Product Name; Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm

Priced at; £7.99

Available Shades; Complex, shameless, standout, Elusive, Audacious, Sultry, Unapologetic, Mischievous, Striking and Showy! 

Where; Boots *currently on 3 for 2*

Revlon Claims: Velvety Matte Look. Moisture Rich Balm. A Matte finish that’s beyond plush. Balm that’s beyond comforting. Our Triple Butter Complex of Shea, Coconut and Mango butters nourishes lips. In 10 collectible, craveable colours.

*Picture By Sumaiya Meem Nadia*
Swatches from left to right... 225 Sultry, 235 Mischievous, 205 Elusive,
215 Shameless, 220 Showy and 210 Unapologetic

The packaging of the colorburst matte balms *also available in lacquer shades* is very much like their 'just Bitten' stains with the crayon like bodies, colour coded and a tight capped packaging. The only difference being that the bodies are in a matte packaging *the lacquer shades in a shiny vibrant packaging* … The texture of the matte balms, *OMG* they are so creamy, some of which can be applied in one swipe easily and evenly. The formula of each is very soft and velvety, just as Revlon claims and they are very moisturising!  I own 6 out of the 10 matte shades…If you're a matte lipstick lover, these will probably be right up your street unless you are anti-peppermint. Anyway here’s a quick review on each one.

Sultry – This shade for sure is or will be one of the bestsellers as it is a rosy pink with brown and a hint of berry tone, and so it is perfect to suit any skin tone! It’s an everyday colour and perfect for spring, the pigmentation is wonderful as it gives an almost opaque colour in just a single swipe, yet it can be built up with many layers without it being heavy or having a greasy feel. In terms of staying power it is decent, it can possibly last up to four hours! Overall it’s an easy to apply crayon looking lip colour, the texture is very smooth and creamy, it’s light and non-sticky and it is a perfect combination of rosy brown with a pinkish tint which will look stunning on absolutely anyone! Honest.  

Mischievous – this colour is a light tangerine orange. When I swatched it in store, it looked like a shade for pale-skin tones, I thought this will totally make me look drained, yet I brought it and tried it… and it did!! It looks really chalky, especially on my dry lips, saying that…I do like the colour, it is a soft orangey peach, it’s a shade I’ve not had before and although I am not fond of the chalkiness I think it could possibly be mixed with other shades to suit all! In terms of pigmentation, it is not very pigmented, I needed 3-4 swipes to coat my lips and it applies rather patchy, however it looks healthier when applied on top of a moisturising balm…so I would suggest priming and lip balming with this shade. Staying power is probably about 2-3 hours, overall I would be cautious when purchasing this shade as it is a bit difficult to pull it off … you could give it a try like me and not like it as much as the other shades, or try it and love it! 

Elusive – is a cool-toned rose pink; and it is possibly my favourite shade of the lot, the formula applies evenly, this shade is for everyone, it will instantly brighten up anyone’s face and it will benefit your complexion for sure! It gives the whole face a pinkish dewy look, and just looks beautiful for an everyday look…So this is a must! It’s highly pigmented, and staying power…I would say is about 3-4 hours.

Shameless – Bold. Gorgeous. I LOVE IT!! When I first tried it out, I wasn’t too sure, as I don’t really go for bold colours, but I actually love it. It’s beautiful! The shade is a purple tone, I don’t know why but it reminds me of aubergine AKA eggplant *or vice versa* this shade gives a truly matte finish, it may look a little shiny on pictures due to light but it’s totally matte. You may need to build on it a little to get total coverage, but it’s still great! Overall, pigmentation is good, and stay power...I would say 5 -6 hours, possibly because it’s the darkest shade I own from the bunch.

Showy - is a bright pink with a slight lilac undertone, this shade like any other light-coloured matte lip colour, you will need to make sure your lips are perfectly smooth before you apply this one otherwise it will draw attention to any patch of dryness on your lips *if you have none dry lips, then good on you! You lucky thing lol* overall it’s a gorgeous pigmented colour and lasts up to 4 hours. 

Unapologetic – another bright pink shade, perfect for summer as it has a slight neon undertone, it’s just a really pretty colour.  Unapologetic is said to be a dupe of MAC Impassioned lipstick, but I don’t own Impassioned so I can’t really compare them, however I can say that this balm is amazing, it gives a fabulous colour pay off in just a single swipe, its highly pigmented as it gives an opaque finish and it lasts up to 5 hours. I would recommend this shade as it would suit any skin tone, and like Elusive it brightens up the face and gives a dewy finish to your makeup look, great for day or night…this is also one of my favourites. 

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All in all, I love the Revlon Matte Balms. I mean they smell great, feel even greater and who doesn't love the convenience of a twist-up chubby stick? Not all matte lip colours are as light and velvety as these. So I could not recommend them enough! Hope this post was informative for you all. 

Till next time dolls xx

Real Techniques - Core Collection / Expert Face Brush

I have been so excited about putting this post up because these brushes are like my favourite items right now!!

I AM IN LOVE…yes, that’s right…with brushes!! I am pretty sure that if you are reading this, you are probably a beauty lover? So if your like me and you watch YouTube videos (beauty related) you may have come across Pixiwoo AKA Nicola and Samantha Chapman, (Sam, who now has a YouTube channel called Real Technique, because obviously she launched these brushes) they are probably the  most popular YouTube makeup/beauty experts.

Click to access Pixiwoo / Real Techniques YouTube channel.

I have been eyeing up these brushes for ages, and hello to student loans for a jobless student…I just thought I’d get them while I can, and Oh My God! They are bloody brilliant! The real technique brushes have a variety of brushes ranging from lips, face, eyes and powder brushes …the whole lot really! Some of which are sold in sets and some separately. I bought myself the core collection (which is a set of four brushes) and the expert face brush. I have had them for about two months now, and like I had said, I really do love them they're honestly amazing.

The Core collection is known to be the best selling brush set out of the Real Techniques collection as a whole, it consists of 4 brushes which are all face brushes. The brushes come in a black panoramic case which can be used as stand, and it is really practical because it functions as a brush holder and as an easy to carry travel case. It also helps keep the brushes in place, and as a lot of the other real technique brushes come separately with no case/holder there is some extra space on the panoramic case. The brushes are all 100% synthetic and animal cruelty free (made with Taklon Bristles to be precise) they feel really smooth and perform really well to give an even and flawless finish.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT - Expert Face Brush (not included in 'core collection' set) Contour brush, pointed foundation brush, detailer brush and Buffing brush.
*Own image/photography*

 The Buffing Brush

*Buffer*

This brush is just amazing, I finally understand why this has been the most talked about makeup brush, it gives a full coverage with all types of foundation, whether it be liquid, mineral etc. the bristles are so soft that it gives a flawless finish every time, it’s also big enough to cover a large area of the face even though it may not look very big…it may be the ‘buffing’ brush but I think it can be used for everything, whether it be foundation, blush, powder, it’s just wonderful!! I would say that all the brushes are pretty much versatile.

The Pointed Foundation Brush

*Foundation*

Even though this brush is supposed to be the actual brush for applying liquid foundation, but I actually hardly use it. However saying that, I decided that I would use it more often by maybe using it to apply concealer (for under eyes/dark blemishes) as its pointed, it can reach areas of the face that the buffing brush can't.

The Contour Brush

*Contour*

This is excellent! As it’s a dome shaped brush it fits perfectly into the hollows of the cheek, sides of the nose and contours just about perfectly…giving the face a natural silhouette. Some may think it’s a little too wide for contouring but I think it’s great and it does its job effortlessly. I also use this for blush and highlighting.

The Detailer Brush

*Detailer*

This I believe is meant to be used as a lipstick brush or a concealing brush, however I actually don’t use it at all anymore, when I first brought the set I did use this brush to apply my lipstick but I think I only used it like twice, so I don’t think this is really a review on the detailer brush, maybe I will start using this more often too.

The expert face brush 

This is my FAVOURITE!!! Even though I do love the core collection set, this is just perfect! It’s so dense and soft and just amazing. I don’t know what else to say about it really. I carry this everywhere! Literally everywhere because you can do everything with it, and by everything I mean apply foundation, blush, use it as a powder brush, it’s just such a multipurpose brush! It’s so dense that I honestly don’t think it will ever shed a hair/bristle, it’s immortal! *a little extreme but you know, it is great!! LOL*

Overall I think these are the most affordable brushes and of great quality! The core collection cost £21.99 and the expert face brush £9.99 (I purchased from Boots) it can be bought online from the real techniques online store for those outside of the UK.

HIGHLY recommended ... seriously you all need The Expert Face Brush at least!

anyway till next time dolls x

Nadia__xxx