On today's episode of me spending entirely too much time on TikTok [1]: I think I may have just found the most perfect lip stain [2] hack.

While scrolling through the app one day I came across a video by Sarah Wolak [3], who, in less than a minute, convinced me that I needed to use food colouring as a lip stain. As someone who is very much a makeup aficionado, I can't say that I've ever been inclined to reach into my baking cupboard for a beauty product. However, I'm also extremely prone to procrastination so I can see how useful this will be if I need a last minute, blush, lipstick, or eye colour, for the upcoming holiday season. Of course I had to try it.

I got my Spice Supreme Food Colouring from my kitchen and gathered my additional supplies: q-tips and some paper towels. Instead of putting the colouring on my finger as Wolak did, I put a few drops onto my q-tip and decided to apply it that way.

Starting off on the more cautious side, I added two drops of the red colouring to the q-tip and applied it directly to my lips. The colour was bold and vampy and I could almost hear my Christmas playlist in the background. I excitedly proceeded with adding a few more drops to the q-tip and applying it to my upper lip.

This is where things started getting a little wonky. The colour that I achieved on my top lip was nowhere near as pigmented as the one of the bottom. No matter how much I layered the food colouring, my bottom lip just kept getting brighter, while my top lip looked like I barely had anything on it.

I presumed that this issue arose because like many Black people, I have two toned lips and my bottom lip is a bit lighter than my top one. After a few more attempts at getting the colour right, I resigned to my fate.

I wiped the colour off after letting it sit for a while like Wolak did, and my lips looked exactly how I expected them to: a bright, vampy red on the bottom, and just a kiss of colour on the top.

Now, this is not to say I did not like the colour — in fact it was quite the opposite. The food colouring looked very natural and it looked like I just enjoyed a cherry lolly. This look can definitely be useful for certain occasions.

However, as the hack stands it would not work for my intended purpose: dressing up, particularly for Halloween [4]. This lip colour, which would be one of the focal points for the look, is cutesy rather than sultry and that is simply not the vibe I'm going for.

I would absolutely try this hack again but I will be adding some additional steps like potentially using concealer [5] to blank out my lips and maybe lining with a lipliner [6] to give some added dimension.