I haven't tried anything Clinique in a very long time. Liquid Lipstick sounded like an oxymoron, but what the heck, I was curious. Off to the Clinique counter I went. I was given a choice of eight colors from the nude, tawny, pink and violet families. I chose Teddy Bear from the nude family. I told the salesperson that I wanted to go coral this fall and she seemed to think Teddy Bear was the one. I think she was really motivated to get me out of there because I was having trouble making up my mind. When I tried Teddy Bear for the second time she went in for the close. It worked. I bought it.

On me, Teddy Bear looked like a shiny, dark pink/brown. I ended up thinking it would be OK for evening but was a bit much for daytime. The staying power was not spectacular. I wore it through a Pilates work-out session and at the end it was still there, but barely. I found, of course, it lasted longer when I first lined and filled in my entire lip area with liner.

Liquid Lipstick comes in a tube with a wand, like a gloss, but is too thick to be a gloss. I found it hard to control. I like to cover my entire lip area including the corners, so I ended up having to use my finger to spread it. I could have used a lip brush but find that cumbersome especially when reapplying throughout the day. I definitely didn't like it for touch-ups.

Plusses: SPF 15 sun protection, and it's only $12.50. I give it a rating of 1.5 stars out of 4.

You can see the colors at http://www.clinique.com