Matte lipsticks have gone a long, long way since their rise in popular culture in the 90s. They used to be thick and heavy on the lips, like you swiped a layer of cement on top. Today, there are some wonderful formulations that feel like practically nothing as they sit on your mouth! It’s completely unnecessary to suffer through a matte lipstick these days unless, of course, you’re crazy about the color.

One of MAC’s latest formulas is called the Powder Kiss Lipstick (P1,100 in MAC stores and in Lazada). It claims to deliver “a romantic blur of soft-focus colour” as a “weightless moisture-matte lipstick” to “replicate a backstage technique: blending out edges of matte lipstick for a hazy effect”. I know, I placed so many quotes in there that I may even sound sarcastic, but yes these promises are all true! The Powder Kiss is ultra weightless and delivers a soft color akin to what you would get if you smeared an uber pigmented lipstick to get a blurred effect. This has a bit of shine at first but this disappears as it dries further and becomes more of a true matte.

If you’ve ever tried the ridiculously popular Peripera Airy Kiss Velvets, then you’ll find the MAC Powder Kiss quite similar. The main difference is that the lipstick is in a bullet format, while the Airy Kiss is a liquid lipstick. Both lipsticks feel like silicone blurring primer - there’s a lot of slip at first but it does dry down. You also get a nice plumping effect since the silicones fill in the lines.

What the Powder Kiss has over the Airy Kiss Velvet though is the fact that it’s much less drying. PK almost feels balmy as it settles in during the day; AKV feels rough on my lips in two hours.

Both suffer from the same problem though: they are uncharitable to flaky dry lips. Don’t bother wearing the PK if you haven’t exfoliated with a sugar scrub beforehand. Otherwise, that loose skin will be magnified in all its flaky glory! The nude colors are more difficult to work with in this regard, but the brighter and/or colors are more forgiving and more longer-wearing (anytime from 2 hours for light shades to 3.5 hours for more pigmented ones).

Important note: PK is best worn on lips with zero lip balm on them. Otherwise, it won’t stick properly and will end up being patchy AF. I recommend using a lip liner if you prefer to get a really solid color. (But why would you want that in this formula? I mean, that’s the beauty of Powder Kiss, it’s a little translucent so it looks less severe compared to your normal matte.)

I have two shades, which MAC sent over: My Tweedy, a warm nude peach, and Mandarin O which is a warm coral. I love Mandarin O! It’s not too orange nor too red; it’s a very flattering color on my yellow medium skin tone. I can see myself having this as a bag staple! It’s that gorgeous. My Tweedy is a bit too sheer and nude for me. I might just wear it with a lip liner to enhance the color more.

Overall, I would definitely recommend the MAC Powder Kiss Lipstick to the subset of people who specifically want that soft-focus matte effect and ultra-weightless feel on their lips without the dryness. Better if you don’t mind retouching after three hours (this is average). Make sure to exfoliate your lips to get the best results out of Powder Kiss. If you love an in-your-face super solid matte lipstick though, get outta here!

Thoughts? Have you tried this, and how did you find it?

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