First Impressions: LORAC Holiday 2015 Limited Edition Love, Lust & Lace PRO Eye Collection

Press Sample

LORAC Holiday 2015 Limited Edition Love, Lust & Lace PRO Eye Collection
(retail: $28 for three full-size products)

A little while back, I showed you all of the LORAC Holiday 2015 value sets (click here if you missed that post) and more recently, I gave you a preview of the LORAC Black Friday/Cyber Monday palettes. Today, I'd like to give you my first impressions of one of these new Holiday 2015 value sets, which I received from LORAC for review. 

The Holiday 2015 PRO Eye Collection set is now available at Ulta (in-store and online) and the LORAC website (free everyday shipping on all orders). Let's take a closer look:

This set contains a full-size PRO Plus Fiber Mascara, a full-size Cobalt Blue Pocket PRO Eye Shadow Trio (EXCLUSIVE TO THIS SET), and a full-size Front of the Line PRO Eye Pencil in Black. 

Since the PRO Plus Fiber Mascara retails for $23 individually, and the Front of the Line PRO Eye Pencil retails for $20 individually, I'd say this set is already an excellent value at $28. But you're also getting an eyeshadow trio that contains three PRO shades (two are from the PRO Palette 2 and one is from the Mega PRO Palette 1; more on that in a bit). If you divide this set equally, it breaks down to $9.33 per item which, as we all know, is comparable to drugstore prices. 

LORAC PRO Plus Fiber Mascara

This mascara comes with a pear-shaped brush and as you can see in my close-up below, the formula contains tiny fibers. 

I have only had a chance to use this mascara a handful of times so far (remember, this is a "first impressions" post and not a full review), but I can tell you that I have not had any issues with flakes or fiber fallout so far. I am sensitive to certain mascaras with fibers, but I haven't had any issues with this one in terms of fibers dislodging from my lashes and getting into my eyes.

That said, this mascara isn't huge on volume for me, but it's nice for definition, separation and length. If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know that my lashes are basically non-existent and I actually prefer mascaras with some "clumpage" to them (not Tammy Faye Baker style, but I do like a thicker, almost clumpy look, because you really can't see my lashes any other way). This mascara didn't give me that "clumpage," but two coats did deliver length and definition. When I pushed my luck with three coats, I did see small deposits of fibers on the tips of my lashes, so that's something to keep in mind. I would limit my coats to two with this one in the future. 

Staying power was quite good for me. No raccoon eyes after 8+ hours of wear. I did have to use makeup remover to fully remove this mascara--my normal cleansing oil didn't fully do the trick. 

LORAC Front of the Line PRO Eye Liner in Black

This is an automatic, twist-up eyeliner pencil (my favorite style ever--I hate sharpening). I love the sleek case, and I'm happy to report that I am also loving the actual liner. This is not one of those smooth-as-silk glide-on-with-zero-pressure-required types of eyeliners. This is a drier formula, and it requires a tiny bit more pressure than, say, a UD liner during application. I LOVE this type of liner, because I find that glide-on-like-silk liners never manage to stay put on my super oily skin. Liners with a slightly drier formula like this LORAC one tend to perform very well on my oily skin, and so far I have zero complaints about this one.

It's been unseasonably warm here in San Diego this fall, so I was able to test this on a 90-degree day and it held on like a champ for 8+ hours on my upper lash line. No bleeding into the outside corners of my eyes, which is a miracle unto itself when it comes to pencil liners and my oily skin when it's warm out. And it also did well on my waterline (stayed put for 5+ hours before I started to notice fading). I haven't tried this liner on my lower lash line yet.

I also want to mention that this is a rich, deep, saturated black. You'll see a swatch in a moment.

LORAC Cobalt Blue Pocket PRO Eye Shadow Palette

This trio contains three shades: Cream, Nectar, and Mocha. Cream was originally in the Mega PRO Palette 1, while Nectar and Mocha were originally in the PRO Palette 2.

The photo below is a more accurate representation of the colors in this trio:

The total weight of this trio is 0.15 oz., which breaks down to 0.05 oz. per shade. For reference, the pans in the PRO Palette 2 are 0.02 oz. each, and the pans in the Mega PRO Palette 1 are 0.019 oz. each. So you are definitely getting more product per shade in this trio than in either of the original palettes.

All products swatched on bare skin (no primer):

Cream, Nectar, Mocha (and liner in Black)

I wanted to show you these shades (and liner) without any primer, to give you a better idea of their true pigmentation. Over primer, all three shades do become even more intense, but I actually wore all three shadows WITHOUT primer a few times, and I was very happy with the results in terms of pigmentation and staying power. I didn't have an issue with getting these shadows to show up without primer, and they were all very easy to apply and blend, as per most all PRO shadows from LORAC. After 8+ hours, these shadows showed very minimal signs of fading without primer. The texture of these shadows is right on par with most PRO shadows from LORAC. They're smooth, buttery and easy to work with.

This trio creates such a lovely daytime eye look. If I were going on a business trip, I could easily pack just this trio with no other shadows and be good to go. You can wear just Nectar from lashline to crease, or you can add Mocha to the crease and Cream to highlight...you get the idea. You can also wear Mocha on the lid for a more dramatic look to transition into nighttime.

I also want to mention that the liner looks a tiny bit brown in my photo but please note that in real life, it is true black with no brown undertones.

(no primer)

LORAC Mocha next to:

Urban Decay Ambush and Make Up For Ever I544 Pink Granite

Since Mocha has some red undertones to it (it's so pretty in person), I thought I'd grab a few other shadows in my stash that also have some red undertones just for a quick comparison, for perspective. The LORAC is actually my favorite of the three, just in terms of how it looks on my NC20 skintone. I love it as a crease shade and also all over the lid. I also want to mention that Nectar is a fantastic transition shade (that's been discussed by many bloggers, I know!).

As for Cream, I wanted to show you this:

Sorry for the messy palettes, but this photo was an afterthought that I quickly took after I already had written this blog post. Since I own the original Mega PRO Palette 1 (which, as you can see in my pic, gets a lot of use), I wanted to show you how the original Cream compares to the Cream in this holiday trio. As I mentioned earlier, the pans in the Mega PRO Palette 1 are 0.019 oz., while the pans in the holiday trio are 0.05 oz. Hopefully this visual helps! I also want to mention that the texture of Cream in the holiday trio seems a tiny bit drier to me. It's not something you may even notice if you get it, because the texture is still buttery and smooth, but I feel like the texture of the Cream in my Mega PRO is just a teeny tiny bit more buttery. 

I hope this post gives you a better idea of what you can expect if you purchase this set during the holidays. If you have any questions, as always, just leave a comment below.

Again, the Holiday 2015 PRO Eye Collection set is now available at Ulta (in-store and online) and the LORAC website (free everyday shipping on all orders). To view the entire LORAC Holiday 2015 collection, click here. For a preview of the LORAC Black Friday/Cyber Monday palettes, CLICK HERE.

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.Blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews. For more information, click here.