This Is the Best-Selling Lipstick in the World, and I Can See Why

When it comes to my job as a beauty editor, there are two things that appeal to my inner beauty geek more than anything else: firstly, discovering a genuinely amazing lipstick formulation, and secondly, uncovering a truly interesting beauty statistic. So you can imagine that I pretty much went into overdrive recently when I fell in love with a classic lipstick I hadn't tried before only to discover that it was the brand's best-selling shade worldwide. Yep, this big beauty house turns out more tubes of this particular lipstick than any other—and I can see why.

Disclaimer: I adore lipstick. While reds are my jam (there's something about painting my lips pillar-box red that makes me feel I can take on the world on days when I want to just crawl back into bed), I'm always open to trying a new shade or formula. If you're new to lipsticks or don't wear them on the regular, though, I totally understand that they can be somewhat of an overwhelming beauty category to dive into. However, if a beauty product has reached cult status globally, I'd hazard a guess that it's a pretty good place to start your journey—and that's exactly what this particular lipstick has done.

Iconic beauty brand Estée Lauder recently conducted a lipstick world tour to discover which shades of its Pure Color Envy lipsticks were most popular. Collating data from women in Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, South Africa, the UK and the U.S., its results are pretty astounding. "Of the 10 countries we surveyed, [Rebellious Rose] was the top selling shade in nine of them. It came in at number three in South Africa, where women preferred Intense Nude as their lipstick star," a representative for the brand explained.

To mark its success, the brand has recently launched a new campaign with supermodel Karlie Kloss as the face of the Rebellious Rose shade. A super-flattering, deep raspberry-pink shade, the thing that I love most about this lipstick is that it feels like a non-intimidating way to wear colour on your lips. Yes, it's a pink lipstick, but it has a depth of pigment that makes it feel like you're wearing more of a neutral shade. Plus, it genuinely looks good on all skin tones.

For me, you can't beat the creamy texture of the original best-selling formula: Estée Lauder's Pure Color Envy Lipstick (£27). It has a luxurious satin finish and is infused with hyaluronic acid to moisturise your lips, so it never looks dry or cakey. However, in honour of lipstick shade's success, you can now get the cult colour in two new formulations: a high-shine gloss and an intense matte. Keep scrolling to shop the world's best-selling lipstick shade.

Next up, eight cheap concealers that are just as good as my favourite expensive ones.