Not as Good as Gold: Review of L'Oréal Colour Riche Lipstick in Gold Addiction

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Yep. That's the title I came up with for this post. Anyway, do you ever buy something with a specific and entirely unrealistic image of it in your mind, and then feel massively disappointed when it doesn't live up to that image, even though you know it's your fault for inventing it in the first place? What happened here is that, at the beginning of the metallic lipstick trend a couple of years ago, L'Oréal released their Gold Obsessions lipstick range in the U.K. Some photo I saw convinced me that the plain gold lipstick in that collection was the one. That unlike every other gold lipstick I had ever seen, it was shiny and metallic, rather than sparkly, and opaque, rather than patchy.

So when I saw that that collection had finally popped up on the Ulta website this fall, although with the name changed from Obsession to Addiction, I decided that I needed Gold Addiction, the pure gold option. I didn't do much additional research other than to confirm that this was the same collection. I ordered it.

Then it arrived and it was sheer. And sparkly. And slippery. And patchy. Sure enough, I can't find whatever photo it was that once upon a time made me think this lipstick was going to be special. Did I dream it?

I think maybe you can see in the photo above that the fine glitter has already started to migrate off of my lips, even though I only applied the lipstick two minutes before taking the photo.

Gold seems to be a difficult color to get high pigmentation from when it comes to lipstick. When Bite Beauty teased their zodiac lipstick for Leo this year, I saw the gold bullet and was intrigued. But then swatches demonstrated that it, too, was sheer. I may be the least Leo-y Leo ever, but even I think a sheer gold lipstick is a yawn. I have certainly seen other metallics that are more opaque, even from a bullet and not a liquid formula (though they do have a tendency to be slippery). I don't know if it's the yellow--it's hard to find a yellow eyeshadow or even nail polish that isn't patchy. But then it's not hard to find an opaque gold eyeshadow or nail polish! So the possible technical limitations in play here are eluding me.

Here's a comparison with the sheer gold from Bite's 2016 holiday duos (reviewed here). Gold Addiction is very similar, just a bit sparklier and warmer. The warmer yellow gold of the L'Oréal lipstick is harder for me to wear--I can't generally wear warm yellows on my face without looking a bit sick.

Maybe Pat McGrath's new gold lipstick will be the gold holy grail, but I don't think I'm going to gamble (much more!) on it. Probably I should just finally open up the PMG Labs package I won in the Makeup Museum giveaway and play with the gold pigment. That is if I really want to have opaque gold lips, which, let's face it, is hardly an everyday look for me. This might just be a dream I should let go.

If you're looking for a sheer, shimmery gold lipstick, Gold Addiction is . . . one of the ones that exists. But it's nothing very special. Do you do the whole extra glitter and metallics for the holidays? I like the idea in theory, but in practice I'm not going to be attending the kinds of events where I'll dress up like that.

The duochromes always get me: Review of L'Oréal Infallible Galaxy Lumiere Holographic Eyeshadows in Crescent Moon, Full Moon, and Moon Kissed

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Two duochrome posts in a row? Is that allowed? (As usual, we ignore the word "holographic" when it's in the name of a makeup product.) I love duochromes, and they make me pay more for drugstore eyeshadows than I normally would. More for eyeshadow singles in general (though there was that time I paid full price for Urban Decay X, and I don't even really like it). These (deep breath) L'Oréal Infallible Galaxy Lumiere Holographic Eyeshadows are $13 a piece, so I suggest waiting for a sale, which will always come sooner or later for drugstore makeup. I had a B2GO Free deal from, but if I hadn't also had Ulta points from my credit card to spend, I might have balked even at that.

None of that is to say that I don't think these eyeshadows are amazing and totally worth picking up if you are a duochrome fiend like I am. They're absolutely lovely.

The formula of these eyeshadows is interesting. Though they have the "Infallible" name attached to them, they're not the same as the regular Infallible singles (reviewed here), which come with little plates on top to keep them densely packed. These Galaxy shadows have a more spongey texture--not as squishy as Colourpop Super Shock eyeshadows, but if you press your finger into the pan, you can feel it compress a bit. I dropped Full Moon on the floor and, instead of shattering, the whole shadow came loose in one piece inside the pan. I was able to press it back in place with a finger. Like the L'Oréal Infallible eyeshadows and the Colourpop Super Shock shadows, these apply best with a finger. With a brush they go on very sheer and a little patchy.

How about I let my many, many photos do the talking? My swatches were made with a brush without primer. Each one is several layers, because these shadows are sheer, and in swatch form they don't show up clearly in a single layer.

Left to right: Crescent Moon (sheer beige with green shift), Full Moon (white gold), and Moon Kissed (purple with blue shift).

Shadow Swatches: Miscellaneous Eyeshadow Singles and Quads from Stila, L'Oréal, Tom Ford, Butter London, Revlon, and Urban Decay

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I didn't buy anything during the Sephora sale, did you? 20% off just isn't very exciting for me. I mean maybe if there was something I was definitely planning to buy anyway, it would be better to get 20% off than no discount at all, but there wasn't. Plus I have a bunch of Ulta points to use on frivolous shit.

Instead of shopping, lately, I've been playing with what I already have, including these eyeshadows which I realized I'd (mostly) never written about on my blog. Rather than doing a full review of them, I thought I'd just take some swatch photos and say a little about what I like or don't like about each. Not all of them are currently available, but I hope you enjoy the pretty pictures anyway.

The swatches below were made with a brush over primer (Black Radiance eyeshadow primer, reviewed here). If this were a proper review, I would have swatched them with and without primer for your information, but I just really wanted to show you the color and finish clearly. You can still tell which ones are shitty even over primer, anyway.

Oh, and I took way too many photos, which probably all look the same, so here's a cut.

My First Colourpop: Blotted Lip in Candyfloss

Here I am, as usual, years behind the trend curve, with my one and only Colourpop purchase. For whatever reason, I've never been particularly attracted to Colourpop products. It may be because, despite my unreasonable hoard of makeup, I tend not to approach makeup with a collector's attitude, but rather by looking for functional, workhorse products. Most of the time. I get the impression that Colourpop makeup tends not to last an especially long time, either because of its small size or because it will dry up or go bad quickly (obviously this is unlikely to be the case with their new pressed powders). For instance, the Lippie Stix like the one I'm reviewing here are pretty cheap per unit at $5 a piece, but since they contain only a gram of product, they are relatively expensive by weight. I think, then, that they are ideal for someone who wants one of every color and/or doesn't expect to finish lipstick quickly, but less ideal for someone looking to discover their favorite lipstick and wear it constantly. But you know all of that already.

None of the above prevented me from pouncing when Colourpop offered a Blotted Lip for free with shipping a few months ago. It was the perfect way for a (cheap) skeptic like me to try one of their products without having to commit to a big order that would make the shipping seem more reasonable (bad economics, I know). I was on a brown/terracotta lipstick kick this summer (like everyone else), and it hasn't ended yet, so I'm glad I chose Candyfloss. The Blotted Lips are sheer, matte lipsticks, most often compared to Glossier's much pricier Generation G lipsticks.

Here's Candyfloss on my lips:

It's actually not super sheer, as you can see, but it's translucent enough to make it easy to swipe on quickly without worrying too much about mistakes. Because it's sheer, it can look a tiny bit patchy, but only on really close inspection, which most people are not going to subject you to, I assume. I'm guessing that it might appear smoother on someone with a more brownish or peachy natural lip color than it does on my pink lips, because the color showing through wouldn't contrast--whereas pink or fuschia sheer stains tend to look more natural on me.

I like this lipstick a lot. It wears well, and when it fades, it doesn't look messy. It's slightly drying, but you can apply a decent layer of balm underneath or even on top of it, and it will only enhance how it looks. (I'm unreasonably picky about things that dry out my lips, so you might not find this stuff drying at all.) I haven't had any difficulty with the packaging or anything else.

Here are comparisons with some other brownish lipsticks I own. I swiped each one just a single time so that you can see the relative opacity.

Left to right: (1) Colourpop Blotted Lip in Candyfloss; (2) Urban Decay Epigram; (3) Maybelline Maple Kiss; (4) LA Girl Matte Flat Velvet Lipstick in Hush; (5) Maybelline Touch of Spice; and (6) Bite Beauty Pepper.

Candyfloss is now the most orangey-brown lipstick I own, even compared to Maple Kiss, which I used too think was too brown for me to wear. It's quite clearly a lot sheerer than the others I've swatched, though Hush and Pepper are close. If you want a sheer, matte, nude that's available in drugstores (i.e. not just online like Colourpop), LA Girl Hush is a decent alternative for only $4, though obviously it's a much cooler nude than Candyfloss.

The colo(u)r of Candyfloss is beautiful, and the formula is great, so if you're placing a Colourpop order, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it\\adding it to your cart. Of the Blotted Lips, it's one I haven't heard people talk much about, but it's very wearable (at least for me). I probably won't be picking up more of these any time soon, or any other Colourpop products for that matter, but that's mostly because I am trying not to spend money on makeup right now. I will certainly let you know if I happen upon another Colourpop freebie, however!

ETA: Here's a $5 off referral link!

Do you prefer sheer or opaque lip products? Sheer are more beginner friendly, and I certainly had to work my way up to the super-pigmented, but I still love something like this that's simple to apply and reapply.

Is No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder a dupe for Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder?

Left: No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder; Right: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder in Translucent

Translucent powders are hard to review. If they work well, they look like nothing at all. I got a mini jar of Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder as a Christmas gift last year, and I liked it enough that I considered spending the $38 to get the full size. But that's a lot of money, so I needed to think carefully about why I liked it.

Top/Left: No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder; Bottom/Right: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder in Translucent

It's truly invisible on my skin, no matter how much I apply. I use it to set my concealer and I've used it on bare skin and over foundation. It never looks powdery and it doesn't cause what's under it to get dry and weird. Now YMMV on this aspect, because I've read reviews in which people have said that this powder looks cakey and obvious on their skin no matter what they do with it. I don't know for sure what the cause is, but I'm guessing it has to do with the color. It's very pale and on the yellow side of neutral. Translucent, sure, but if you have darker or cooler skin, it might not be translucent enough. In fact, I'm pretty certain that's the case, because Laura Mercier recently added a second shade called Translucent Medium Deep--the original is just called "Translucent." (Of course, the mini jar only comes in the lighter shade. Sigh.) Since I'm pale and neutral-toned, the lighter shade works well for me.

It also creates a natural, flattering finish on my skin. It mattifies but not so much that it looks dry and powdery. It has a very subtle blurring or softening effect without any shimmer at all. And while it doesn't exactly make my makeup wear all day under sweaty conditions, it works well enough to set everything.

It's great and I like it a lot, but it's not exactly magic or anything. So when I read somewhere that No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder was a $13 "dupe" for the LM powder, I decided to give it a shot. I'm admittedly not terribly picky about powder, so I figured that even if it wasn't perfect, it would be adequate for the time being.

(You might note that the LM powder contains 1 full oz., while the No7 has only 0.7 oz., but that still makes the No7 significantly cheaper either way you look at it.)

The main difference between the two powders is the color. While they are both light and translucent, the No7 powder is quite a bit pinker.

Left: No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder; Right: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder in Translucent

As I said, my skin tone is just on the warm side of neutral, but while I guess the LM powder is technically a slightly better match, they both work equally well for me in practice. Here are heavy finger swatches for another comparison:

Top: No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder; Bottom: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder in Translucent

No shimmer, as you can see.

I also blended out the swatches, but the photo isn't very helpful. I guess you can see why I didn't bother to show you a photo of the powder on my face. They both turn invisible on my skin.

Top: No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder; Bottom: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder in Translucent

But maybe you can see a little of the softening effect I described? Maybe not.

Other than the color, I haven't noticed any real difference in performance between these two products, so I'm quite satisfied with my budget option.

I will say that the packaging for the No7 is a little overly bulky and also slightly messier than the LM powder. Powder tends to settle on that sort of ledge around the edge of the jar and then scatter from there (you can see what I mean in the second photo above). Neither of these powders is so light that it flies all over the room and up my nose, fortunately (looking at you, MUFE HD powder). Both jars have annoyingly domed lids so that you can't stack anything on top of them--the No7 is almost but not quite flat, just to rub it in. And they both came with very nice powder puffs inside, which, in both cases, I promptly lost, because I use a brush--so no photos, sorry.

My suggestion is that if you are similar to me in coloring, just go with the cheaper No7 option. It's available for the same price at Ulta and Target. If you are pale but very warm, and you're concerned that the No7 might not be a good match, the Laura Mercier powder might be a better bet--but honestly I would still probably gamble that the No7 would be translucent enough to work for you. If you have darker skin, it's probably going to be worth your while to purchase the darker Laura Mercier shade. And let's hope that No7 and other brands get their shit together and realize that even if something is translucent, a light shade is not going to work for everyone. Is it really so hard to produce two fucking shades?

Swatch-o-rama: Laura Mercier Eye Art Artist's Palette Comparisons

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I had the Laura Mercier Artists' Eyes Arty Art Eye Eye Art Artist's Palette on my Christmas list last year mainly because I loved Plum Smoke, which works as an easy, warm neutral on me (and is a pretty good dupe for the horrendous Maybelline Color Tattoo in Vintage Plum, reviewed here). The single is $25, while this whole palette is $55 ETA: Now half price at Nordstrom Rack. Since I'm not likely to get through any powder eyeshadow ever, and the other colors in this palette looked pretty too, I figured the palette was the better way to go (at least when I was imaginarily spending someone else's money).

My mother-in-law generously obliged--except she bought me the Eye Art Caviar Palette, an understandable mistake, since the names are not very descriptive or distinctive. Luckily I was able to exchange it without any problem, and so here I am with this dreamy, purpley palette that's unlike anything I already had (in contrast to the the bronzey Caviar palette). It's flattering and versatile for my coloring, and though I wouldn't say it's so amazing as to be worth a small fortune, it doesn't feel like it's exorbitantly overpriced for what you get. As you'll see from the swatches below, though, this isn't your trendy, super-pigmented eyeshadow palette. Most of the shadows, especially the light and medium shades, apply fairly sheerly, though they can be built up without trouble. I'd say that the most disappointing shade is African Violet, because it looks stunning the pan. It tends to stay on the sheer side on my eyelids, and the gold shimmer doesn't show up much. I haven't tried it over glitter primer yet, though, and it's possible that would help, like it has with other shimmery eyeshadows that don't contain actual glitter.

Here are some closer views of the pans:

The main reason I decided to write a post about this palette is that I wanted to compare some of the shadows to others that I already had, particularly those in the Covergirl TruNaked Roses palette (reviewed here), so I'll share those swatches with you, along with some other comparisons. It turns out that I don't seem to have dupes for the more interesting colors here, which makes this palette a nice addition to my outrageous makeup hoard.

First, here are swatches of all the shadows in the Laura Mercier Eye Art Artist's Palette. All the swatches in this post were done over Wet N Wild primer (reviewed here), because I wanted everything to stick well enough that I could clearly compare colors.

(1) Sparkling Dew, (2) Guava, (3), African Violet, (4) Plum Smoke, (5) Kir Royale, and (6) Violet Ink.

The top row contains most of the pinks and purples. The first three shades are a little sheer but, as I said, they can be built up, and Sparkling Dew and Guava seem invisible mainly because of how similar they are to my skin.

(1) Vanilla Nuts, (2) Primrose, (3) Fresco, (4) Bamboo, (5) Truffle, and (6) Espresso Bean.

The bottom row has the peaches and browns. Again, the peculiarly-named Vanilla Nuts is decently pigmented, but too close to my skin tone to show up well on my arm.

Below are some comparisons swatches I made. I only compared the shades that I thought were more interesting, which means I skipped the lightest two shadows (also because you wouldn't be able to see anything) and the darkest browns. I didn't find anything comparable to the two darkest purples (yay me), so they haven't been included either.

First up, the shimmery pinks/rose golds:

(1) Laura Mercier Guava, (2) Laura Mercier Primrose, (3) Covergirl Roses Champagne, (4) Covergirl Roses Rose Gold, (5) Wet N Wild Silent Treatment Trio (browbone shade), (6) theBalm Cindy-Lou Manizer, (7)  e.l.f. Enchanted (reviewed here and here), and (7) Urban Decay Fireball.

No dupes for me!

(1) Laura Mercier African Violet, and (2) purple from Paula's Choice Four Mattes and a Glam.

You can see here what African Violet looks like when it's built up a bit more. The Paula's Choice purple with gold shimmer looks almost pink in comparison, but it's definitely purple in its pan.

(1) Laura Mercier Fresco, (2) medium warm brown from Juvia's Place Nubian Palette, and (3) Wet N Wild Comfort Zone palette (brown eyelid shade).

Fresco is an awesome, unusual color. Depending on the lighting, it can look peachy or rosey, or taupey or clayish. I didn't have anything remotely like it.

(1) Laura Mercier Plum Smoke, (2) Makeup Geek Fairytale (reviewed here), and (3) Covergirl Roses Copper Rose.

Plum Smoke, my favorite shadow from the palette, looks absolutely purple in the palette, but next to Fairytale, you can see where its name comes from. The warm taupe in it makes it both smokey and plummy. It's another unusual shade.

(1) Laura Mercier Bamboo, (2) Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze (reviewed here), (3) BareMinerals A-ha, and (4) Wet N Wild Nutty.

Bamboo, unlike the others, is not unique. Bad to the Bronze looks a lot different in a swatch, but that's mainly because it's a cream that I applied with my finger. I find that all of these look very similar on my eyelids, though Bad to the Bronze can be intensified more easily. (The smearing is from Nutty, which is a bit messy, like most Wet N Wild shadows.)

This exercise was very useful for me in the end! Despite the repeated layers of primer all over my arms and the resulting dryness. It confirms that the Laura Mercier Eye Art Artist's Palette has, if not completely unique colors, a lot of shades that are unusual not duplicated in my unnecessarily large collection of eyeshadows. I've got a lot of use out of the palette already, and it's not something that I expect to get sick of in the future. The name is pretty stupid, though.

Kat Von D Studded Kiss Lipstick in Poe: I'm not too old for this?

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Ok, I know I just posted a review of a metallic silvery-lavender lipstick and complained that it made me feel old, and now I'm posting a photo of myself wearing navy blue lipstick and feeling fine. Well guess what? Fuck consistency.

I bought this set from Sephora, and it contains a mini Formula X nail polish and a mini Kat Von D Studded Kiss lipstick, both in the shade Poe. They've been on sale for $7.50 for a while now and going in and out of stock, so you might have to keep an eye on the page if you want to order online.

When I applied the lipstick at home for the first time, I immediately regretted buying it. I mean, I should have known better, because I've read a lot of pretty negative reviews of Poe, but for some reason I bought it anyway. I was curious. It's not easy to apply this shit evenly and opaquely. Just do a Google image search for it and look at all the iffy lip swatches--consider the worst ones the most accurate. The most annoying part was that, while it looked okay immediately after applying it, as soon as I so much as touched my lips together, all the color completely disappeared from the inner part. Blah.

I decided to give it another shot the next morning, however, and this time I applied it over top of Too Faced's lip primer (reviewed here). Surprisingly, the primer made a noticeable difference, despite the fact that I have tried it with many lipsticks in the past and it never helped. It does help with gloss, however, so this slippery-as-fuck lipstick must have something in common with lip gloss. I applied a layer of Poe, blotted, and added another layer. Then to clean up the edges, I used Tarina Tarantino eyeliner in Cute Robot, which is almost a perfect match, as you can see here:

These are the results, which aren't perfect, but at least it's not complete garbage anymore:

I actually liked how this color looked on my face. It wasn't as jarring and weird as I'd expected. (Excuse my sad-puppy expression. I know people object to the term Resting Bitch Face, but there has to be a reasonable substitute--Resting Grump Face? Nothing's Wrong That's Just My Face?)

It's interesting that both the lipstick and the nail polish really look purple in the tube/bottle, but they are definitely navy blue when you apply them. I think it must be the iridescent/multichrome shimmer, which shifts between a bunch of colors: purple-pink-orange-gold-green. The lipstick contains the same shimmer as the polish, which you can see in the bullet, but it doesn't show up much on my lips other than to add some extra dimension.

I posted a nail swatch on Instagram earlier this week. The nail polish is very opaque and pretty, in keeping with the generally good results I've had from Sephora's Formula X polishes, though it chipped slightly within 24 hours (not unusual for me).

So in the end, I don't think this set, at $7.50, was a waste of money, because the nail polish is nice and I managed to get the lipstick to work. On the other hand, I can't really recommend the full size lipstick at its regular price of $21, since I had to use two other products with it to get it to work. When Poe first came out, it was difficult to get your hands on blue lipstick, so it might have been worth the hassle--but now even Maybelline offers very similar options.

I don't know if I will wear this out of the house. I should. We'll see.

Urban Decay deals and free stuff (plus another duochrome!)

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HauteLook has 28 shades of the discontinued Urban Decay Revolution Lipsticks for $9.97 each. I highly recommend Rapture and the matte After Dark. I was hoping that they'd have Tilt, since I missed out on that one in the sales during the spring, but since they don't appear to, I will probably sit this one out. (Ulta has marked them back up to $21 for some reason.) Shipping for beauty products from HauteLook is about $6 and you usually have to wait a couple of weeks for your order to ship.

Since I got the order pictured above in the mail yesterday, I figured I'd make this post completely Urban Decay-themed. I got everything shown there for $10. It's actually just 4 items, but still! From upper left going clockwise: travel-size Perversion mascara, eyeshadow single in Sideline, blush sample card, and 7 eyeshadow samples cards with a primer sample.

The way to do this is to sign up for Urban Decay Junkies program, which is free. By doing so, you get free shipping on every order, and you get a free eyeshadow single of your choice (regular price $19) during your birthday month with any full-price order. That includes travel-size products, so I picked out the Perversion mascara, which I've had samples of before and really liked. One of these mini tubes lasts me at least three months, which is when you're usually advised to toss mascaras (though I rarely adhere to that rule). Anyway, I get about as much use out of it before it dries up as I do a full-size mascara. The free sample cards were added to my cart when I checked. And let me repeat: free shipping!

You also earn points for purchases and other things like posting reviews, referrals, and connecting your social media accounts. The points can be redeemed for $10 and $20 rewards toward purchases on the site. It's a pretty good program. I don't know if I'll make many other orders, but it's worth signing up for the birthday gift alone.

Finally, swatches of Urban Decay Sideline, since of course I chose a duochrome as my free eyeshadow. It's a peachy gold with a green shift. The green is really vibrant in person, but for some reason it doesn't come across strongly in my photos.

[Note: I also took new photos of the Maybelline duochrome Color Tattoo for my recent duochrome eyeshadows post. They still don't show it in all its true glory, but they are an improvement.]

And now I can die: Color Club Oil Slick multichrome nail polish swatches (with excessive photos)

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I felt like I was pretty much over nail polish after amassing a ridiculously large hoard and then purging dozens of bottles from it and not being able to find anyone to take them off my hands (pun intended?). The rejects are still sitting in a box in my closet taking up space. Anyone want them?

But then I saw photos of the Color Club Oil Slick Collection on beautygeeks, and my acquisitive drive fired right the fuck back up. Multichromes are my absolute favorites, and these ones looked as stunning as the many indie options out there, but more accessible. I've just never really got into indie polishes. There's definitely some fascinating stuff out there, but the prices and (often) the need to pounce before things go out of stock just don't appeal to me. ILNP, for instance, has dozens of multichromes - but the choice is overwhelming, and they are more expensive than Color Club. I've used and liked Color Club before, and I really hoped I would be able to find these polishes at Meijer, where I once got some of the Halo Hues (holos) for under $4. No such luck, of course.

Color Club Oil Slick collection: Cash Only, It's Raining Men, We'll Never Be Royals, and Burnt Out

I'm not impulsive. I told myself that I wasn't allowed to buy them until I could redeem 200 coins in Habitica. In the meantime, I wanted to find the cheapest possible price online. I only wanted four from the collection: Cash Only, It's Raining Men, We'll Never Be Royals, and Burnt Out. You can find them on ebay, and I'd heard that some people had picked them up there for about $6 each + free shipping. I checked several times over the course of a few weeks and never found anything lower that $8 + $3-4 shipping per bottle. Amazon's prices fluctuate, but over the weeks I was looking, they didn't go lower than ebay. I looked at several other beauty and nail supply sites, but when Color Club had a 31% off sale on their site for Halloween, I ended up getting them there for a total of about $33 including shipping for the four bottles. If you want a few bottles, I'd recommend getting them from the Color Club site, if you don't mind waiting for a sale (right now they have 25% off), though if you just want a single bottle, $10 + free shipping on Amazon is probably a better bet.

Color Club Oil Slick collection: Cash Only, It's Raining Men, We'll Never Be Royals, and Burnt Out

Anyway, enough shop(ping) talk. I have them now and they are nearly everything I imagined and we are very happy together. Some general points about the formula of all of them, and then I'll move on to photos. They are nice and opaque, so you only need two coats. If you're very good, you might be able to get away with just one coat. But all four of these polishes are quite thick, so I anticipate having to thin them sooner rather than later. That also means that you have to wipe the brush off carefully or you might end up with a big glob rolling down the wand as you're painting your nail and messing everything up. Dry time is average, but I always use a quick dry top coat, because I am not at all patient enough not to. I used Orly Polishield (reviewed here, but I've found recently that I like it much better when I use a thick coat of it) for all the photos below. I applied Cash Only without a basecoat and it chipped the next day. For all the others, I used Orly Bonder basecoat and went at least two days without chipping (it's rare that any polish lasts much longer than that for me).

So let's get on with the swatches. It's impossible to capture all the shifting colors in photos, because it's really movement that brings them alive. I did my best with my mediocre camera. I exercised almost no restraint, so I've put many, many photos below the cut. Indulge me! I haven't been this excited about nail polish in a long time.

First up: Cash Only. This was a surprise. I hesitated about getting it, but it turned out to be my second favorite of the bunch. It's really amazing and not like anything else I've seen. It would be hard to name all the colors in there. It goes from rosy beige, to gold, to steel grey, to silver, to lavender, to blue, to green, with a bunch of other shit in between.

The photos below are in all sorts of different lighting, and let me warn you one last time that I went overboard with the number of photos here (you can enlarge them by clicking on them). But they're all different! All equally important.

Review of L'Oreal Colour Riche La Lacque Lip Pen in Choco-Lacque (and how to get free stuff if you are willing to experiment on your face)

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Let's start with the best part: free stuff. I got the lipstick I'm reviewing here as compensation for doing some L'Oreal Consumer Testing. You sign up at that link, fill out some questionnaires, and they send you unlabeled products to test. Then, a few weeks later, they send you some other shit as compensation for doing the testing and reporting on your results.

It took over a year before I got into any trials. You will probably get disqualified from a lot of surveys before you get into one. That's normal. They also rarely notify you when there are new questionnaires, so you have to remember to check the site often to find them.

The things you test (and the compensation) could be from any brand under the L'Oreal umbrella, and could be makeup, skin care, or hair care. I've tested several mascaras and a couple of hair mousses (I think that's it). I have also heard about people testing eyebrow products, lipstick, foundation, and contouring kits, among other things.

The above photo shows some of the stuff I've got as compensation. Usually you get 1-3 products in return for each test you do, though the size of the compensation depends on the length of the trial, etc. In addition to the brands below (L'Oreal, Maybelline, and Lancôme), I've received a Garnier face wash and some other L'Oreal products, as well as a second Lancôme eyeshadow quint. I know other people have got Kiehl's as well. No Urban Decay, as far as I am aware! Too bad.

It can be a fun way to try new things, if you like surprises, and you're willing to risk using a product for a few days - or even a couple of weeks - that you don't love. (Of course, if you have a bad reaction to it, you stop using it immediately and notify them.) You also have to follow the rules: no discussing what you're testing online (or at all?), sometimes you have to return the test product when the testing period is up (though not usually), and you can't sell or trade your compensation products. Oh, and obviously you have to be a willing cog in the whole evil cosmetics marketing machine.

The lipstick I'm reviewing today is one that I got as compensation for doing L'Oreal testing. It's one of my favorite things I've been sent.  The whole thing is a bit of a crapshoot - the Maybelline lipstick in the photo above looks like this. I'm guessing the products they send are overstock in most cases. But I'm glad they had extras of this one.

I posted this photo of Choco-Lacque on Instagram last month, because I wore it to speak at a symposium, and it was great for that purpose. It's your typical work-friendly rosy-mauve or pinky-neutral or MLBB or whatever. It's also really comfortable to wear (not drying) and it lasts a long time. That's important for teaching or anything else where you're going to be talking for a long time. It won't survive greasy food, but that's a long shot anyway. It's sort of thick and sticky, but in a good, comfortable way, and I expect it's that texture that makes it last. I also like the packaging. I find lipsticks in crayon form or anything with a smaller tip and a longer case to be easier to apply neatly.

L'Oreal has two variations in this line: Colour Riche La Lacque and Le Matte. The latter is oviously supposed to be matte, but it was never quite clear to me what La Lacque was supposed to be. And now that I have one . . . still not totally clear. The Revlon Lacquer Balms are a little sheer and shiny, which sounds about right for "lacquer" to me. This La Lacque lipstick is neither. It's not matte, but it's also not particularly shiny. Satin at best.

See? Come to think if it, I suspect there are some brands that would label this matte (like Bite or Urban Decay). (The swatch color below is more accurate. For some reason it wanted to photograph really pink in the lip close-up. You can also see it on my face here, and the color is more accurate in that photo as well.)

Here's Choco-Lacque compared to some other products in the same general color family  - demonstrating that I have too many, but they're just so damned easy to wear (except when they're too easy):

Swatches of L'Oreal Colour Riche La Lacque Lip Pen in Choco-Lacque, Revlon Balm Stain in Honey, Lord & Berry Crayon Lipstick in Intimacy, Burt's Bees Lip Crayon in Sedona Sands, Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick in Touch of Spice, and Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick in Lust for Blush

Revlon Balm Stain in Honey is very close to the same color, but less opaque. Lord & Berry Crayon Lipstick in Intimacy is darker with more brown in it, with a similar finish, but not as good wear time. Burt's Bees Lip Crayon in Sedona Sands is sheerer and more beige/nude. Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick in Touch of Spice has more reddish-brown in it, is much darker (very similar to L&B Intimacy), and is, of course, more matte. Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick in Lust for Blush is cooler and more matte.

If you like Revlon Honey as much as I do, Choco-Lacque is like a more opaque version of it, and equally comfortable to wear, in my opinion. I don't hate having them both on hand. These are exactly the kind of lipsticks I like to wear when I want to feel like a competent, serious adult, without boring myself.

Here's the potential dealbreaker: The floral fragrance in Choco-Lacque is really fucking strong, and it lingers for a long time. I'm not the best at identifying scents, but to me it's a combination of rose and violet. This is (apparently?) my only L'Oreal lipstick, but I believe it's the usual L'Oreal scent. I happen to be a big fan of rose-scented lip products, so I completely love it. And it doesn't have a perfumey taste, from what I've noticed, so that's good. If you hate scented lipsticks, however, stay far away from this one.

Anyway, this was a pleasant surprise for me, and free! (Well, technically I paid for it with my time and labor testing whatever it was I tested.) I don't know how easy the La Lacque lipsticks are to find in the drugstore at the moment, because I haven't really been looking, but I believe they are now permanent. ULTA has them online, though (they mislabel this one "Coco-laque"). Have you tried any of the La Lacque or La Matte lipsticks? Are the others as good as this one? Can you handle the (beautiful) stench?

Primer vs. Primer: Comparison and review of e.l.f Mineral/Studio Eyeshadow Primer and Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base (plus Wet N Wild Fergie Eyeshadow Primer)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Here is a quick comparison of a couple of high and low end eyeshadow primers to supplement my previous post on the subject. This time we have e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer, which sells for $3 for 0.15 oz., and Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, which sells for $25 for 0.26 oz. (I got a mini tube as a gift-with-purchase). The e.l.f. primer is labeled "Mineral" on the tube, but confusingly listed under "Studio Eyeshadow Primer" on their website. It's the same product. I have it in Sheer.

I swatches these two primers next to Wet N Wild Fergie Take on the Day Eyeshadow Primer in the shade that is ridiculously and unhelpfully named For My Primas. It's the sheer version with no shimmer. This is my favorite primer, so it serves as a good basis for comparison. You can see it compared to other primers in the old post.

These are the things I look for in a primer, in order of importance, since I have fairly oily eyelids: (1) prevents creasing; (2) prevents fading/prolongs wear time; and (3) intensifies the color/opacity of the eyeshadow. So these are the criteria I use to judge a primer, which you can keep in mind if some of them are of less importance to you.

Here are swatches of the same eyeshadow alone and over each of the primers. I gave away the blue Covergirl shadow that I used last time, but I still have this equally crappy one, because the gorgeous color keeps me hanging on: Covergirl Eye Enhancers in Turquoise Tempest. As you can see, it barely shows up at all without primer, so it's a serious test for a primer.

Comparison swatches (left to right) with no primer, over Wet N Wild Fergie Take on the Day Primer, e.l.f. Mineral/Studio Eyeshadow Primer, and Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base.

You can see from the swatches that the WNW outperforms both the e.l.f. and the Nars in terms of intensifying the shadow. It also outperforms the other two in both other categories as well. No creasing and little fading for 8 hours+.

The e.l.f. primer helps with creasing a bit, but it's not great. By that I mean I can go an hour or two before creasing instead of 15 minutes without primer. It does not make eyeshadow last much longer in general - most of it has worn or faded away after a few hours. It also only slightly improves the pigmentation of eyeshadow. It isn't completely transparent, either. It has some pale pigment in it, which affects the color of the eyeshadow, making it a little lighter. It's hard to tell on my very pasty arm, but if you look at the few millimeters surrounding the swatch, you may be able to see a light halo. This could be a problem for people with darker skin than mine.

The Nars primer does prevent creasing pretty well, so that's good. It helps prolong the wear of the eyeshadow a bit, but not all day. And the intensification of the eyeshadow color is good but not great. It's completely transparent when it sets, and it does create a smooth surface for your eyeshadow, if that's something that's important to you. I don't really care about that, personally. I like that it's not sticky, but I don't particularly need smoother eyelids.

I can't really think of any good reason to spend $25 on this Nars stuff, unless you really like a completely transparent or smoothing primer and have a hard time finding one. It has a lot of positive reviews out there, so I guess it's doing something for someone. I wonder if they are from people who haven't tended to use primers in the past (since it's certainly better than nothing) or who are mega-fans of Nars.

This e.l.f. primer should be skipped entirely. If you want a super cheap primer, go for the $1 e.l.f. version (also reviewed here), which is much better  If you want a very cheap primer, buy the Wet N Wild. I still haven't found anything better, especially when you take the price into account!

TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude Eyeshadow Palette vs. Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes Eyeshadow Palette

Disclosure: This post contains referral links.
I got TheBalm's Meet Matt(e) Nude eyeshadow palette in September after reading positive reviews of it and deciding that I needed some less shimmery eye options for work. I picked it up for $21 from Hautelook, which, as I've said before, is really the best place I've come across to buy TheBalm products, so long as you can be a little patient. They're almost always marked down 50% and they have a good selection there, including most of the newer palettes and other products. (TheBalm usually has a 50% off sale once or twice a year on their own site, but it almost always seems to be a mess, with the site crashing all over the place, and it only lasts 24 hours.) TheBalm is on HauteLook at this very moment, which is why I figured it would be a good idea to write up this comparison today (in case my saying it's "fine" ignites a burning passion in anyone?).

I posted a quick review of the palette on Instagram and noted that the shadows were fine, but that there were no good highlight shades. Most of the shades are very dark, with the exception of one fairly stark white, which I just don't find useful.

Then in December Paula's Choice had a deal where you could get their The Nude Mattes eyeshadow palette, which is usually $40, for free with a $60 purchase. Since I had some credits to use and I needed to replace some of my regular products anyway, I made a bigger order than I would usually do in order to get the eyeshadow palette. Exactly what they wanted me to do. I was a good mark, obviously. Why do I need another eyeshadow palette when I have approximately a billion fucking eyeshadows that I am never going to use up, you ask? I DON'T. This is why I'm trying to get my shit together. And as part of that, I've decided that I am going to get rid of one of these two palettes. I wanted to compare them, and I was not-so-secretly hoping that TheBalm came out behind, since it's less versatile. Since I wanted to do the comparison for myself anyway, and since writing these things out helps me make decisions, I figured I might as well make a post of it. So here we go.

Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude

Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude

The comparison is pretty simple. I used the brush that came with the PC palette, which is a soft but otherwise not very effective brush, to swatch shades that look similar. Obviously they are not identical, but I thought it made sense to compare them this way. I didn't swatch every shade. TheBalm palette has 9 and the PC palette has 12. I didn't do a comparison for the white ("Matt Malloy") or the yellowish ("Matt Lombardi") shades, since nothing in the PC palette came close, and they are shadows I'm not likely to use anyway. Here's how things compare without the use of primer.

Swatches of Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes (top row) and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude (bottom row)

Overall, I guess TheBalm's shadows are slightly more pigmented (maybe?), but the think the difference is negligible. TheBalm's browns perform a bit better, but the grays/taupes are the same or worse. Note that the PC shadows might be just a little more powdery, in case mess bothers you, and the powder does show up on the black packaging. The texture of the TheBalm shadows is not perfect, either, though.

Then I swatched two similar shades from each palette (a grey/taupe and a brown) over Wet N Wild eyeshadow primer (my favorite primer, all things considered), since I always use primer when I wear eyeshadow. It makes sense to compare them that way, for me.

Swatches of Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes (top row) and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude (bottom row)

With primer, there's really no difference at all. That means I'm going to ditch the palette from TheBalm and keep the one from Paula's Choice.

In an overall comparison, they each have strengths and weaknesses - and since their regular price is very close ($42 for Meet Matt(e) Nudes vs. $40 for The Nude Mattes), they are worth considering together. The advantage of the PC set is that it has more shades, and that it has more light shades to use for highlighting. It even has one shimmer/satin light shade to use for that purpose. It's a little heavy on the darker shades, I think, which is a negative for me. It goes from very light to very dark quickly, without much in the middle. I would gladly exchange the black, which is a color that I already have a million versions of and one that I rarely use, for another medium shade. Maybe a lighter taupe.

TheBalm's palette has the advantage of containing more than twice as much product for only an extra $2 (25.5 g vs. 12 g), so value wise it's a better deal. (You do get a brush with the PC set, and they clearly tried to go for a non-crap brush, but it's pretty lackluster, so I'm not factoring it into the value.) Meet Matt(e) Nude also has some more unusual shades, if you already own a lot of neutrals. But for me that wasn't a big plus, since the unusual ones are a yellowish beige that looks dreadful on me, and a barely-off white that I really can't find a use for. It's also not really a palette than I can use on its own, because I like to have a highlight color, and that white isn't doing it for me. So it wouldn't be great for travel, for example. (Maybe the original Meet Matt(e) palette would be a better choice, but I haven't tried it. And I won't be buying more eyeshadow for a while.) As for the design of the packaging? That might be a plus or a minus for you. I'm personally not a huge fan of the big dude face on it.

For me, the PC palette makes more sense to hold on to. If you were considering both of them at full price, TheBalm is a better value - and it is especially a lot of product for your dollar if you get it half price from Hautelook. The best deal you're probably going to get on the Paula's Choice palette, unless they give it away as a gift with purchase again, is to use someone's referral link (here's mine) for $10 off a purchase on a new account. And wait until they offer free shipping, which happens pretty frequently. $30 is better than $40.

I am usually someone with Opinions, but I'm going to have to say this one comes down to what you will personally get more use out of. In terms of performance, the two are virtually the same. You get more product from TheBalm, but if you're never going to use it all, then that's not necessarily worth paying for. I'm going to ditch TheBalm's palette, because it's taking up space, and I need to be more brutal about culling my hoard.