Review: L'Oreal Extraordinaire by Colour Riche Lip Color in Blushing Harmony

Purchased by Me

Are you still on the lipstick-lipstain-lipgloss hybrid train? If so, then join the club! I'm loving all of these hybrids that have hit drugstores in the past couple of years, and I'm determined to try them all, I tell you!

A few months ago, I purchased one of L'Oreal's Extraordinaire Lip Colors from the Target website. I don't usually purchase my drugstore products online (you know I love to use coupons and wait for good sales at the drugstores). But these L'Oreal lip colors don't come safety-sealed, and you know how I feel about gloss-type products without safety-seals (please, L'Oreal, safety-seal these!). Anyway, so even though the Extraordinaire Lip Colors came out earlier this year, it took me a while to get one since I waited until I had several things I needed to order from the Target site and then I plopped this baby into my cart:

L'Oreal Extraordinaire by Colour Riche Lip Color in Blushing Harmony

(retail: between $8 and $9.99 depending on the retailer; 0.18 oz)

There are 16 shades in this range and I narrowed my choice down to Blushing Harmony. So let's see how it worked for me, shall we?

I like that L'Oreal put little sparkly flakes on the label to indicate the finish.

I had to really enlarge this swatch to show you the little iridescent flakes in this formula (they're tiny!):

You still can't really see them above unless you look toward the bottom of the swatch. 

And here's what Blushing Harmony looks like on me:

I've had a long track-record of L'Oreal lip colors not looking quite the same on me as they do in the tube, and this one's no different. If you look at the tube again, you can see that this looks like it's going to be an opaque berry color. In reality, this is a soft pinky-brownish-blush shade (true to its name) and it's a bit on the sheer side. This was actually a pleasant surprise, because I find this shade is a great Your Lips But Better color for me. The sparkle is very subtle and you really only get glimpses of it from time to time when the light catches your lips just so. In my pic above, I deliberately kept the lighting a little low to catch a bit of that sparkle.

As for the texture, this formula probably most closely resembles the Fergie Vicious Varnish lip colors to me, although it's not quite as heavy as the Fergie version (I don't think the Fergie formula is too heavy, but this one is even lighter). There is no stickiness to this formula--it feels nice and buttery on the lips and it seems a bit hydrating as well (it definitely doesn't dry out my lips).

Wear-time is decent. I can get about three hours from one application, but at the three hour mark this color in particular really starts to look invisible on my lips (although I can still feel it). I don't know if the wear-time would have been better if I had chosen a deeper shade, but that could very well be the case.

The fragrance is NOT like other L'Oreal lip colors. There's no rose note here; it's more of a light, fruity fragrance that reminds me of peaches. The flavor also reminds me of peaches. I'd say both the flavor and fragrance are in the medium range (not super overwhelming but you can definitely detect them). Actually, I just realized that the flavor and fragrance of this lip color really remind me of the old school L'Oreal Shine Delice lip colors from the 90s! If you remember those, I would love to know if you agree.

FINAL VERDICT: I don't think this color has enough pigment for it to work on deeper skintones (I feel like if I were just a shade or two deeper, this color would probably look invisible on me) but I think that if you're an NC20 or lighter, this could be a nice everyday, work-appropriate Your Lips But Better type of shade. I like that it wears down evenly and I can pretty much apply it without a mirror. It gives me a polished look when I'm not trying to make a statement with my lip color, and I love that the formula isn't sticky, it has some nice shine to it, and it smells and tastes like peaches. Overall, this color isn't quite what I thought it would be based on the tube, but I'm very happy with my purchase and I would certainly entertain the thought of purchasing additional shades. This is definitely one of those "keep it in your purse" types of colors that would come in handy when you're out and about.

Do you own any L'Oreal Extraordinaire by Colour Riche Lip Colors? If so, I would love to hear from you!

PS: If you order the Target Beauty Box for Fall 2014, you'll get one of these but the shade will vary. Could be a nice way to try one if you haven't already!

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.