I’m usually a liquid lipstick wearer, because I don’t have the patience and attention to detail necessary to eat more carefully, regularly check for smudging or transfer, and reapply when needed, all of which creamy bullet lipsticks require of their wearers. However, one of the many joys (deep sarcasm) the pandemic has bestowed upon me personally is that after 14 months of wearing FFP2 grade masks for 8 hours a day 5 days a week at work, my usually oily-combo skin is now dry and flaky in certain areas, and my lips, which typically only require lip balm overnight, now freak. the. fuck. out. when I wear long-lasting lipsticks. If I wear my Holy Grail lip product, the Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink liquid lipsticks for, say, a Saturday blog shoot for a few hours, my lips will now feel incredibly dry and perhaps chapped for several days afterwards, necessitating endless lip balm applications until they recover.
Since my skin is now high maintenance, I haven’t been thrilled by the notion of my lips becoming so too, and as such I’ve been eagerly awaiting the UK launch of Maybelline’s Ultimatte Color Sensational Slim lipsticks in the hopes they would give me the matte finish I crave in a lightweight but hydrating formula that my lips would be less mad about. Do they? Let’s take a look.