I bought the lipstick from that photoshoot and it didn’t look like that

Seeing the photos and heading to the department store

I think it was around last weekend when I saw those photos of Song Hye-kyo everywhere. You know the ones—the Guerlain KissKiss lipstick campaign where everything looks so sharp and perfectly matte. I have a weakness for those kinds of ads. I ended up wandering into the Lotte Department Store basement because I convinced myself that if I just had that specific shade, maybe my Tuesday morning look would actually come together for once. It wasn’t even a calculated decision; I just walked past the counter, saw the gold tube, and the salesperson started talking about the ‘honey-infused matte’ texture. It cost me about 55,000 won. Looking back, that’s quite a bit of money for a single stick of color, but in the moment, it felt like I was buying a little piece of that photoshoot aesthetic.

The reality of wearing it to work

When I tried it on at home, the color was really vivid, just like in the ads. But the thing about these intense matte lipsticks is that they demand a certain kind of perfection elsewhere on your face. Once I put it on, my skin looked a bit duller than hers, naturally. I also realized that applying it directly from the tube requires a steady hand that I definitely do not have at 7:30 in the morning. If you don’t get the edges right, it looks like you’re trying too hard. By lunchtime, after I had a coffee and a sandwich, the inner part of my lips started to look a bit patchy. I kept checking the mirror in the office restroom, feeling like I needed to reapply constantly, which kind of defeated the purpose of a ‘long-lasting’ matte finish.

Trying to make it work with a balm

I remembered reading somewhere that mixing it with a lip balm might soften the look, so I grabbed my old Dior lip glow that I usually keep in my bag. The texture became a lot more comfortable, honestly. It wasn’t as drying, and it felt less like a heavy layer of paint and more like a natural stain. But then the color lost that high-fashion pop that made me buy it in the first place. It just became another muted rose shade, which I probably already have three of in my drawer. It’s annoying how the product is designed to look perfect on a celebrity in a controlled lighting environment, but in a fluorescent-lit office, it’s just a struggle to keep it from settling into the fine lines of my lips.

The issue with hair sticking to everything

Another thing that annoyed me was the wind. Whenever I walked outside, if my hair brushed against my mouth, the lipstick would somehow transfer. I know, that’s expected with a lot of lip products, but since I spent more than usual on this one, I think I was subconsciously expecting it to be immune to the laws of physics. It really wasn’t. By the time I got home after a long day, I looked in the mirror and realized it had smeared just slightly at the corners. It wasn’t a catastrophe, but it was enough to make me feel a bit untidy. I ended up just wiping it all off with a makeup remover pad before I even sat down to watch TV.

Still sitting on my vanity

It’s been a few weeks now. I don’t reach for it on the days I have early morning meetings or when I know I’ll be rushing around. It sits there, looking very elegant in its gold packaging, but it feels like it belongs to a version of me that has more time to fuss with a lip brush and mirror checks. Maybe I’m just not the type who can pull off a heavy matte lip for eight hours straight. I keep thinking maybe I’ll wear it for dinner tonight, but then I think about having to worry about it during the meal, and I just reach for the tinted balm instead. It’s not that the product is bad—the color really is beautiful—it’s just that it feels like a high-maintenance friend I’m not sure I invited into my life.