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."

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.