Over the last year or so, I've really gotten into my lip products - the more the better and in every finish available! My favourite finish however is matte, so when I saw these starting to pop up on beauty blogs, I knew that I would end up getting my hands on some. That day was a few weeks ago now; me and Martin visited the Boots store in Birstall, and armed with my Boots points I swatched pretty much all of the shades. At the time, they were on 3 for 2 so naturally I picked up three shades; Elusive, Standout and Sultry. These all seemed to be the best colours for me when swatched on my hand, however when I got home I realised that I'd made a mistake with one of the shades, which I'll talk about in a bit.

Much like the previous range of Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains (Aren't you glad that Revlon changed the name? I sure am!), these matte balms come in a chunky crayon form, that never need sharpening and twist up from the bottom. I like this method as it means that the balms apply easily, however I worry that the point will soon be dulled and therefore make application a bit more tricky. That being said, I've been using these for a while now and have not hit that snag yet - I guess I'll just have to keep rotating them as I use them to make sure that they wear down evenly!


The matte balm range consists of ten shades, ranging from a deep, moody purple all the way through to a vibrant coral - seeing as I was trying three at the same time, I stuck to shades that were a little bit safer and less likely to look ridiculous on me. These balms claim to offer a "velvety matte finish", with a feeling that is "beyond comforting". Whereas most matte finish lipsticks often feel quite dry on the lips, Revlon have used a complex of three moisturising butters - Shea, Coconut and Mango - to help keep them smooth and comfortable on the lips. I have to say that I was surprised at just how balmy these are; it honestly doesn't feel like I'm wearing a matte product on my lips. They're not quite as comfortable and nourishing as say, the Revlon Lip Butters, but still they manage to apply smoothly in the majority of cases (See the exception below). Each swatch below shows my natural lips and then the matte balm applied.


I'll get the worst shade out the way first - the one that I really shouldn't have bought. Elusive is actually a very pretty pale pink shade, with a blue undertone. I think that it would suit fairer skins rather than dark, but it is a very wearable shade day-to-day. However, no matter which way I apply this, it looks awful on me. It applies patchy and streaky, and the more I layer it up, the worse it gets. If you have even the slightest dry patch, beware; it manages to cling to every single one of them and the creases in the lips, too. This balm feels almost chalky in texture, and it is really accentuated when it starts to come off - which was pretty much straight away for me. It's such a shame, because I really fell in love with the shade when swatched on my hand - but it simply wasn't meant to be.


This is where things thankfully take an about turn, and this shade is absolutely gorgeous. My swatch shows it to be a touch brighter than it appears in real life, but not by much; this is a quite a vibrant yet deep shade. I was surprised to learn that it leans quite orange toned, more so than it would appear from looking at the tube. However, it still manages to look very flattering. This shade settles to a slightly more glossy finish than the other two; more of a satin finish, if you will. I ended up applying two thin layers to achieve this level of colour, and was impressed with how long it lasted considering its intensity. It was a good couple of hours before I started to notice a slight fading from the middle of my lips, and that was easily topped up without disturbing the rest of the colour. In general, this lasted for about five hours before it started to look noticeably patchy on me.


Last but not least is my favourite shade out of the three, and one that is completely unique in the entirety of my lipstick collection. This is a mauve rose shade, that applied much darker than I expected, but all the better for it. Out of the three, this was the easiest to apply; very smooth, and no trouble at all with applying just one layer. This is a shade that would flatter most skin tones, and offers what I believe to be a truly matte finish, without looking cakey or patchy. The lasting power of this shade was really put to the test when I ate a Subway sandwich whilst wearing it. I usually end up with lipstick on my chin and god knows where else, but with this, I could barely tell that any fading had occurred, and only a light touch up was needed. It didn't travel across my face at all, and that is a massive bonus in my eyes! In terms of general wear, it was pretty much exactly the same as Standout above.

With all three of these shades, I experienced no feathering at all - surprising, given their balmy texture. It's not really possible to get a perfectly smooth, clean edge (As is demonstrated with Standout), however from a comfortable distance this really isn't noticeable at all - particularly with the more neutral shades. They all have a minty smell to them, and even a slightly minty taste, which doesn't bother me in the slightest although it does seem a bit strange. These can all transfer a bit, but not nearly as much as I was expecting; no more than your average lipstick, anyway. When removing the balms, and when they were wearing down, I did notice that they do leave a stain behind - nothing that you couldn't easily remove, but it is something to note and I think this improves the quality of them somewhat.

Final verdict: If you're a fan of matte lip products, than you should try at least one of these if you haven't already. However, I would stay away from the paler shades and try out the darker ones from the range instead - as a general rule of thumb, these seem to perform better overall. You'd be hard pushed to find a better range of matte lip colours that are widely available on the high street. There will be a shade for everyone, and for a quite reasonable price point there's not too much to complain about with these!

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms are available from Boots for £7.99 each.