Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Romantic

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The last of these Revlon Balm Stains that I own is the obligatory red shade called Romantic.  I was holding off on posting it because I wanted to wear it for a little while and make sure my first impression still held solid.  Here's a swatch (heavily applied), and then that same swatch after sitting on my arm for about thirty minutes:

It's actually more sheer than I expected, but buildable, and it still gives the lips a pleasant color.

I already told you about the formulas and pros and cons of these in this post over here.  All of these things hold true with Romantic.  My only problem with it is the color.  Now, I'm not exactly a connoisseur of red lip products, but I do wear a lot of red lipstick.  Illamasqua Maneater, MAC Lady Danger, and CoverGirl LipPerfection Hot are my red staples (that's a blue-red, an orange-red, and a true red for reference).  And although in the photographs above Romantic definitely reads as red, there's something...not crisp about it.  Perhaps it's the sheerness, but I suspect that it has a drop of brown or something murky in it that's making it appear sort of...blah.  

After having said that, I will tell you that my choices of red lipsticks are pretty POW-IN-YOUR-FACE red.  I mean, here I am wearing Maneater back in April:

This is like, whoa I can see your lips from a mile away.  It's also a crisp, clear, gorgeous RED-red.  No traces of murkiness in Maneater.  But Romantic isn't like that.  It's just a little...meh.  For me, anyway.  

BUT if you're trying to ease yourself into red, then a stain like this might be a good way to do it.  It's not too red and it can be a sheer wash of color if you want it to be.  

This is just my opinion on the color.  Other people are not as crazy about red lipsticks as I am.  In fact, when I started wearing the Revlon Balm Stain in Sweetheart frequently my mother said, "I like that.  I like that much better than that DARK RED you always wear."  Hey, it's not for everyone.  But maybe that's what's nice about Romantic.  It could be for everyone.

What do you think?