Ever Bilena Kris Matte Matic Lipstick (Lucky) Review, Swatch, Price

Ever Bilena Kris Matte Matic Lipstick promises saturated, long-lasting color in a soft formulation. Kris Aquino has created quite a comprehensive lip product collection with Ever Bilena, with gloss, liquid lipstick, tinted lip balm, lip liners, and these matte matic lipsticks. This lipstick collection is all about a truly matte finish with a luxurious feel, truly fit for a queen, thanks to fortified mattifiers in its formulation. Kris’ lipstick collections amusingly have all the shade names involve positive things that start with L. This review is for the shade Lucky.

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Overall Feedback:

Ever Bilena Kris Matte Matic Lipstick is amazingly another collection curated by one of the most famous pale-skinned Filipinas on the planet that looks flattering on deeper Filipina skin tones. I was told by Kris Aquino’s insiders that while I am already super pale, Kris is paler than me. She’s really pale. I notice that for her personal use, she always picks color families that I also like, full of coral pinks and bright pinks. But coral pinks (and peach tones) can be tricky on deep skin tones, so I am seeing that she took this into consideration and released a lipstick collection that featured her favorite shades of pink, without the complicated undertones that may alienate her fans.

The texture seems to be a collaborative effort between Ever Bilena’s famous waxy formulation, and her probable desire for something creamy. This is noticeably more buttery than other Ever Bilena releases, but generally still waxy. I have noticed that the Ever Bilena group usually makes a waxy formulation for matte lipsticks, most probably so that the lipstick could have a truly matte finish and still be lightweight. Competitors usually approach matte finishes by adding powder pigments to the formulation, to the point that the resulting lipstick feels too thick and also moves around too much (thereby wearing off faster).

I generally like this approach to matte finishes, but I also recognize that making the formulation this thin and wispy might make it a bit uncomfortable for those with dry lips. As someone with really dry lips, I generally like to feel like I have lip balm on or something with a balm-like texture. This goes on so thinly that it feels like I’m not wearing any lipstick. I think for those without dry lips, this feature is a plus, but I think y’all know what I mean when you have dry lips and have this mannerism of mentally looking for lip balm. 

But this formulation also means that this has no sticky feeling at all, and doesn’t move around so much that it doesn’t fade as fast as more buttery lipsticks. As a lot of the shades are very bright and strongly pigmented, fading is not that apparent. But still, against oily food, one will need to retouch throughout the day to maintain full opacity.

I like the neat touches to the packaging with color-matched lids and the shade names printed on the tube instead of the lid. I have still been encountering crayon lipsticks with the shade name on the removable lid, which is of course, not a practical product design move. The lids also snap on quite tightly, which is another practical design feature. Although I’ll be honest that these are too long to fit into most beauty pouches. These will have to be stashed elsewhere in most bags. Thankfully, these are short enough to fit into most clutches. 

At Php245 for 2.5g, this is pricier at a price per gram basis than most other drugstore lipsticks, but generally still very affordable. Of course, there is a celebrity angle to this, so this is expected to have a “premium” touch. I think even with the Kris logos removed, these will still be a good purchase for those who are looking for universally flattering shades for everyday use. These will also be great for those who love the Ever Bilena group and want pink-based shades, as their other sub-brands and collections don’t explore pinks so much. The texture is lightweight with no sticky feel, which I think is something that Filipinas prioritize a lot in lip purchases. But I won’t deny the fact that some shades have overlaps or similar-looking shades in other Ever Bilena collections that are more affordable.