Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey may be the most universally-flattering lip color on the market.

First, the deets. It’s $14—highly affordable, given how long a tube lasts and how much you’ll get out of it. It’s also dark in the tube, but a sheer, beautiful wash of color on the lips. It’s lighter than a lipstick, but with the moisture of a chapstick.

Second, the color. It looks a bit different on everyone: on me, it’s almost like a dark pink. On my friend Carolyn it’s a bit more nude/natural. No matter how it looks, though, it always looks good.

Third, it’s endorsed by InStyle magazine as one of their Best Beauty Buys. InStyle does a really great job of thoroughly reviewing beauty products and I’ve never found their recommendations to be off-base.

Have I convinced you yet?

I’m not a big fan of lipstick. It goops, it runs, it looks heavy. I’ve tried high-end brands and low-end brands. Some are okay, but I’ve never fallen in love.

But, it’s a quandary: how do you get great, rich color without lipstick? Gloss doesn’t have near the staying power.

The solution is a really amazing lip stain, and I’ve found it: Cover Girl’s Outlast Lipstain. It’s about $8-9 and comes in a bevy of really gorgeous colors.

I’m partial to Teasing Blush: the perfect shade of red/pink that stays on my lips for hours. I applied the stain yesterday at 4 p.m. and it was still going strong at 11 p.m.

The biggest complaint about lip stains is that they are too drying, but after the stain sets on your lips, simply touch them up with a bit of Carmex for moisture.

P.S. One note about lipstains: they’ll appear much, much darker on your lips than the color you see on the packaging/samples.