Have makeup prices increased dramatically in the past year, or am I just no longer receiving a paycheck? I mean, probably both. For the past month, I’ve been searching for a brownish red lipstick similar to Elaine’s in the “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld, but the $10-$20 price point of lipsticks, my former sweet spot, seems to have been hollowed out. There are $8 drugstore lipsticks, and then there are $21 Urban Decay Vice lipsticks and $23 MAC lipsticks—when the hell did that happen? Many of these pricey lipsticks are also very small, like MAC’s new line of Powder Kiss Velvet Blur Slim Sticks, which are $28 for two-thirds the product of MAC’s original lipsticks. And don’t get me started on high-end makeup: the Gucci lipstick that cost me $42 one year ago is now $45.

Back in 2014, I warned against seeking out cheap dupes for more expensive products that you really want, and I haven’t changed my mind in the last nine years. Gucci Anne Lilac is one of my most-worn lipsticks of 2023, and I’m 99.999 percent sure that it’s undupeable at the drugstore. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with appreciating cheaper products for their own sake, not for their resemblance to fancier ones. In that spirit, I’ve decided to write a three-part series spotlighting some drugstore makeup I’ve bought this summer. The first product I’m going to showcase is perfect for your summer-goth needs and, of course, for all your upcoming spooky-season looks: NYX Smooth Whip Blurring Matte Lip Cream in Chocolate Mousse ($8 at most stores).

And here I’m going to admit my hypocrisy: I actually did buy this lipstick as a dupe for a more expensive one, the $22 Glossier G Suit in Drive, a lush chocolate-cherry shade. However, this wasn’t a case of pining for Drive and settling for something less. I swatched Drive at Sephora and found it quite patchy (it’s third from the bottom in the row of swatches below). I had a feeling that it would be hard to find a non-patchy version, but I was willing to work with a cheaper color dupe that had the same drawbacks as Drive, and lots of people on Reddit were describing the G Suits as a pricier knockoff of NYX’s Smooth Whip Lip Creams.

Not to be confused with NYX’s more venerable Soft Matte Lip Creams, which have existed for well over a decade, the Smooth Whip lipsticks debuted early in 2022. These aren’t the opaque bulletproof liquid mattes of the mid-2010s; the “soft matte” finish doesn’t dry down fully and, because of the silicones in the formula, gives a romantic blurred effect on the lips. Korean brands have also been doing soft matte lip tints for a while, and I’m not sure which nation can claim to have originated the trend; all I know is that Glossier came rather late to it, and so did I.

In this screenshot from the k-pop soloist Yena’s “Wicked Love” music video, you can see how Koreans tend to wear these soft matte formulas. The color is saturated toward the inner part of her lips but fades as it moves outward, and the very top part of her upper lip seems to be covered in either concealer or a much lighter lipstick shade. This was the elegantly vampiric effect that I hoped to achieve with Chocolate Mousse.

The Soft Matte Lip Creams are housed in standard NYX components whose colors match the shades inside. The applicator is a small doefoot:

The doefoot is a nice manageable size, but it tends to pick up too much product, and there’s no good way to wipe the excess product on the rim of the tube, because there’s another rim lower down in the tube. Wiping the doefoot on the more accessible rim gunks up the area between the two rims, but wiping the doefoot on the inner inner rim is impossible because the hole is so small. I’m not sure that description made any sense, so here’s a photo:

The formula has a vanilla scent very much like that of the NYX Butter Glosses; I don’t find it unpleasantly artificial, and it doesn’t linger after application. Chocolate Mousse has a drier-feeling formula than most other liquid lipsticks I’ve tried. It’s smooth and opaque in one swipe, but as you’ll soon discover, it performs very differently on my lips than it does on my inner arm.

Here’s Chocolate Mousse (left) swatched next to a more bougie liquid lipstick, YSL Tatouage Couture in Crimson Rivals. The Tatouage Couture formula is lighter, sheerer, and less siliconey. (It lives up to its name, coloring your lip skin but not concealing its texture, just as a tattoo would do.)

Now for the bad news: I don’t think there’s any way to apply Chocolate Mousse straight from the tube, with the doefoot alone, at full opacity. I mean, there is a way, but it doesn’t create pretty results. Because the shade is so dark and the formula is so dry and moussey, you’re going to be left with unattractive clumps and patches of product that you’ll have to smooth out with your fingers. This was the best I could do, and I still had to wash my hands afterward. If you know a better way, for God’s sake, please let me know in the comments.

However, I don’t think this formula is intended for that kind of application. The word “blurring” in the name is key: I think this is a formula that you’re supposed to apply one thin layer at a time, blurring the pigment into your skin with your fingers or a brush. You can see in the grisly lip swatch above (not altered at all, but it looked worse in person) that it was impossible to get a clean line on my upper lip, because this product isn’t made for clean lines. No clean lines for you!

What this formula is made for, clearly, is a kpop-style soft-edged lip. I achieve this look by prepping my lips with a little balm if they’re feeling dry and using the doefoot to dab just a bit of product on the inner part of my lower lip. Then I press my lips together and blend the color outward with my finger, stopping just short of the outer border of my lips. One layer gives a berry-red stain, while two layers allow the brown tones to start coming through, producing a color similar to Elaine’s. (A lip brush would be ideal for this method, but I don’t own one at the moment, and I’d rather wash my hands than wash a brush and my hands.) Here’s two-ish layers; again, the lipstick looks fuzzy at the edges, but this time in a deliberate (I hope) way.

Unlike the liquid matte formulas of yore, this one will come off on glasses, straws, masks, etc. It fades gracefully, though, and the stain will remain so long as you don’t eat, say, a breakfast burrito. It’s comfortable, lightweight, and completely non-drying.

Chocolate Mousse is the perfect companion for my ’90s daisy sundress:

Here it is with Glossier Lidstar in Aurora:

And here I am wearing it to engage in one of my favorite Philly activities, rummaging through old junk:

I probably won’t buy any more shades from this line, since the application method is so messy and time-consuming (that sky-blue one is tempting for Halloween, though…). But, since I no longer have to adhere to a five-minute makeup routine, I’m willing to take a few minutes now and then to perfect my application of Chocolate Mousse. I’ve worn it four times since buying it, and I’m sure it will get even more use as the weather continues to cool down.

Speaking of which, I tried La Colombe’s iced pumpkin spice latte (made with almond milk) today:

It was delicious, but at over $7, it was almost as expensive as a NYX Smooth Whip lipstick. Elaine would never.