Le Lipstique

Le Lipstique in Amandelle is creamy and stays on for hours, even after eating and drinking.

One winter’s evening when I was in college — not all that long ago — I had a date with the guy all the girls wanted to go out with. My super-stylish roommate helped me get ready for this big night out, picking out my clothes, putting on my makeup and generally making sure I didn't embarrass myself from the get-go.

After giving the sign off on my outfit, my way-more-sophisticated roommate pulled out her big bag of fancy — Chanel, Lancôme, Bobbi Brown, other brands I had never even heard of — and went to work on my face. Until this point, my makeup bag was filled with whatever I had managed to snatch from my mother’s makeup box.

And so began my affair with Lancôme’s Le Lipstique lip pencil in Amandelle. The toffee brown shade has hints of pink and matches whatever lipstick or gloss I am into at the moment. But more than that, and the real reason for my dedication to this creamy pencil, is its staying power. Eating and drinking do nothing to diminish its color, and although my lipstick has been known to end up on my babies' faces (hello, grandma!), it takes a lot more than a peck to rub this pencil off.

At $24.50, Lancôme’s pencil is on the pricier side, but one can last me well over a year. If I time my purchase right, and include a sharpener, I can usually even get a free gift with my purchase.

Over the years, I have tried other lip pencils, but was never impressed enough to stay faithful longer than the few months before it ran out. Granted, there is a small place in my clutch for MAC’s Cremestick Liner ($14.50) — it stays on for hours — but the pencil is finished after too few applications for my taste.

Now that I live in London, getting hold of this exact shade is not as simple as running to the nearest mall. The brand's product lines here are slightly different, and I am forced to plan ahead, picking it up on trips home, or asking friends and family to schlep it over when they visit.

So, although my relationship with that guy didn’t go any further than that one evening, I developed another long-term relationship that isn’t going anywhere instead.

What's your favorite lip pencil?

Rachel Elbaum is a London-based writer who doesn't step out without something on her lips.

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