Recently it seems that every company in the drugstore is now releasing a matte lipstick line. Revlon has the Matte Balm Stains, Maybelline has the Creamy Mattes, Rimmel just released a matte version of their Show Off Lip Lacquer line, L’Oreal recently released a line of matte liquid lipsticks and the list goes on and on. The most interesting release for me so far is the Jordana Modern Matte Lipstick line. Jordana rarely releases new products in the drugstore so this one caught my attention.

Generally, I’m more of a gloss girl and not so much a fan of a matte lip. Mostly this is because I have ridonkulously dry lips and matte formulas can wreak havoc on an already uncomfortable situation. But being the lipstick junkie that I am, I picked up the shade that I thought I would get the most use out of and, well, I obviously proceeded to go a little insane with the whole “gotta catch ’em all” business.

Let’s take a look!

I’m going to preface this by admitting that I had a heck of a time getting pictures of swatches that were true to color. I’ll be sure to point out the photos that aren’t true to real life.

From the Jordana website:

Kiss Your Dry Matte Lipstick Goodbye…Say Hello to the Modern Matte

• Modern Matte Lipsticks are a Winning Combination of High Payoff Pigments and Special Ingredients that Comfortably Extend the Wear
• Expertly Selected Shades Have an All-Day Wear Without the Typical ‘Dry Lip’ Finish that Feathers and Cracks
• Talc and Paraben-Free
• Made In USA

The only real claim that Jordana makes about this lipstick line is that it is a long wearing lipstick that doesn’t feel dry or feather and crack. I love it when companies don’t promise me the world!

Wear Time: I get two solid hours of this lipstick looking exactly the same as when I first applied it. The next two hours show a bit of fading and depending on the shade, it might start clinging to any dry patches (I’m looking at you Dare!). Quite frankly, this is nothing short of miraculous for me. I rarely get more than an hour of wear out of a lipstick, even matte lipsticks. These get an A++ in the wear time category.

Comfort: Most matte lipstick formulas tend to feel as though they’re sucking the life out of my lips. Not so with these. They are definitely NOT moisturizing and my lips feel slightly dry in the same way they feel if I haven’t applied lip balm in a few hours and they’re just bare. Let’s just say that they aren’t at their most comfortable, but they definitely aren’t UNcomfortable. After four hours of wear my lips don’t feel more dry than when I first applied lipstick. I wore one of these lipstick shades all day every day for the last week and my lips aren’t wrecked which really surprised me.

Do they wear gracefully?: They really do! I never had any bleeding (and I never used a lip liner with them), and the product itself never completely dries out so there was no cracking, just as promised! With the darker shades I did notice that there was a darker ring of lipstick on the inside edges of my lips after about four hours, but it was fairly minimal. Dare (the vampy shade) did settle slightly into lip lines and more noticeably, after about 2 hours, it really clung strongly to dry patches in an alarmingly unflattering manner so I would definitely make a point to exfoliate my lips before wearing that particular shade again. Pretty (the Bridget Bardot peachy nude shade) also seemed to accentuate lip lines and dryness a bit more than the other shades.

Availability and Pricing: Jordana is sold at Walgreens or from the Jordana website and these retail for $2.49 each. Each tube is .12oz/3.52g.

Packaging: Plastic packaging that feels sturdy enough and has a sort of 90’s retro vibe to it. A huge plus: The product does retract completely so it isn’t protruding above the edge of the container and it is protected when you close the lid. I love that, it’s a huge pet peeve of mine when I have to worry about scraping off the top of the lipstick with the cap. Way to go Jordana!

Texture: While applying, these do tug slightly at the lips, and not all shades apply the same. Dare and Pretty tugged more and felt like a more stiff formula during application. They both also applied slightly patchy although it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t work with. Bare and Style applied completely smoothly and barely tugged at the lips at all and the rest of shades tugged a bit, but it was somewhere in between the previously mentioned shades. After application, the product is smooth but ever so slightly tacky and it remains that way until it starts wearing off.

Shade Range: I’m actually quite impressed! There are twelve shades in total. 3 nudes depending on your skin tone, a pale peach, 2 mid toned neutrals, 2 pinks (I skipped both of them), a bright purple, a vampy purple, a warm red and cool red. Really, I think everyone could find something that they would like.

These all smell like vanilla (exactly like MAC lipstick) but it isn’t overwhelming (I actually love it).

Overall I really like these a lot and would seriously recommend them to anyone!