Maybelline Ultimatte Slim Lipsticks… Worth a Try?

Have you been wearing lipstick lately? When I asked you all on social media, it seems like it’s half and half: some of you are wearing lipstick just as much as ever— even at home for Zoom— and others are hardly wearing anything below the mask these days. I definitely still use it as a cherry on top of my makeup look, so there was no shortage of curiosity when the new Maybelline Ultimatte Slim Lipsticks launched earlier this year!

With 10 shades available at $8.99 each, the Maybelline Ultimatte Slim Lipsticks are a bit of a combo between a traditional bullet and a twist-up crayon lipstick— you get the flat edge of a traditional lipstick but the precision of a slimmer applicator. This intensely pigmented formula is supposed to be lightweight with a blurred matte finish.

I have six out of the ten shades to share, here’s how I’d describe the shade:

Row 1: More Buff – neutral pink // More Truffle – chocolate brown
Row 2: More Rust – terracotta red // More Magenta – hot pink
Row 3: More Ruby – classic cool red // More Berry – deep plum

When applying this lipstick, it glides on smoothly and drenches your lips in color. The smaller size of the tip makes it easy to get clean lines without using a lip liner beforehand. With jojoba oil in the formula, your lips never feel dry with this on. They also deliver on the promise of being lightweight. You don’t need to layer it to get vibrant color, and the consistency stays feeling thin and creamy– I’ve found myself forgetting that I’m wearing them!

I will say that I disagree with how the brand describes the finish as “extreme matte.” Out of the six I have, More Buff appears to be the most matte, with a classic flat matte finish (but not feel!) that has a powdery smooth look. The other shades I own lean a bit more satin, without that flat appearance that I think embodies a true matte. Also, all of these shades with the exception of More Buff left a slight stain behind on the lips.

The only shade that I had trouble with was More Berry, which applied a little streaky and accentuated the dry areas on my lips. All of the other colors smoothed over the texture, completely concealing it, while the darker pigment in More Berry got caught on it as you can see on my bottom lip in the photo above. This is pretty common with darker lipsticks and why I tend to lean more toward liquid formulas for the vampy shades.

The color is gorgeous, they’re easy to apply, they’re comfortable— there’s only really one downside to these lipsticks: they’re not transfer-proof nor smudge-proof. They will transfer to your glass, your mask, and smear outside the lip lines when eating, in my experience. With that said, the color itself doesn’t really fade as it transfers which is nice… I guess? After eating, I had smears in the corners and at the bottom of my lips, but the color was still totally opaque inside my lip lines. If you over-draw your lips with these, you’ll also see pretty noticable feathering. This can be remedied with a good lip liner, though. But there’s a reason why there are no claims about wear time or all-day performance when marketing this lipstick, so eat/drink/kiss at your own risk! I definitely left a strong red mark on my husband with a firm smooch.

You can find the Maybelline Ultimatte Slim Lipsticks at Ulta Beauty for $8.99.

Do you mind when lipsticks aren’t transfer-proof? Tell me what you think in the comments!