Wednesday, October 30, 2013

L'Oréal Colour Riche Balm - Limited Edition POP Shades

L'Oréal has added four limited edition shades to their Colour Riche Balm range.  The four POP shades arrived just in time for the holiday season when I like to reach for more pigmented lip products.  The cost and packaging of these are identical to the other balms, but these have a sticker on the top identifying them as POP shades and limited edition.

Left to Right: Ballet Show, Dragon Fruit, Lilac Sweetness, Vineyard Peach

The four shades in numerical order are as follows:

171 Ballet Show - a warm pink
172 Dragon Fruit - a vivid reddish pink
174 Lilac Sweetness - a mauve/plum
176 Vineyard Peach - a deep coral

Here are close-ups of the shades and swatches:

Left to Right: Ballet Show, Dragon Fruit, Lilac Sweetness, Vineyard Peach

Top to Bottom: Ballet Show, Dragon Fruit, Lilac Sweetness, Vineyard Peach
These retailed for $5.99 at my local Target.  If you are a fan of lip butters/balms but yearn for a bit more pigmentation, these are the balms for you.  They do have a mild, fruity fragrance which I notice more when applying to my lips.  The fragrance, in my opinion, does not linger very long, unlike the color, which has a bit more staying power, thanks to the amped up level of pigmentation.

Overall rating: Booyah!  I love sheer lippies with a soft, sheer texture.  These offer just the right amount of color without being too overwhelming.  The shades can be layered for more "POP."


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Tarte Cosmetics Leave Her Blushing Set - Holiday 2013 Collection

I know it's been a while since I have last posted.  The bad news is my life was crazy and it took me away from you guys.  The good news, however, is that I have many reviews to bring you so please stay tuned.  I wanted to kick things off with Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blush Set for this holiday season.


The Leave Her Blushing Set is a wonderful set of limited edition shades and if you have not yet discovered Tarte's amazonian clay 12-hour formula, this is a great way to see what all the hype is about.  The set retails for $34 and includes 3 deluxe Amazonian clay 12-hour blushes as well as an ultra-soft blush brush.

The three limited-edition shades are: 
  • Treasured, a melon shade
  • Honored, a nude rose shade
  • Imagined, a candy pink shade
Left to Right: Treasured, Honored, Imagined
Here is a close-up of each shade, swatches, and the brush:

Treasured

Honored

Imagined

Top to Bottom: Treasured, Honored, Imagined


These blushes are formulated without parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, triclosan, sodium lauryl sulfate, and synthetic fragrance.


Overall rating: Booyah!

These are wonderful blushes.  The consistency of this formula is legendary and just when I think my blush stash is complete, Tarte throws me a curveball!  The value of this set is great.  The brush alone retails for $28.  Each of these blush compacts offer 1.5 g/.053 oz of product, about 26% of what the full-sized version (5.6 g/.2 oz; $28).  I only have one recommendation.  I would love it if these smaller blushes could be easily removed from their compacts like the full-sized ones.