Review: New L'Oreal Infallible Le Rouge Lip Color in Eternal Rose

When I first saw this pic of the new L'Oreal Infallible Le Rouge display, I was captivating by all the pretty colors and the prospect of a new, long-wear lipstick formula that might not dry out my already-dry lips.

Well, I finally found these lipsticks at my local CVS so I purchased this one:

L'Oreal Infallible Le Rouge Lip Color in Eternal Rose

(retail: around $8.99)

Let's start with what I like about this new product. First, I LOVE the case. I love that it's got essentially the same shape and design of the Color Riche case, only it's clear with silver accents. 

I also like that this product has essentially no flavor or fragrance. Those of you who don't like the scent and flavor of Color Riche lipsticks can rest easy with these.

The size of the actual stick itself is smaller than Color Riche, and more along the lines of the original Infallible lipsticks. I thought I had one of the originals, but I guess I don't. So I took the following pic of Infallible Le Rouge next to other L'Oreal products that I own, just to give you some perspective on its size:

As you can see, it's closer to the width of a Color Juice stick, and smaller than a Color Riche stick.

Forever on a quest for the perfect pinky-brown creme drugstore lipstick, I debated long and hard until I finally settled on Eternal Rose. Looking at it in the tube, I detected no shimmer, and it seemed more on the neutral/warm end of the spectrum.

Sadly, when I applied it, it leaned much, much cooler on my lips:

Darn you, L'Oreal! Always fooling me with your hidden micro-shimmer!  Perhaps it's the lighting in my drugstore but I swear I didn't see shimmer when I bought this. Also, I don't know about you, but with almost every L'Oreal lip color I own, the shade on my lips is one to two shades lighter than the shade in the tube. This ALWAYS happens to me, and in fact I was debating on purchasing the next darkest shade of Le Rouge but I was hopeful that just once, I'd get the color in the tube when I applied it to my lips. Strike two.

The reason this leans so cool on my lips is because the micro-shimmer in this lipcolor is a cool, blueish-pink. This completely cancels out the pinky-brown base for me and makes the whole color look just so, so wrong for my skintone. In fact, Eternal Rose looks even more blueish-pink in real life than it does in these pics. I've worn it for about six days in a row now and every time I look in the mirror, I am just not happy with how it looks against my skintone.

But enough about my poor color choice, let's talk about the texture:

This lipcolor is nicely pigmented, and as you can see in the pic above, one swipe and it's pretty much opaque. For a long-wear lipcolor, I don't find it overly drying, and it also glides on very easily. Much more easily, in fact, than I anticipated. It does, however, have the same feel on my lips as your standard long-wear lip color. It's a bit heavy, a bit waxy, and it feels like, any minute now, it's going to feel crumbly when I smoosh my lips together. Only guess what? It never does get crumbly! That's a serious plus, and it's what has kept me wearing it again and again for the past week. 

I find that this lipcolor stays put for several hours on my lips, and if you can get past the standard long-wear texture and feeling on your lips, this might be a good option for you (if you can find a color that suits your skintone). BUT, I do want to tell you that I wore this lipcolor on Christmas Eve and ate some greasy chips (hey, it's the holidays) and the grease from the chips completely disintegrated this lipcolor. I looked in the mirror when I was done and my lips were bare.

So as long as you stay away from greasy foods (which you should anyway, right?) then you'll probably get this to last throughout a meal. But I wouldn't push it--it never lasted through two meals for me.

Final Verdict: I don't think L'Oreal reinvented the wheel for this new long-wear lipcolor formula, since it does have a similar feel and texture compared to other long-wear lipcolors I've used in the past. However, it never crumbles on lips, no matter how long I wear it, so that is a HUGE improvement over older formulas. I also love that there is essentially no flavor or fragrance to this product. However, it may be a challenge for you to find a color that suits you (what you see in the tube might not be what you get on your lips) so be prepared for that. Also, this lipcolor probably won't last you through a heavy meal, but it should last you through your morning coffee and a mid-morning snack.

Have you spotted Infallible Le Rouge in your area yet? Do you think you'll give these new lipcolors a try? I'd love to hear from you!