Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm: Review & Swatches

The flip side to the Revlon Matte Balms are the Lacquer Balms. These would clearly be the traditional glossy balm version of the jumbo lip pencil product of Revlon's newer lip offerings. These are more like the Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in the way it works. 

To continue reading the review and see swatches, click the link below.

 You can refer to the Matte Balm post to see the type of display I found these in. The basics are the same. It's a twistable jumbo pencil lip product with a decently strong peppermint smell/feel that leaves the lips tingly. The balm is comfortable to wear on the lips, and provides some moisture.

Unlike the matte counterpart, these Lacquer Balms don't have a thick texture. It's not an opaque color by any means, and acts more as a colored balm shade that leaves a hint of a stain behind. It's also not even as shiny as the name would suggest. It's no shinier than a colored balm. The only true shiny factor are the small flecks of shimmer in it. These shimmers are left behind once the main color wears off, and some shades have more obvious shimmer left behind. Personally I try to reapply lip products when the initial color wears off, so this is not a deal breaker for me. Lasting time is less, which makes sense since shinier products with a larger moisture content usually don't last as long on the lips.

Swatches

The three colors I tried are Coquette, Ingenue, and Flirtatious. Hand swatches below.

Coquette, Ingenue, Flirtatious

Flirtatious is the darkest of the shades I have. It's a dark blue-based red with subtle shimmer. It does give color to the lips that's nearly opaque, but you can see the natural lip below. This is my favorite of the three I have.

Ingenue is the nude shade of the bunch. It takes on a peachy tone on my lips that almost leans slightly pale orange. It tends to nude out my natural lip color, and isn't the most flattering on my lips.

Coquette is a mid-tone bright blue-based pink. This is the shade that had the most obvious silver shimmer particles, especially visible once the color wears off. If you look closely, the silver shimmer is visble in the lip swatch.

Bottom Line: If you don't mind reapplying the balm once the color wears off (about 2 hours), then it's a nice product. If you want a product that stays put on the lips and not have to worry about reapplication, this is not the product for you since you'll have weird shimmer on the lips. Between the two lip product types, I would personally go with the Matte Balm.