banila co Tint Balm 01 Clear Magic review & swatch

I was a little surprised when I received this from Gmarket, because it looked different from what I thought I’d ordered. Upon a closer inspection I realized that in my frenzied excitement in adding stuff to basket, I’d misread the options in the drop down menu on its item page

No big deal, I’ll just save the Lip Color Balm, the one I wanted, for next time.

The Tint Balm resides a heavy frosted plastic pot which feels a bit like glass. When I unscrewed its lid I did a double take as the balm is so transparent that I thought it wasn’t there – then again the shade is Clear Magic…

Balm? Where?

The second thing I did was stick my nose into the pot to have a good sniff – irritating or awful scents get big thumbs down from me! I can’t tell what it smells like but it’s not strong at all, great!

In the pot, the balm feels like sticky hardened jelly; it took some effort removing some product and it came out somewhat uneven in small clear blobs, but these did spread quite easily once warmed up.

Now the actual colour is interesting – it’s one of those colour change lip balms which I think is supposed to give a different colour depending on your body chemistry.

It started off clear on my lips, then turned them a “just bitten” red and once the stickiness wore off it left a fresh & pretty pinkish red stain that actually looks quite nice. Unfortunately it is very sticky; I would say it’s on par with Lancome Juicy Tubes if not a bit stickier, and while it doesn’t dry out my lips, there’s no moisturization either. I thought maybe I’d used too much, but even when a tiny amount was gently patted on to lips, it still made mine sticky.

I scooped some out using a cotton pad and it turned a fuchsia pink which is strange, but it is reacting with something at least. On the finger I used to take some product out, it left a reddish stain and my arm was a subtle flushed pink after I removed the swatch.

I’m sort of on the fence about this; I do like the packaging as with everything banila co and the balm itself is unusual, but it’s just far too uncomfortably sticky (windy day = BAD) for my taste unless I apply a smooth balm on top. The stain does have amazing staying power though, it lasts hours even after lunch and several glasses of water.

It retails at 6,000KRW (just under $5/£3 current exchange rate) for 5g.