Haul| Revlon Colorburst Matte and Lacquer Balm (Unapologetic, Coquette, Demure)

I know, I know. I'm late to the Matte and Lacquer trend. Well, I surely hopped onto L'oreal's train but Revlon's station seems to be permanently set in Makeupland. I detest limited edition items that are good and damn impossible to find.

 I was originally going to pick up quite a few of these balm sticks, but a week of stalking blog posts, pictures, and videos made me decide against them. There were quite a lot of mixed reviews on the board, especially with the lacquer balms. Finally, I bit the bullet and found a few to swatch for you guys.

What I hear: 

• These balms are a permanent edition to the Revlon Colorburst line and come in 20 shades ($7.99 retail at most drugstores). They are twist up pencils. 
• Very opaque colors on the matte side, but they may be drying on the lips. 
• Too much glitter particles in the lacquer balms that stay even when the color fades, which is about 2 hours in.
• Minty scent similar to Kissable Balm Stains. 
• Rabid makeup who0rs picking up all of the great colors like Shameless. This is true. I went to my local Rite Aid on Monday and saw it. Hesitated. Two days later the entire back row was gone and I was stuck with a limited selection. People seem to want the mattes much more. Even with a "restocked display" I had about 4 mattes to choose from and went home with one. This is only because I already have many similar colors, especially within my Kissable Balm Stain collection.

My swatches: 

These are under yellow fluorescent lighting, but they capture the general essence of the color. 

From top to bottom: 210 Unapologetic (Matte), 110 Coquette (Lacquer), 105 Demure (Lacquer).

110 Coquette (Lacquer)

105 Demure (Lacquer)

210 Unapologetic (Matte)

You can see how the "matte" shade is rather satin while the lacquers shimmer with angsty pre-pubescence.

My observations:

The matte color is very opaque, not drying at all over a thin layer of lip balm, and doesn't feather. Me likey. On the other hand, the lacquer colors are very sticky (similar to MAC Lipglass more than a lip balm) and do have very obvious glitter in them. They don't exactly have a "color payoff", but Coquette has a more obvious tint than Demure. The minty smell is slight and doesn't bother me. 

I definitely like the mattes over the lacquers, simply because my NYX glosses blow most other ones out of the water. These lacquers are not really as "lacquered" as the L'oreal pencils, and they are just "glittery." 

As for the mattes, they are very comfortable and don't feel matte at all. They may perhaps come off more as a satin finish if you use lip balm. Compared to a NARS Matte Lip Pencil, they are much less "matte" but also much more comfortable to wear. The wear time is average for both finishes, but it doesn't transfer all over the place. If you eat, they will run away right quick. 

I'm coming back for Shameless. 

Be