What's The Deal With Wonderskin?
If you’ve ever sat upright in bed, mindlessly scrolling through Tiktok as those precious eight hours dwindle before your glazed-over eyes, you’ve likely come across Wonderskin. Amongst the carpet-cleaning hacks and dubious face-lifting yoga techniques, this burgeoning beauty brand is dominating algorithms with its unusual, arresting make-up products.
Wonderskin might not be a household name just yet, but on the internet it’s a big deal: the brand’s star product, the perplexingly titled Wonder Blading Lip Stain Masque is the number-one seller in the beauty category on Tiktok Shop, and the best-selling lip stain product on Amazon in the US.
As someone who proudly still prioritises those precious restful hours over social-media scrolling, I’m not exactly sure what I'm looking at when I delve into the Wonderskin rabbit hole. Influencers appear to be painting their lips an alien shade of metallic blue, before wiping the product away to reveal a tattoo-style lip stain, which admittedly looks pretty good. There are girls using it as a lip liner to create a volume-enhancing illusion that rivals a permanent lip blush treatment, while others are combining shades to contour and plump their natural pout. Some are even flicking it over their nose to create faux-freckles. Essentially, it looks exactly like the kind of thing you’d purchase at 2am in a screen-brain delirium.
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So far, so social-media savvy: clearly, the brand’s electric-blue pigments, which melt into hyper-natural, supposedly life-proof make-up make for compelling beauty content. But does the brand have legs beyond the extra-small screen?
According to acclaimed make-up artist James Molloy, it really does: he’s been using it on his red-carpet clients: the ultimate seal of approval. ‘I was introduced to the brand a few months ago, when I kept seeing it all over Tiktok. I was grabbed by all these people with blue lips that transformed into an amazing peach or a full-on red: it’s definitely a ‘trust the process’ situation.’ But Molloy did trust the process, using the brand’s Lip Stain Masque in a host of ways.
The Lip Stain Masque is essentially a long-wear lip stain that creates a striking second-skin effect, melting into the skin to last for hours on end, without the flakiness of a liquid lipstick or the fast fading of a traditional stain. It comes in a spectrum of hues, from nudes that look incredibly natural to a bold red. Swipe it onto lips, waiting 15 seconds for a light stain, and 90 seconds for the full pigment, then wipe away the worrying blue layer to reveal your lip colour.
Seriously: this stuff sticks around. As long as you steer clear of oily and greasy foods, it’ll see you through hot and humid days, lingering dinners and late-night drinks without fading, flaking or making your lips feel hideously dry. You’ll forget you’re wearing anything. (To remove, you’ll need the brand’s balmy Remover, which breaks down the pigment on contact.)
‘When you do your first swipe, it’s nice to keep it really sheer,’ says Molloy. But once you’ve mastered the basics, there’s a host of clever things you can do with it. ‘One of the tricks I've learned is to create a kind of ‘lip lift’ effect,’ he adds. 'I slightly over-line the top of the lip, using the product a little bit heavier on the top of the lip, and underneath the centre of the lip as well. Leave it for just 20 seconds before removing.’ So instead of creating a heavy line all over, you’re creating strategic depth to create a lifted lip that’s still natural and transparent.
Another great hack involves the brand’s bright red shades ‘When you‘re doing a red lip for the red carpet, and you’re setting your client free when you know they’re going to be eating and drinking, it can be hard to keep that colour looking good,’ says Molloy. ‘You can use the Wonderskin shades as a base for a punchier lipstick, so if your lipstick does fade, you’ve got colour underneath it.’
Molloy also goes rogue with these innovative formulas, using them as a blush that looks just like your own God-given flush (yes, this sounds ridiculous, but trust me: it works). His technique – 'wonderpainting', if you will – involves applying the stain to prep skin with a fluffy synthetic brush, before wiping the blue colour away and then going in with a sheer skin tint. The result is the most natural looking flush that doesn’t move, dry out, or mask your freckles. Feeling really brave? Stipple one of the browner shades over your nose and cheeks to create faux freckles that won’t smudge. (Ok, perhaps that's one hack best left to the influencers.)
Really, the brand may be at risk of doing themselves a disservice with the made-for-social-media blue gimmick (I refuse to believe the effect can’t be achieved without the metallic precursor), because these formulas belong in the real world. The result is as far from insta-bait as can be: it’s brilliantly natural, supremely flattering, and delivers results that deserve to outlive the internet hype.
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