Review: L'Oreal Mother's Day 2015 Colour Riche Collection Exclusive Matte Red Lipsticks

Purchased by Me 

For Mother's Day 2015, L'Oreal has released a new Collection Exclusive containing matte red lipsticks and accompanying red nail polishes (I don't think the nail polishes are matte, but I didn't buy any so I cannot confirm that).

This display is now popping up at drugstores across the country, and I want to thank several of you for taking the time to share pics of this collection with me both via email and social media. I stumbled across the display myself (at Rite Aid) and also snapped some pics. I apologize for not sharing the pics that were submitted to me in this post, but I wanted to keep this as short as possible since I'll also be reviewing two of the lipsticks here today. Thanks again if you shared pics with me over the past few weeks--I truly appreciate it!

Before I get to my review of the two lipsticks I purchased, let's take a look at the display...

L'Oreal Mother's Day 2015 Colour Riche Collection Exclusive

(retail: $4.99 - $8.99 each at Rite Aid)

The mascaras in this display are all repromotes from the permanent line. There are nine new shades of lipstick and nine new shades of nail color in this display. Please note that I do not know if these lipsticks and nail polishes are limited edition. Since other Collection Exclusive products are permanent, I can't say for sure that these won't be integrated into the permanent line at some point. 

BUT, I can tell you that in the UK, these lipsticks are limited edition--it say so right on the L'Oreal UK website (the UK apparently only has four of the nine shades that we have here in the US). So if you like something you see here, better to buy now than regret later, if these do end up limited edition.

Julianne's Red, Doutzen's Red

I didn't have my glasses with me when I spotted this display, so I actually didn't realize that the tubes were upside-down until I saw these pics. Sorry about that! 

PLEASE NOTE that the lipstick colors do NOT necessarily match the nail polish colors in this collection. So please look to the actual color on the display for a better representation of each lipstick shade, and not to the nail polish. 

Freida's Red, Blake's Red

Zoe's Red, Liya's Red

Eva's Red, J Lo's Red

In addition to the eight celebrity reds, there is also this special red:

Because You're Worth It

Now, on to my review:

405 Freida's Red and 406 Zoe's Red

(retail: $8.99 each)

After looking at all of the shades in this collection, I decided on Freida and Zoe because I felt that these two shades were perhaps the most wearable for my particular skintone (I'm a MAC NC20) and they also didn't scream to me, "You already have a zillion shades like this at home!"

I'd like to point out that the cases for these matte lipsticks are coated with the same type of rubberized matte finish that you find with NARS products, the limited edition Wet n Wild Matte Collection from last Fall, etc. In other words, it's the type of finish that attracts dust and debris. If you look closely above, you can see little particles on the tubes, and that was after I tried to make sure they were perfectly clean.

Freida's Red, Zoe's Red
One swipe per swatch

It's no surprise here that the colors ended up swatching differently on my skin than how they look in the tube (that's always my experience with L'Oreal lip colors). I did not anticipate that Freida's Red would be so pink. But the good news is that, on my medium-pigmented lips, it does read a bit darker than what you see above. It is a very pink-toned red, but it doesn't quite read as fuchsia on me. It looks red, but it's a VERY pink-toned red.

I was hoping that Zoe's Red would be a deep red with brown undertones, but it is actually a deep, vampy, blue-toned red on my skin. It reminds me very much of MAC Diva, but with a matte finish. MAC Diva was the first MAC lipstick I ever purchased back in the late 90s and it's still my favorite red, so I'm happy that Zoe's Red is similar. I'm actually out of MAC Diva at the moment, so I can't compare it for you, but if you Google "MAC Diva lipstick swatch" you'll see what I mean. Very similar feel, but Zoe's Red seems a tad lighter.

As for the texture/finish, first I have a question for you. Are there other matte finish lipsticks in the regular L'Oreal Colour Riche line? I honestly can't remember, and the regular Colour Riche lipsticks I own all have a standard, glossy finish. I don't think these are the first-ever matte lipsticks to appear in the regular Colour Riche line, but I honestly can't recall any matte shades in the current permanent line. I know L'Oreal released those limited edition Le Matte lip colors back in 2013 (which I never did end up finding), but I'm trying to think of other permanent matte finish lipsticks in the current L'Oreal lineup and I'm drawing a blank.

I find the texture of these two lipsticks to be quite comfortable on the lips. They are creamy and, over time, they do not end up balling up or becoming grainy. For me, they don't feel quite as hydrating as the Revlon Matte Balms, but they're close. On the other hand, I feel that these L'Oreal lipsticks look a bit more matte on the lips than the Revlon Matte Balms. When I'm wearing these, I don't have any doubts that I'm actually wearing a matte lipstick, but they don't look quite as matte as other matte lipsticks I own, if that makes sense. Really we're just splitting hairs here, but to me these do read as matte. Also, these are not transfer-proof but, just like with most matte lip colors, the longer you wear them, the less transfer you'll see.

I do want to warn you, if you don't like the fragrance/flavor of the regular Colour Riche lipsticks (and I know some of you don't), these matte lipsticks have the exact same fragrance and flavor as the lipsticks in the permanent Colour Riche line (the signature rose fragrance and flavor is identical).

Staying power is good for both of these shades--I can get about four hours of wear before I notice any significant fading, but I do want to mention that these don't seem to fade 100% evenly for me. I'm left with a slight ring-around-the-lips for both of these shades as they wear down. I also want to mention that bleeding isn't an issue for me with these (I noticed a tiny bit of bleeding into the fine lines around my mouth with the darker shade, but nothing too bad). I would suggest pairing with a liner though, if bleeding is generally an issue for you, just to be safe. Also, both of these lip colors do leave a stain behind, which I actually like, since I'm lazy and I don't reapply my lip colors as often as I should. But the stain is pretty powerful:

Here's a quick shot of my hand after using two makeup towelettes to remove my swatches. As you can see, Freida's Red has more staining power than Zoe's Red, but still, both leave a decent stain behind.

FINAL VERDICT: Even though neither shade I purchased was quite what I was expecting, I actually really like both of these colors. My favorite of the two is Zoe's Red, since I love MAC Diva and it reminds me of a matte version of that lipstick. I think this matte formula is quite comfortable on the lips, it doesn't feel too drying, and the staying power is good. I like the stains they leave behind, and really the only negative I can foresee for some of you is that you might not like the flavor and fragrance, if you don't care for the flavor/fragrance of the regular Colour Riche lipsticks (they're identical in both formulas). Other than that, I'm quite happy with the texture, finish, color and staying power of both of these lipsticks.

Do you own any of the new L'Oreal Mother's Day 2015 Collection Exclusive matte red lipsticks? I'd love to hear from you!

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