Even though I hadn't had great luck with the L'Oreal Infallible line, I decided to try the Pro-Last Lipcolor. I picked the shade Cherry Noir #217. For some reason I've been on a vampy red/berry kick even though we're in spring. Also, although the CVS I bought this at cost more than the L'Oreal
website lists them for ($13.79 versus $12.99). I had been sent a 25% off coupon from CVS and had a $3 manufacturers coupon AND CVS is running an Extrabucks deal on L'Oreal makeup this week. My CVS didn't have a huge variety of shades, maybe 10 of the 24 shades currently offered. A lot of the pinks seemed too pale or yellow based, the reds too orange, and the mauves almost seemed too light, so I went for this, even though I was worried about the pearl in it since the last thing I wanted were frosty lips!
On one end you get a doe foot wand with the lipcolor. You can get a pretty good feel for the color here as well as the slight iridescence in the tube.
On the other end is the balm which promises to not only lock in the color, but keep lips moisturized. I remember that these moisturizing ends in the past have been more-or-less useless in keeping lips moisturized, so I didn't have high hopes.
This is the lipcolor (without the balm) immediately after application (on unmoisturized but not dry lips). Thankfully, it isn't overly frosty. The only problem I had was with the applicator - too much product comes off the applicator and results in a slightly messy application. The combination of the large doe foot and the fact that the product is liquidy doesn't lend itself to an easy application. Next time, I'm going to take a disposable pointed object of some kind (I think I still have some disposable lip brushes from my kit) to get the product precisely around the lip line and then smooth it over with a disposable eyeshadow sponge (this stuff is no joke to get off so I definitely won't be using a brush unless I knew I would be washing the brush directly after application). The color is definitely a win though!
After about 5 minutes, it was still rather tacky. Not uncomfortable, but clearly not dried down.
After taking this picture at the 10 minute mark, it still hadn't dried down completely, but it was getting there. Ultimately, it took about 15-20 minutes to dry down completely without my lips sticking together, which for some may be too much. It does accentuate lip lines, but not too bad from far away; these are close ups. I definitely preferred the color as it continued to dry as it got more vampy berry and less purple. A bit easier to pull off on my fair complexion. Just a note, I wasn't wearing any other makeup. And, it may take less time if you don't use the included applicator, but that's part of the appeal - an all in one product.
Then I applied the balm and I was actually really impressed. It reminds me of the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (the mega one though I forget what it's called - extreme? in any case, it's in the white tube). You can instantly see the different in this picture versus the previous one. My lip lines are less noticeable and the lips themselves are a bit plumped out. I kind of want them to sell the balm on its own - well not for $14 but you know what I mean! It was just a pleasant surprise.
After I applied the balm, I had some coffee and there were no marks on my coffee mug and the balm and its moisturizing properties lasted for over an hour, which I thought was insane (in a good way). As I said, historically speaking, these toppers never last and as someone with dry lips, I usually wish they would have removed the balm and lowered the price, but in this case, the balm is totally worth it.
Hope I don't look too angry, I was concentrating on getting a good, in-focus shot! This was after nearly 4 hours of wear and drinking. I had reapplied the balm at this point, but my lips still looked fairly good. The color was still vibrant, the initial application mistakes were still there, but it hadn't moved further out of the lip lines.
And these are my lips after 10 hours of wear. I did get some fading on the top lip especially and as you'll see from the photo below, I am missing color around the very inside of the lips, but you've got to admit, this is still pretty impressive after meals and drinks.
What I found particularly interesting about this product was that even after removing it, or at least attempting to remove it with some Caudalie Cleansing Water, I still had a bit of a stain left and a resistant piece that had clung to a dry patch.
This is after two cotton pads doused with the Caudalie and you can still see it. Now, my lips are naturally pigmented, so it's not too obvious, but it took a lot of scrubbing to get that off. A positive and a negative perhaps? Even so, I think the lasting power is pretty incredible. I had to reapply the balm a couple times during the day (but I have to reapply balm anyway) but I never had to reapply the lipcolor; and by the 10th hour, I was not sad to remove it. I really like this shade and hope the drugstores near me give me a few other options other than this vampy color, which I rather like, but it's definitely not one for everyday!
Have you tried the new L'Oreal Infallible® Pro-Last Lipcolors? What did you think?
