I’ve said it before somewhere that I never get too adventurous with my makeup. I think if I had to describe my ‘look’ it would be ‘minimalist’. I couldn’t live without moisturiser, a decent BB cream and the blackest eyeliner and mascara combo I can manage.
L’Oreal Trinidad & Tobago was kind enough to give me some goodies to try out the other day and I finally got around to ripping open the packaging and getting down and dirty (not so much) with a few stellar products.
First up and at the top of my list is the Voluminous Butterfly mascara. I posted a pic of this on Instagram and quite a few folks were interested in hearing my opinion on it. First up, let me say that the Voluminous line by L’Oreal has always been a cult favourite amongst the beauty vloggers I follow, and with good reason, I think. As one of my girlfriends put it – it’s the same formula as Lancôme (can’t confirm) at a fraction of the price. The formula is great – not too drying and doesn’t cause my lashes to clump together. I wouldn’t call it super volumising per se, but what it lacks in volume it makes up for in length. The wand is also pretty nifty, and no doubt, one of the key reasons for its success with me. The L’Oreal website had this synopsis of the innovative wand
Its revolutionary Butterfly Brush with asymmetrical lash line shape extends and lifts outer corner lashes to give you a winged-out effect, instantly volumizing lashes at the roots and stretching lashes outward. The unique Cocoon Fibers instantly wrap lashes in a soft, delicate veil to create silky, spectacular lashes that flutter.
I also appreciate that the smaller combs are perfect for your lower lashes, if you’re so inclined. The only downside I can find to this mascara is the fact that because of the angle of the brush, it works perfectly on your right eye…but you’d have to use your left hand to apply to your left eye if you want the same effect. Otherwise, the longer bristles on the wand end up on the inner corner of the eye when they should be on the outer corner. Ya dig? So yeah…I’m going to have to get a bit ambidextrous with this mascara application if I want the same results on each eye. This has made it into my everyday makeup bag nevertheless.
Next up is the L’Oreal Infallible Silky Pencil Eyeliner. I don’t usually go for eyeliners I have to sharpen…because laziness. However, if you don’t mind the extra work, the Infallible eyeliner is not a bad buy. It’s highly pigmented with good colour pay off. I use pencil eyeliner on my waterline…and this pencil is pretty soft, so you have to be careful not to apply it too close to your tear ducts otherwise you’ll end up with some streaky black marks near the inner corner of your eye. It stays on ALL day…I usually have to use my oil-based makeup remover to get it all off. I’m not sure what more you could want from an eyeliner, barring not having to sharpen it of course. The colour wasn’t my favourite because of the sparkles in the Charcoal version but I would opt for a Black in this, easily.
Next is a lip product called the Extraordinaire by Colour Riche in Ruby Opera. Now I almost never wear lip colour, but it’s nice to have an option if you want to get a little dolled up for a special occasion. The formula is super moisturising but I didn’t find it sticky. The colour itself is rich, vibrant and long lasting, which is great since I almost never remember to reapply my lip products.
Last but not least was a hair product that I didn’t even realise was working super well for me until of course…I forgot to use it one day. The ends of my hair are bleached so naturally, it’s split end central. I began incorporating the L’Oreal Advanced Haircare Total Repair Extreme Split Ends Fixer after every wash, before my blow dry. Now I can’t say for sure that my split ends reduced in number (I think they did), but I can say that the one time I neglected to include this product in my regimen, my ends were awful – very dry and brittle. Thankfully I can apply this serum to wet or dry hair so two pumps later and they were looking and feeling a lot healthier.
So concludes my L’Oreal-a-palooza tour. I actually have one or two more products that I was given that I’m yet to try so perhaps I’ll incorporate those into a follow up post.
NB: These products were sent to me for consideration. I am not being paid for this review. This is my honest opinion folks…you should know I wouldn’t give it to you any other way 🙂