My Mom, Grandma, and I All Swear by Makeup by Mario's New Satin Lipstick

Mar. 15, 2025

In This ArticleView All

View All

In This Article

How We Tested

The Results

Who It’s Good For

Who It’s Not Good For

What to Consider

Others to Consider

Photo:People / Kevin Liang

People / Kevin Liang

There are several differences between my grandmother’s, mother’s, and my beauty collections — my vanity full of gua shas, colorful eyeliners, andred light therapy wandswould be enough to make their mouths hang open in confusion. But one product that transcends generations and ties ourmakeup bagstogether is a dependable, wear-anywhere lipstick — and we’ve collectively found our new favorite.

My mother, a 51-year-old makeup lover, and my grandmother, a 74-year-old hairstylist, and I, a 23-year-old beauty writer, all pride ourselves on our inherited noses for high quality. So when one lipstick formula works just as beautifully on all three of us, across varying skin textures and tones, it’s something worth screaming about from the rooftops.

“As an artist, I’ve always loved a creamy, satin lipstick formula, but until now haven’t had one in my lineup,” Dedivanovic tells PEOPLE. “My new SuperSatin™ Lipstick is classic yet modern in that it glides and grips the lips with super comfortable wear.”

He goes on to say that it’s formulated to pack on color with just one swipe while maintaining its smooth texture.

$28 at Sephora

One key aspect of this formula is the absence of parabens, sulfates (SLS and SLES), and silicones — chemicals that have been thought to interfere with hormones when used in cosmetics.Though silicones in lipsticks are pretty common (and not decidedly bad for you), we like knowing that this extra step was taken when formulating this product. Plus, it’s infused with moisturizing ingredients like castor seed oil and candelilla wax,andit’s cruelty-free (always a perk in our book).

Armed with this information, I wanted to put this formula to the ultimate test: my mom, grandmother, and I applied our shades of choice as we flitted around the house on Christmas Day — eating, drinking, laughing — to see how this lipstick held up on one of the busiest days of the year.

It’s simple — my mom, grandma, and I had Christmas Day ahead of us, which meant not much time to pamper and required one lipstick that could get us through the day. So, we each swiped on different shades in the afternoon (“Tribeca” for me, “(917)” for Mom, and “Dumbo” for Grandma), and we went straight into holiday mode: eating, drinking, chatting, laughing, all while wearing our lipsticks to test for longevity, color payoff, and comfort.

We were careful to not smudge or wipe our lips too much to preserve as much of the original application as possible but still ate and drank as normal. After a few hours, we checked back in and observed how the formula stood up to a particularly hectic day. In the days following the holidays, we continued to test the shade range, and we wore different hues to see how they performed on a day-to-day basis.

Alyssa Brascia

The first thing I noticed when I swiped on this lipstick was just howpigmentedit was. Whether it was the blue-red hue of my particular tube or the orangey-pink that my grandmother applied, one light layer of this decadent formula was enough to pack a punch. After we smacked our lips together following a satisfactory swipe, we didn’t notice the formula pushing, pilling, or migrating past our lips — something my grandmother pointed out immediately, as this is a complaint she’s had with other products.

All three of us noted how comfortable themoisturizing formulafelt on our skin, keeping our lips feeling soft despite the cold Chicago weather. After a while, we forgot that we had anything on at all because of howweightlessit felt throughout the night.

Though eating and drinking did cause the pigment to fade and blot a bit past our lips, we wouldn’t necessarily call it “feathering.” In fact, my grandmother said that it was one of the few lipsticks she’d tried thatdidn’t bleed into her fine lines.

My mother felt that her deep pink shade faded a bit more than my grandmother’s, and my red pout became more of a bitten shade of magenta throughout the night. But then again, we tested these on the Olympics of holidays, so we’re offering a bit of grace given that this product doesn’t claim to be long-wearing.

An extra perk: the metal packaging features amagnetic capso the tube doesn’t accidentally open in your purse — a game changer.

Alyssa Brascia / Barbara Bruno / Lori Brascia.Alyssa Brascia

For anyone searching for a more budget-friendly lipstick, there are certainly other options to explore that tout a lower price tag. Satin lipsticks are a fairly common product, and several drugstore brands make their own versions that appease a tighter price range. However, you may be sacrificing the cleanliness of ingredients, longevity, and comfort level of your lipstick with a lower-budget product.

What to Consider Before Buying a Satin Lipstick

Formula

The main thing that we wanted this lipstick to do was look and feel amazing on all three of us, despite the 50-year age difference myself and my grandmother. So when one swipe of the product opaquely coated our lips, moisturized our skin, stayed in place without feathering, and didn’t settle into our fine lines, we had nothing but praises to sing.

To look for a formula like this, you’ll want to keep your eye out for products with ingredients that are equal parts moisturizing and long-lasting, with opaque color payoff to boot.Jadé Marie Chapman, a holistic medical esthetician, makeup artist, and beauty creator,previously told PEOPLEthat beeswax was one of the best ingredients to look out for in a moisturizing lip product, as it acts as a shield while nourishing the skin below. She added that aloe is another ingredient to look for, as it “seals in moisture, defends lips from harm, and also contains vitamin E to restore chapped lips.”

Shade Range

Your favorite lipstick color is as personal as your latte order — unique to you, which is why you’ll want a line that offers a variety of hues — not only in your favorite reds and statement shades, but in a “your skin, but better” color, as well and withlip colors that work for fall, winter, spring, or summer.

“The unique color story features gorgeous shades from nudes to brights that are rich in color and wearable from day to night,” says Dedivanovic. With a variety of hues that compliment pale to deep skin tones, there’s bound to be a shade that fits your fancy among the 18 in the SuperSatin line.

Longevity

The longevity of your lipstick is another factor to consider when looking for your perfect tube. During our testing, we found that this lipstick was able to stay on for up to five hours without fading or feathering (when we weren’t actively eating or drinking during a full meal — snacking didn’t have any effect on the wear).

During our holiday test, we noticed that there was a bit of fading at the center of our lips after a full meal. However, this is nothing that wouldn’t be expected from a lipstick that doesn’t claim to be longwearing.

If you’re specifically looking for a lipstick that can last for hours without reapplication, then we’d suggest looking into long-lasting lipsticks, which usually include silicones and other ingredients that prolong the wear of your product (which this product is noticeably free of).

Other Satin Lipsticks to Consider

If you’re still searching for your go-to satin lip, then here are a few others you can try on for size:

In my opinion, yes — the Makeup By Mario SuperSatin Lipstick is well worth the money. Not only does it compete with the high-end (and more expensive) lipsticks to come out ofPat McGrath LabsandCharlotte Tilbury(yes, I’ve tried them both), but it costs slightly less than those products while still delivering the same level of quality.

SourcesPEOPLE uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618656/

Sources

PEOPLE uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618656/

PEOPLE uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618656/

source: people.com