The world is full of loyalists: Mac users versus PC users, hybrid drivers versus SUV drivers, fliers who check luggage versus fliers who carry on. To this venerable list of life debates, I'd like to add: lipstick wearers versus lip gloss wearers. Lipstick, the lip glossers claim, is too dry to go on smoothly and looks too loud and bright. My all-time favorite complaint, uttered by an old college friend: "It feels like nail polish on my mouth."

Which is why I put this lipstick to the test, handing out tubes to a few colleagues at O—all of whom were die-hard gloss fans or didn't wear lip color at all. After one day, they were hooked. The reason? The sheer formula went on like a moisturizing balm, while the micro-mirror pigments added some shine, but it didn't make anyone feel gaudy or overdressed. At last, some middle ground....when it comes to lips, at least.