L'Oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation

With Korean beauty trends taking the Western world over by storm, it was about time a cushion foundation made its way to American drugstores. This gorgeous rose gold packaging caught my eye and after reading a couple positive reviews about L'Oreal's new True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation, I wanted to give it a try.  I selected the color N2, which is the lightest color I could find in the line. Buyer beware, this foundation line does not have extensive shades to pick from! 

The pretty reflective compact opens up to reveal a little puff settled into a plastic cover. Lift the cover up to reveal the saturated cushion sponge on the inside. 

Make sure after every use you close the plastic part tight to ensure your foundation doesn't dry out! 

Since the cushion is totally saturated, the foundation appears pretty dark in the container. A very light bounce with a beauty blender (my preferred method of application) or a finger gives you A LOT of product. One bounce is enough for me to cover my whole face, and then another extra bounce will cover problem areas. 

L: no makeup, R: L'Oreal Cushion foundation, one coat

I find this foundation to give medium coverage and does a great job of evening out skin tone while giving a natural, dewy finish. Speaking of dewy, now that NYC is becoming a bit more humid as we get deeper into the Summer, I'm finding I need to blot my skin nearing the end of the day as my t-zone and forehead get rather oily. I definitely think this is a lovely foundation for the drier fall and winter months, however, and will give you a healthy glow. This foundation is pricey for drugstore at $15.99 and only lasts about a month before you're pressing into the cushion hard to get the same foundation payoff. I have flipped the sponge over in mine and resorted to pressing into it in different ways to get all the product out. I suppose that is the drawback of the fun little sponge is that you may be wasting quite a bit of product!

I definitely like this foundation and see myself repurchasing it once I escape the humidity of this NYC summer.  Check it out if you're looking for a beautiful foundation with a gorgeous finish in unique packaging!

Check it out HERE!
xxSJ

Review: Maybelline Line Stiletto Liquid Eyeliner in 'Blackest Black'

 Today's review is of a new liquid eyeliner I've been trying out. I was tired of getting gold flecks all over my face from the packaging of my L'Oreal Carbon Black Lineur Intense eyeliner, and I wasn't quite ready to shell out $20 for Stila's felt tip eyeliner pen. I decided to go with Maybelline's contribution to the eyeliner game which is the Line Stiletto Ultimate Precision Liquid Eyeliner.
The black and silver packaging is really pretty looking and quite sleek for a drugstore product.

 The precision tip the product touts is not as precise as I would like. Similar to the L'Oreal Lineur Intense (my review here!), the applicator ends in a rounded tip rather than a pointed tip like the Stila eyeliner pen I love so much. It makes creating a cat eye or wing slightly less precise so I prefer to use this liner for simple lined eyes.

I do really like the formula of the eyeliner itself, however, which makes this eyeliner pen an everyday item for me.  The black color is very inky and remains shiny through out the day which I think is prettier and daintier than a matte black liner look. This liner is also smudge free for a whole 24 hours. See this eyeliner on me here!

I prefer this liner over the L'Oreal Lineur Intense because I find the color to be a bit more inky and the packaging will not fleck off on me in the future like the gold packaging on the L'Oreal product is now.

This liner will set you back about $7 and I do think it is worth the small dent in your wallet. Other than the slightly less than precise tip, the formulation is great and worry free through out the day.

Unfortunately this is another fail in my adventure trying to find the perfect dupe for the Stila Liquid Eyeliner pen I love ever so much. This item falls just short!

xxSJ

Review: L'Oreal Colour Riche Balm 'Rose Elixir'

Today's review is of the L'Oreal Colour Riche Balm in the color 'Rose Elixir.' I totally didn't go into the store expecting to pick out this product but it caught my eye! Just look at the pretty packaging!

It's packaging like this that reminds me L'Oreal owns YSL... this packaging is so reminiscent of the YSL lip product packaging with the shiny gold tube and twist up product... it feels so luxurious especially considering it was under $6! 

This product is a balm which means it is a sheer wash of color with an extremely moisturizing finish.  I'm in love with the color of this product and the moisture it leaves behind...it's amazing.  

You can see how sheer this color is in the picture above.  It really just adds a slight tint.  The selling point of this product is the moisturizing finish it leaves behind. I don't think I need to lament my nasty-ass chapped lips anymore on this blog as I've done that plenty already...but they be nasty. And chapped. And this product provides them with a bit of relief.  My one complaint is that the moisturizing effect only lasts about two hours. The great thing though is that since the color is such a sheer pigment, you don't need a mirror to reapply!!

The last great thing about this product is the smell. Usually all L'Oreal products make me want to run away screaming...they smell so stinky! The lipsticks smell like play-doh roses--I just honestly hate them and the smell is the reason why you never see L'Oreal lipsticks reviewed on this blog. I can't get past it.

The smell of this balm, however, is UH-MAZE-ZING.  It smells like marshmallows! Seriously! And the sweet scent lingers on your lips. Everything about this product gets a massive thumbs up from me. I wish it lasted a little longer but I can't expect these lips of mine not to soak up every last bit of delicious moisture this balm provides!
Do your lips a favor and grab this inexpensive colored balm. I'm lovin it!
xxSJ

Review: L'Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara

I've been trying out this mascara for about two months and I have some pretty definitive thoughts about it! It is the L'Oreal Voluminous Butterfly mascara, and, to be completely honest, I bought it because I love butterflies.  I also really like the silver and black packaging. I think it looks quite elegant and sleek on my makeup vanity.

The mascara is labeled as Butterfly mascara because of the wand. It is a four-combed wand; two of the combs have longer plastic spindles that taper off to short ones, and two of the combs are short plastic spindles for your lower lashes.  The formula of this mascara is fairly wet when applied, but it dries very quickly. 

Here are my au natural eyelashes:

And here we are with one coat of the mascara applied:

I found this mascara super easy to apply as the curved wand fits my eye shape really well.  This mascara really bumps up the volume of your lashes at their roots and then separates the lashes at the tips. I do think this mascara gives a winged effect to the lashes. 

I really like this mascara! My one complaint is that it has a smell...it smells like artificial roses, or like really old makeup.  It's kind of odd but you can only smell it while you're applying and then it goes away.

I would definitely repurchase this mascara in the future!
xxSJ

Review: L'Oreal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Eyeliner in 'Black Mica'

I have recently fallen in love with a liquid eyeliner....an eyeliner this post is not going to be about. Stila's Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner is so amazing and it was all I could use over the summer. Unfortunately, my miracle marker gasped its last little dying breath a week ago so I had to find a replacement... on the pursuit for a cheaper alternative to the Stila $20 pricetag, I picked up the heavily recommended L'Oreal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Eyeliner in the color 'Black Mica:'

I like the look of the packaging as there is no brand on the container whatsoever! That's kind of nice as it gives the product a rather sleek finish. The product is very lightweight and made of plastic, however, so it doesn't necessarily feel as luxurious as it looks.

There is the little felt tip. Something to note is that you do have to re-dip the applicator into the tube to get more product (like a quill and ink!) and for me, there is not enough product in one dip to complete both eyes.

The tip is very flexible as you can see in the above picture from me bending this guy against the lid. This is rather nice because stiff applicators can create a rather wobbly looking line on your eye and they are not quite as forgiving if you make a mistake, which, let's be real, no body's perfect! The flexible tip is definitely a plus.

Here is the color on my hand done in one, rather wobbly, stroke.  The color glides on very smoothly and there are not any transparent spots. I like the application quite a bit! I wanted to compare to some other eyeliners:

The left is the L'Oreal Lineur Intense, the middle is the Stila Stay All Day Waterproof liner, and the right is Urban Decay's Perversion pencil liner. Perversion definitely takes the cake for pigment, but it appeared that the L'Oreal and the Stila liners were actually quite comparable! Could I have found the perfect replacement? Weeeeeelllllll.... not exactly.
I haven't quite gotten used to the applicator tip not being as fine as the Stila marker was, so I find the wing of my eyeliner isn't quite as precise as I would prefer. Perhaps that would take some practice? Additionally, I find when this liner is applied on top of eyeshadow, it takes on a rather gray tinge instead of a pure black pigment... disappointment!

I will say that the liner definitely lasts all day with no flaking so thats great and I will definitely continue to use this product until I find a better replacement...or perhaps I'll bite the $20 bullet and revert back to my Stila ways...either way I'll keep you posted!