Review: Milani Color Statement Moisture Matte Lipstick Collection

Press Sample

Of all the new-for-2015 products from Milani, I have heard the most raves from YOU about these new matte lipsticks. I've been extremely excited to try them based on your feedback, as well as my own personal experience with Milani's regular Color Statement line (which I reviewed for you last year).

I received all of the new 2015 products from Milani for review, so this is the first in a series of posts I'll be doing here on the blog--please check back soon for more reviews. But for now, let's focus on these babies:

Milani Color Statement Moisture Matte Lipsticks (eight shades)

(retail: $5.99 each, 0.14 oz)

Keep reading for my full review...

This is a new, permanent addition to the Milani lineup, and you can purchase these lipsticks via the Milani site and also at CVS, Kmart and select Walgreens and Walmart locations. For a store locator, click HERE.

Per the Milani website, these lipsticks are infused with grape seed extract imported from Italy for a formula that feels great on the lips while delivering "mega color that won't budge."  For the full list of ingredients, check out the listing on the Milani site (link above).

There are eight shades in this range, which I've broken up into three categories: nudes, pinks/purples and reds. First I'm going to give you a little personal commentary about each shade, and then at the bottom of this post I'll talk about the formulation, staying power, etc. So if you don't care to hear what I personally think of each shade, just skip to the bottom for the meat and potatoes of this review.

Matte Innocence, Matte Naked

Matte Innocence is a true nude in every sense of the word. On my NC20 skintone and medium-pigmented lips, this shade is quite light and borders on that concealer-as-lip-color type of nude. If you want to cancel out your natural lip color, this'll probably work quite well for you. 

Matte Naked is the shade in this range that I've been wearing like crazy during the day. It's a medium-toned nude, and it has just a drop of mauve to it, making it quite wearable for my skintone. I love this color on both subtle makeup days and also when I'm wearing a smoky eye. I don't do nudes too often, but this is one I can totally pull off without it making me look sickly or pale, so it's a love-match for me.

Matte Blissful is the shade that really surprised me because, in the tube, it looks like a soft, mauve-ish pink. But on my lips, it pulls quite blue, and it actually looks like a bright, bubblegum pink on me. I was hoping it might be a more wearable, work-friendly shade, but it's actually too bright and bubblegum-ish for me to wear on casual days. If you like bright, light, blueish-pinks, this might be a nice option for you.

Speaking of bright, Matte Diva (which I hear is a great alternative to MAC Candy Yum Yum), is a tad too light for me personally, but I can see it being a favorite for many of you. It is a very pretty, bright, cool, pink, and I think that if you like MAC Candy Yum Yum you'll probably adore it. But it's just a shade too light to work for me. 

Matte Orchid, on the other hand, is a pink that I can totally rock. This color leans a little more blue on me than what you see in the swatch above, but it's a deep enough pink to make it more wearable on my skintone vs. Matte Diva. Every time I wear Matte Orchid, the boyfriend says, "Oooh, that's a pretty color on you," which naturally makes me want to wear it all the time! He's a harsh critic sometimes with the colors I try to rock on my lips, so I know that if HE likes it, then it probably looks pretty good to the rest of world. Not that I always care what the rest of the world thinks, but you know what I mean!

Matte Glam is probably the most talked-about of all the shades in this range, and for good reason. It's a gorgeous shade of purple that many have compared to MAC Heroine. You know that I can't pull off bright, intense purples, but there's a wine-ish undertone to this purple that makes it easier for me to wear. I don't know--I can't quite put my finger on it but if you have a hard time pulling off bright purples, you might have better luck with this one. And if you already love intense purples, this one's kind of a no-brainer.

(Apologies if these swatches look less smooth than the others. This is not a formulation issue. This is 100% due to my skin getting a bit irritated after using multiple makeup wipes to remove and apply multiple shades. The formula of these lipsticks is very smooth--it's just my skin that's bumpy here!).

Matte Passion is a bright (but not super bright) orange with brick-reddish undertones. It's a lovely color, but I can never pull off oranges like this because they tend to make my skin look sallow. That said, if you have a deeper skinone and you tend to look good in oranges, you might love this. I think these types of oranges look absolutely stunning on Women of Color. I have a close friend who is an NC45 and every time she wears an orange lippie I just find myself staring at her lips like I'm in a trance. Anyway, yeah...not a good shade for me, but perhaps for you!

Let me just cut to the chase here. There are a lot of red lipsticks at the drugstore that I love quite a bit. Heck, even just from Milani, there are lots of gorgeous options. But Matte Confident is my new holy grail red lipstick. I cannot stress enough how perfect this color is on my NC20 skintone. It's not too cool and it's not too warm, it's not too dark or severe and it's not too bright or bold. If you are scared of red lippies, TRY THIS ONE. I am so in love with this color that I have worn it every time I've gone out at nighttime for the past month (even if I'm just going for tacos or to Target!) and I've already purchased a back-up tube. I'm telling you, it is perfection for me, and I'm still kind of in shock every time I look in the mirror and see how beautiful it looks with my skintone. It's not a stop-traffic red, but it's still dramatic. But in a subtle way. Yeah, I know that being dramatic in a subtle way makes no sense, but I think you'll see what I mean when you try it. OK, enough gushing...

My Top Picks (based solely on personal preference): Matte Confident, Matte Orchid, Matte Naked.

Now on to the formula! There's honestly nothing I don't love about the way these lipsticks feel and perform. The formula is surprisingly moisturizing given that these lipsticks have a matte finish. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to the old Revlon matte lipsticks (discontinued a few years ago) that many of us loved. This formula feels so creamy on the lips, you'll forget you're wearing a matte until you look in the mirror. And thankfully, the creaminess doesn't equate to weak staying-power. I can get 4-5 hours from the medium and deeper shades in this range and 3-4 hours from the lighter shades. I also love that these colors don't transfer after they set, and they wear down evenly on the lips. The deeper shades do leave a stain behind, but the color of the stain doesn't morph--it stays true throughout on my lips.

I also love the finish because these really do appear matte on the lips (not demi-matte like some of the other new matte lippies on the market). As for pigmentation, there are a few shades here that you need to build a little bit for better pigmentation but, on the whole, I think you'll be very pleased with the vibrancy of these colors. The opacity is great too but, again, there are a few shades that might require an extra swipe or two for complete coverage. But none of these shades are what I would call sheer or weak in pigmentation. I also want to note that the lighter shades are not chalky, but they do tend to accentuate any dry patches you may have. So be sure to exfoliate well before you wear the lighter shades in this range.

Those of you who don't care for the watermelon fragrance and flavor of the lipsticks in the regular Color Statement line might be happy to know that these matte lipsticks have a soft vanilla fragrance and flavor to them that reminds me of MAC lipsticks.

FINAL VERDICT: Milani really knocked it out of the park with this new line. Beautiful shades, a fantastic, hydrating formula, a true matte finish and great staying power. If you're a matte lipstick lover and you haven't tried these yet, I think it's time. My favorites are Matte Confident (my new Holy Grail red lippie!), Matte Nude and Matte Orchid. That's not to say I don't like the others, but those three shades just work so well with my particular skintone and they're very easy (and beautiful) to wear. I give the Color Statement Moisture Mattes my highest recommendation when it comes to matte lip colors you can purchase at the drugstore.

Do you already own any Milani Color Statement Moisture Matte Lipsticks? I would absolutely love to hear from you!

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.Blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews. For more information, click here.