After reading all the positive reviews about the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil (in Cruella), I was really excited to receive mine in the mail to try it out! My pencil was shipped the day after my purchase and even arrived a couple days before expected.At 645AM, I applied my lip balm first (eos - the ball shaped one) and then the lip pencil; it came on smoothly and easily - so far so good. I did notice some slight drying, typical with matte, and nothing that was bothersome or dry enough to cause cracks in my lips. During the course of my morning, I drank two cups of coffee and from my water bottle (one of those was with a straw) and went to check on my lipstick at 11AM and it was pretty dang near to still perfect. Seriously. It was like I had applied just an hour ago instead of the 4 hours (plus coffee wear!). At that point I simply applied some Baby Lips (in Cherry Me) to combat any minor signs of wear. At 2PM I ate (a messy) lunch and basically wiped it off myself with a napkin, but even afterwards it still left my lips a cute lighter shade of red where I only applied my Baby Lips again and went about my day. It also does not appear to dry flakily or in the middle, which are very nice.Just some background: my skin tone can range from medium to olive (depending on the season and sun exposure, you know) and I have brown eyes. One of my major concerns prior to purchasing this was if the color would work on me, but I took the risk and was not disappointed. It's a gorgeous shade of a darker red without being too dark (if that makes sense). I have the same primary concern as many others have mentioned before me: it's so expensive, $25 for a tiny pencil (that requires sharpening) is slightly excessive. One of things that I'm hoping will combat this a bit though is that it doesn't seem to reply many applications throughout the day. Overall, I would say if you are interested in investing in a solid product - buy this. I love it, but I am definitely also on the search for a cheaper day-to-day alternative.