Revlon Colorburst Lacquer and Matte Balms with review and swatches of Flirtatious and Striking and comparisons with Revlon Balm Stains (picture heavy post)

Revlon Colorburst Lacquer
Balm in
Flirtatious

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
I posted last week about the Matte Balm that I decided to return (Elusive). I exchanged it for a Lacquer Balm in Flirtatious, and here is my impression of that product and the Matte Balm that I kept, Striking. 

Let's talk about the Lacquer Balm, Flirtatious, first. These come in metallic tubes. Now, I don't usually talk too much about packaging, but I need to complain a bit. The metallic package, at least for this particular shade, makes it really fucking difficult to figure out what color you're actually going to get. There are some swatch-like panels on the display, but they were hard to see since it was stuck in a poorly-lit corner at the CVS where I bought this. Anyway, I thought I knew what color I was getting when I looked at it in the store. It looked pink. Just sort of ordinary pink, maybe leaning slightly toward fuchsia. Much like it looks in the photo on the left, which I had to take at a weird angle at home to capture the same color.

In other lighting, however, the color totally changes! Look at the photos below. In the first one, the tube looks much more like the very red Romantic Balm stain at the bottom, doesn't it? And because the stickers on the bottom of the tubes are also metallic, they shift depending on your lighting, etc. too. So you might be in for a surprise once you actually open the thing.

Top to bottom: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Smitten, Revlon Colorburst
Lacquer Balm in Flirtatious, Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Romantic

Maybe I am making this sound more complicated than it is, but if you really want to know what you're going to get, you either need to get a good look at the display, or you need to peel back the sticker and open the lid. (ETA: See comments below. I don't advocate testing products in the store. I'm just complaining about the design of the package, which prevents you from knowing the actual color of the product without opening it.) Below, you can see that the color of the product is somewhat different than the color of the package (again, depending on the lighting).

Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in
Flirtatious

The tip of the tube and the balm itself are quite a bit redder than the color of the package would suggest. Instead of an ordinary pink, Flirtatious is more of a raspberry color. Check out the swatches below, where I've compared it to a few of the pink Balm Stains (which you can see more photos of here). It is not the same shade as any of the existing Balm Stains, so if you prefer this color, that's about the only reason I can think of to get the Lacquer Balm over one of those.

Left to right: Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Flirtatious, Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick, Smitten and Crush

Compared to the Balm Stains in Lovesick, Smitten, and Crush, Flirtatious is quite a bit redder and warmer. It also looks more opaque in the swatch, but it doesn't apply to the lips as evenly and smoothly as the Balm Stains do. It also doesn't wear nearly as long or nicely. Flirtatious will leave a pretty nice, faint stain behind. It also has some little bits of sparkle in it that aren't visible in the swatch. They cling to your lips when the color fades. (Oh, lovely. Blogger decided to convert my skin to zombie-texture when I uploaded the photos below. I don't understand why it does that sometimes. Fixed! Thanks to Liz at Beauty Reductionista.)

Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Flirtatious immediately after applying

Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Flirtatious after a couple of hours of wear

Both the Matte and Lacquer Balms have a minty scent like the Balm Stains, but unlike the latter, they do tingle a little for a few minutes after you apply them. It's not a big deal, but it lets me know that they are irritating my lips, which I'm not a fan of. They will also both smear for as long as you wear them. This is a major disadvantage of these over the Balm Stains. The Balm Stains sort of set in place and stay there, while remaining comfortable, but these new ones are more like an ordinary, non-long-wearing lipstick.

As for the Matte Balm in Striking, I like the color and I don't have anything just like it, so I'm keeping it. I do think that if I wanted to, I could find something similar in a regular lipstick that would work at least as well, if not better. The only advantage this has over a lipstick is that it is in pencil/crayon format. I like that, but I'm not a huge fan of this shit otherwise. It applies a bit patchy, and if you try to add more to even it out, it has a tendency to remove the original layer when you go over it. It catches in any dry spots and accentuates them (though it's not as noticeable with this color as with Elusive). It also wears away quickly and not in a pretty way - it gets super-patchy and chunky looking. The photo below makes it look better than it does in person. (More zombie skin, too!)

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Striking immediately after applying

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Striking after 1 hour and
a cup of tea: BLECH!

The texture and scent of the matte one makes me think of the mint Hershey's Kisses that come out around Xmas. I really fucking want some of those. Yum . . . anyway, I might try this one with some primer and lip liner to see if that makes it any less messy, but overall, I don't think either of these pencils have any edge over your typical lipstick (unless you prefer a patchy application?), and they are much worse than the Balm Stains. Here's a comparison with the closest Balm Stain color, Romantic:

Swatches of Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm
in Striking and Revlon Just Bitten Kissable
Balm Stain in Romantic

Again, the new one looks more opaque in the swatch, but it doesn't apply as evenly or last as long. The colors are very close, though. The matte version is a brighter and a touch oranger.

Overall: neither of these is terrible, but if you love Balm Stains, you are probably going to be disappointed. They're nothing to get worked up over.