·L'Oreal Paris· Lip Paints, Infaillible Blush Paint and X-Fiber mascara review

It has been a while since the new bits from L’Oréal’s makeup hit our drugstores (and appeared in my post-box) but it took me a long time to properly test out all of the items and I wanted to fully form my opinions before letting you know how I feel about them.

LIP PAINTs

Although the whole collection includes a big variety of shades, our drugstores offer six different shades. Three of them come in a matte finish and the other three are available in the lacquer version. Usually I tend to prefer the matte finishes, but this time I am all about the lacquers.

LIP PAINT / lacquer

Available in three different shades they offer something for everyone. 

Shade 101 Gone with the nude is a gorgeous almost brown-like nude that looks wonderful on the lips. It gives them an opaque, even and slightly shiny finish. 

Shade 102 Darling Pink is a lovely strawberry pink shade, perfect for when you want to add a bit of colour to the look. The formula is just as lovely and I love how comfortable it feels on the lips.

 Shade 107 Dark River is a bit trickier. While I love the deep purple, a shade that is otherwise quite hard to find in our drugstores, I am not too keen on the formula. I find it a bit patchy and hard to apply evenly and I think I might prefer it if it came in a matte finish.

The overall feel of the lacquer finish reminds me of the Rimmel Apocalips lip lacquers that used to be all the rage in the beauty world. They have a very good staying power, and although they would not last through a whole meal, they do seem to survive a quick snack or a coffee. They aren't sticky, but offer a nice shine to the lips and fade evenly. It's hard to get me to stray away from my matte lipsticks, but the 101 and 102 quickly became my go-to lip products.

LIP PAINT / matte

The mattes turned out to be a bit different to what I expected. With these, I find the formula to be consistent in all three shades. They all offer full opacity and even application; however they never dry to a completely matte finish. The shine does go away eventually, but I'd still call the formula satin or at least semi-matte.

This makes them very easy to wear and really comfortable on the lips. They do not »bleed« around the lips and although the intensity of the shades slowly fades, they seem to last for quite a while.

Shade 201 Hollywood beige looks more like a gentle pink on my skin. It's a pretty, very spring appropriate shade. Amongst the three, it's my least favourite, due to the fact that is looks almost to pale on me, but I believe it would look very pretty on someone with a lighter skin tone. 

The 207 Wuthering purple is without the doubt the most interesting and fun shade of the whole bunch. I have never seen a shade like this in our drugstores before and even though it looks very vivid and wild, I find myself wearing quite a lot.

 Shade 204 Red actually is a very bright / borderline pink shade. It looks very pretty on the lips, although I find it hard to find the right look to wear with it. For my taste, it's almost a bit to overpowering, as I do prefer red lipsticks with a cold undertone, but it's a gorgeous shade nonetheless.

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The lip paints are lovely addition to the L’Oréal stands. They bring a certain fun and young element to the brand that can usually feel very posh and sophisticated. If you want to try one, but can't decide which, I'd go with the 101 Gone with the nude as it is a clear winner in my opinion.

FALSE LASH SUPERSTAR X-FIBER MASCARA

Back in the day, I would carefully save my pocket money and spend it on L’Oréal mascaras and foundation.  Since then I've tried my fair share of mascaras and although I now tend to prefer Maybelline mascaras, I was very excited to give this one a go.

I'm not the biggest fan of the packaging and also not the one to usually go for a mascara that requires to steps, but it's the formula that really matters to me.

The step 1 of this mascara is lovely. It gives my lashes lots of length and definition, and although it does not give them much volume, it creates a beautiful natural effect that lasts until I take my makeup off.

Step 2 is a bit more complicated. I have a love-hate relationship with fibre mascaras as they tend to work on my lashed only half of the time. When I take my time and really focus on equally distributing the fibres, the mascara has amazing effect. My lashes look full, voluminous and overall amazing. However, on other days, the fibres stick out and the final effect looks like I've never used mascara before. Besides the inconsistency of results, I had lots of issues with fallout fibres. They seem to randomly fall off, scatter on my cheeks or fall into my eyes, which makes them water and eventually my eyes get so irritated I have to wash off my makeup.

INFAILLIBLE BLUSH PAINTs

The blush palettes are a total hit in my opinion. There are two versions available, Ambers and Pinks, that offer five different shades, ranging from matte or glowy to very shimmery finishes. There is something for everyone and with one palette offering warm-toned shades and the other one focusing on the cold-toned shades it is easy to find something that will really suit you.

The formulas do differ slightly from one shade to another, but they are generally really easy to blend, they feel super soft and buttery on the skin and the staying power is amazing. Pigmentation is lovely and the shades look even when applied to the cheeks.

 INFAILLIBLE BLUSH PAINT / Ambers

The warmer toned of the two, Ambers offer a variety of bronze and peach tones. 

Miami sunrise is a light and glowy peachy shade that looks more like a highlighter on my skin tone. It works lovely with a light makeup look or applied over a stronger shade for a more glowy feel. 

Coral bay is a radiant (almost) matte light coral shade that gives the cheeks a very fresh and natural flush. 

Peach fling is a pinky-peach shade with lots of tiny golden shimmer. Based on a few swatches in the store it reminds me a bit of the famous Orgasm by Nars. Due to a lot of shimmer, I find it very hard to wear, for me it works only if very lightly applied over other blushes. 

Shade Amber love is one of my favourites. It is essentially a radiant rose gold shade with extremely buttery texture. It reminds me of Benefit's Rockateur (based on the swatches in the store) and it gives the face a radiant effect. 

Indian cruise is a gorgeous shimmery orange, that I would never put on my cheeks, but works amazing as eyeshadow. It might work as a bronzer/blush hybrid on very dark skin tones, but I'll stick with using it on my eyes. Although I'd never use it as a blush, I quite like having it in the palette as it makes it very easy to create and eye look that works perfectly with any other blush in the palette.

INFAILLIBLE BLUSH PAINT / Pinks

Because my skin has a very distinct warm undertone I don't wear pink blush as often, but I find myself reaching fort his palette more often than I thought I would. 

Ballet dream is a very light, baby pink. The formula is just slightly powdery, but it still blends nicely. It's too light for me but I think it would look gorgeous on lighter skin tones. 

Despinkable me is similar to the Amber love in the previous palette. It's a radiant peachy shade that gives the face a natural and glowy flush of colour.

Peony rose is a matte pink shade that I really loved in the early spring. It gives my face a young blushed look. 

Shade Fuchsia afterhours is a very bright flamingo pink. This one can get a bit patchy and I don't really like the way it looks on my skin tone. It might work better on someone with a colder-undertone. 

Flamingo dance is a very buttery and radiant vivid pink. Although I wouldn't wear it every day, it works lovely with a bit more glamorous makeup look. This is something I would reach for when getting ready for a night out.

If I had to choose just one I'd go for the Ambers one as it goes better with my skin tone, but both are quite wonderful and make a lovely addition to my makeup stash. Given the fact you get five great-quality blushes in the palette I think they are very good value for money and really worth checking out.

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Overall, I've thoroughly enjoyed trying out all the products. The lip paints are a big win, especially the lacquer formula and the blush palettes proved to be very useful and high-quality addition to my makeup routine. I would skip this particular mascara, unless you really enjoy fibres, otherwise L’Oréal does some amazing one-step mascaras that will make your lashes look amazing all day.

If nothing else, try the 101 Gone with the nude lip lacquer and shade Amber love in the Ambers palette next time you are in a drugstore as they are exceptionally good.

For more opinnions and swatches on the face also check out Passing Fancy and Mateja's Beauty Blog.

Thanks for reading and see you in my next post!

Rawr,

your Beautysaur