If I could name a lip product of the year, this has to be it. I swear every year there’s a range I just become obsessed with, and we know this because I end up purchasing multiple and wearing not much else! I think looking at each year is also a good way of reflecting on trends or my own personal journey with lipsticks! See below:
- 2015 was the year of the Revlon Matte balms and Balm Stains (I owned 6 of them). I was just getting into lipstick and crayon types seemed easy and most interesting. I owned a lot of crayon types in general! My interest in pencils and crayons peaked with these and the NARS well known pencil lip range.
- 2016, the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets (I owned 4, including a duplicate! Whittled down to only 1 now.)
- 2017, the Colourpop Ultra Matte Lipsticks (owned at least 8, at the height of matte liquid lip stardom and still a bit late to the trend! I barely own any matte liquid lips now and don’t own any Colourpop lip products!)
- 2018, the Clinique Pop Lip Colours, probably. Although it’s almost a cheat as I was on a lipstick ban last year.
2019? The Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Colours. They’re almost the only lip range I have bought from this year and I now own three!
Price: £24.50 (I’m sure this has gone up since I last checked! This price is as of 09/05/19.)
Availability: Online on their website, or at any department store. I picked mine up at Selfridges and through destash sales online.
Cruelty-Free? Yes, but sold in China.
They’re a balmy lip product in bullet form that can range from natural tint to a layered juicy lip colour. I usually wear them in the way that I wear most lipsticks these days: by layering in the middle and softening the edges of my lips with a finger or brush. The three colours I have are Blackberry, Babe and Telluride, in the order I bought them.
Blackberry is a reddish brown that somehow looks cool and semi-natural even when layered on. I adore this a lot and it’s become an unexpected favourite and a fairly unique shade in my collection. It’s a warm brown, so the nearest (and only other warm brown) comparative shade I have in my stash is from Revlon’s matte balms, which are more opaque and easy on the wallet.
Babe is a lovely spring pink that is quite low-key and a bit brighter when layered up. Any other normal person would probably wear this shade to death. However, I always seem to crave something bolder whenever I wear this. Instead, I’ve loved this as a cream blush! It’s just the right shade for that, blends out really well and lasts better on my cheeks than some powder blushes!
Telluride is a gorgeous deep mauve. It’s very similar to Sultry from the Revlon Matte balms but deeper and more sheer. Like Blackberry, it’s a unique shade – bold enough yet not too much out there.
Here are a few shade swatch images including the lip swatches edited together for ease of comparison!
- Lip swatches of Blackberry, Babe and Telluride. These have been built up with multiple swipes to best show the true colour.
Full comparison product names:
- Revlon Matte Balm – Fierce
- Revlon Matte Balm – Sultry
- NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream – Cannes
One downside to these is that they’re surprisingly not that forgiving on dry and cracked lips due to the sheerer formula, and the pigment will stick to the lines of the lips. The wear time on these is also not that long – they’ll fade after a meal or after about 4 hours, leaving a lived-in stain, or a blotted look.
However, these are wonderfully comfortable and ideal for everyday wear, so I’ve been throwing this on in a rush for University, and using it to look decent after a workout at the gym. I think these will also be worn regularly to my work placement this summer! I just love that these lipsticks, when worn, kind of radiate an effortless, cool put-together look. A red lipstick does this automatically for me, but these are messier yet look cooler! I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.
Anyway, what have been your makeup picks recently?
Until next time,
X
Twenty Swans 
Babe looks so beautiful! I’m on a beauty ban at the moment so I can’t buy anything (trying to just save money and not keep buying stuff that I won’t use until months down the line because I have products queued anyway).
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It really is just a lovely shade, just one I don’t wear on my lips often. I might take it out when I need a low key lip for work though! X
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I do think you love your coloured lipsticks! To be fair though, they really suit you! I don’t rock a bright lip often at all because I think a lot don’t suit me.
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