The Narrowed Lens: I knew I had lips: a review of Revlon balm stains

I'm a diehard chapstick-er. I apply multiple times most days and that's usually good enough, but sometimes I catch my face in the mirror and think, "where are my lips?"

Well, I may not think that exactly, but almost. I suppose my lips have always been dull and while I do occasionally don a pinky gloss for church, I consider lipgloss otherwise too "dressy" for my normal life. Plus, I don't really like the way it feels. I don't like having to paint it on carefully with a wand, all the time knowing that the first drink I take will undo everything anyway.

And it looks so...glossy. That's a given, I know, but I don't really want to walk around with a set of reflectors on my face. What I need is something that goes on like a chapstick, that feels like a chapstick, but livens like a lipstick. Subtle, natural-looking, and definitely not reflective. Yes. That's what I need.

Needless to say, I had nothing like that. I knew I could always go buy a lipstick, but that's still not q-u-i-t-e what I wanted. Don't they make tinted chapsticks? The better question is, do they sell the ones they do make in Africa?

I was in Clicks (think the South African version of CVS or Walgreens) a couple weeks ago and decided I'd try to find something that would perk my lips up a little, regardless of what it was. I browsed the makeup section, not really knowing what I was doing (I'm not a big makeup wearer), and came across a set of Revlon...somethings that I decided to try. I call them "somethings" because I couldn't find anything on the packaging that gave any indication of what it was. Whatever they were, though, they were selling in packets of two, BOGO. At that rate, I figured they were about as good as anything else I could find, even if they did end up being lipglosses.

I bought them and left them sitting in the bag for several days, not overly excited to try them out. Cheap or not, they were lipgloss and that wasn't going to cut it. I'd be able to add some variety to my Sunday church lips, but the rest of the week would see me just as bland and colorless as ever.

You can imagine my surprise when I did finally open the package and uncapped the first tube. I was expecting to see a wand attached to the lid but when it popped off and revealed what looked like a jumbo crayon tip, I was ecstatic! I read the tube and saw that what I had once believed to be lipgloss was actually a balm stain! Are you kidding me? I tried it on and was thrilled with the way it went on like a balm but left my lips with a beautifully colored stain. Such a perfectly named product :)

I have tried both colors on my lips and while Honey is my favorite, Smitten is a nice color too. It's a bit more bold, though, so I would apply carefully. I still try to put a little chapstick or plain lip balm on first, and then the stains glide on easily. I typically apply in front of a mirror, much as you would with a lipstick, to make sure I don't end up looking like a clown. I'm thrilled with the longevity of these things; I found Honey to generally be good for several hours of subtle color, even through eating. It will obviously dull with time and wear but since I'm only going for subtlety I don't mind that much.

If you want color without gloss, Revlon's balm stains are they way to go! I give them a 5 out of 5 :)