Boots SEVENTEEN Mega Matte Lipsticks. How Mega? How Matte? How Do They Compare to Liquid Lipstick Mattes? Let's Find Out.
/Unless you live under a rock, or never wear makeup like I didn't until two years ago, you'll know matte lips are the big, huge, massive trend that brands are still scrambling to catch up with. Almost all the concessions now have a matte lip range, and Boots SEVENTEEN have joined the ranks this Autumn with 12 shades to try.
The SEVENTEEN 13 hour wear Mega Matte Lip caught me by surprised when the three shades I chose arrived for review. The trend has been for brands to make their matte lips in a liquid lipstick format, not a physical lip STICK. So usually your matte lip comes in a tube similar to a lip gloss. It goes on slightly shimmery and wet, but dries out to a completely matte colour on your lips.
But the SEVENTEEN Mega Matte Lip range comes in lipstick format, and not even a pointy one, a flat, screw up product. The PR kit also included a lip brush, so I assume this is how they think the matte lip goes on best. However I put my makeup on in the leisure centre every day after I swim, so I tested them as I would use them, just in their stick format.
Now I must say I really wasn't happy with this at first. I like to give beauty products a good two week trial before I write about them, otherwise I can't tell what I really thing about them. So at first I hated the stick format, and found it tricky to apply with the flat edge. However as time has gone on I've got the hang of it.
Here is how the SEVENTEEN nude 'Looking Buff' compares to ColourPop 'Bumble'. Liquid lip Bumble on left looking at the pic, 17 Looking Buff on the right.
The liquid lip Bumble is more highly pigmented, but it bleeds out and can be messier to apply. 17 Matte Lip is more pinkish in base, less drying to the lip itself, and has a sweet taste. You can see it has a more natural look to it. I find it easier not to 'mess up', and can do without a lip liner to keep it in place. It's also £4.49, a good £15 cheaper than the genuine ColourPop liquid lip. Incidentally ColourPop's lab make the Kylie Jenner formula from the same recipe- so if you buy ColourPop you are getting the cheaper version of Kylie Kits.
So the other colours. I use a purple tone liquid lip often that I bought on AliExpress, just a generic Asian brand, it was 69p or something crazy. So I asked to try the 'I Lilac It A Lot' shade of the SEVENTEEN Mega Matte Lip to compare it.
I was really disappointed in this shade. You can see below that's two coats and it's more like a light tint. I expect matte lips to be pigmented, opaque and mean business, and this colour just didn't do that for me. If you like your lip subtle you might like it, coupled with the fact none of the shades feel heavy to wear on your lips, but not for me.
Finally, my favourite liquid lip is a Lime Crime dupe I bought on eBay, a fiery orange red called 'SuedeBerry'. So the corresponding SEVENTEEN shade is 'Lava You A Lot', again £4.49.
And this one I do Lava a Lot! Pigment is good, non-drying on the lip, fun colour, good staying power. It's gone into my after-pool makeup kit along with the nude colour.
So over all? I didn't like how they were applied at first, but they grew on me and now I love them. Some shades are better than others in quality it seems- maybe get your hands on the testers in store before picking a colour to buy.
They can be as good as liquid format lips, and the price is definitely a huge bonus.
One thing is for sure, the matte lip trend is going nowhere fast, so maybe this traditional lipstick format is the introduction to the trend you've been waiting for.
Keep up with my beauty buys and bargains on my Snapchat story, username Rudedoodle.