Varnish Lipstains are big on color and shine, and both the color and shine can take me through a full work day. These do not dry out my lips and they feel quite slick and cushiony for the entire time I'm wearing them. Granted, they're not perfect. I wish the applicator offered more control during application but, if you follow my tips above, I think you might be very pleased with some of these shades. It just takes a little time and patience to figure them out and, for $3.49 a pop, I think they're definitely worth it.

Have you tried any of the new Fergie Vicious Varnishes yet? Do you agree with my assessment? I would love to hear from you!

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.Blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews. For more information, click here.