An Infalliable Failure...

When I was a teenager and I had to buy my own makeup my two favorite brands were Revlon and L'Oreal. The Lancome and Dior lipsticks were compliments of my Mom. I remember the glory days of wearing Revlon's Toast of NY and L'Oreal's Pink Perle or Sangria. It wasn't until MAC came along in 1994 and I turned my back on drugstore lipsticks. Also, I have discovered that I was wasting money on drugstore lipsticks that didn't work - I couldn't bring it back for a refund so it would become garbage.

Well lately, I have been noticing bright lips are in recent editorials/advertisements and it's making me crave for a strong lip color. I know that this will be a seasonal thing and I will gravitate back to my comforting pink nudes lipsticks and glosses eventually. This makes drugstore makeup appealing. Especially since the drugstore brand is beginning to step up it's game - famed makeup artist, Gucci Westman is the creative director for Revlon and Sally Hansen has recently partnered with Fashion Designer, Prabal Gurung for a collection of nail colors. Once again, I am happy to browse the cosmetic sections of Walgreens, Target, Rite Aid and when I'm in NY - Duane Reade.   

I then see my favorite red lipped inspiration, Gwen Stefani as the new spokeswoman for L'Oreal's Infallible Le Rouge lipstick. It's claim is 10 hours of color, shine and comfort. I was noticing this particular lipstick showing up on other blogs I read regularly. So of course this piqued my attention.

I took advantage of a "Buy one, get one 50% off" L'Oreal special at my local Walgreens drugstore. I also had to pick up some Nyquil and tissue for a very sick Mr. Lex. So I picked up Rambling Rose and Ravishing Red...that's a lot of R's but I do love alliterations.

L to R:
Ravishing Red, Rambling Rose

L to R on my NC 42 forearm.
Ravishing Red, Rambling Rose
As you can see there a bit of shimmer in these two colors.

Initially, it felt nice going on my lips and then within the first thirty minutes I felt it settling for the rest of the day. My lips also felt dry but it wasn't an uncomfortable, I'm in Colorado altitude, I need my chapstick kind of dry. This lipstick contains Vitamin E for moisture - well you could have fooled me about that.

I wore Ravishing Red for a fundraising party at a bar where I knew I was going to be drinking and maybe in some photos (yes, to both happening). It's a neutral true red. I appreciate that it's unscented.

I wore this with MAC's Redd Lip Pencil for an orangey-red look - loved it. This is definitely a 'Date Night' color. I wore this for a total of 4.5 hours and drank 2 bourbon/ginger ales. I never had to reapply. I did make sure I layered this on top of my Kiehl's lip balm - it helps a bit. I didn't experience any itching and it came off pretty easily with my Almay eye makeup remover wipes. The next day however, the top line of my lips were pretty itchy and a bit raw. Being the masochist I am, I decided to try out Rambling Rose for a full 8hr. work day - oh the things I do for you guys!

Yes, I realize I have another bun on my head.

I wore this rose with MAC's Soar lip pencil. It's a warm rose with a bit of a gold shimmer. This is a perfect compliment to smoky eyes for the office. Once this thing dried, I drank endless amounts of water, coffee, ate a sandwich for lunch and didn't have to reapply till about 2pm. So I got a good 6 hours out of this - I had to reapply some lip balm for moisture. The color was a light rose stain. I reapplied my color and didn't take it off again till I washed my face before bed.

My lips were once again dry the next morning. I knew what I had to do. They had to go back. Luckily Walgreens is a lot more forgiving with their refunds if you keep your receipt. I was relieved that I didn't have to throw this into the garbage. I am sad that this failed me and I had to take it back because I really wanted to like this formula. And I was beginning to like the idea of buying lipstick that was under $10.

Oh well back to browsing the drugstore shelves endlessly again.

What are some of your favorite drugstore/bargain brands?