L'oreal Color Riche and Color Riche Serum Lipstick Review

(L-R) 390 Nude Treasure, 102 Beige Praline, 453 Rose Creme.

Color Riche Serum in S103 Radiant Rose.

I recently picked up a pack of three L'oreal Color Riche lipsticks from the Duty Free shop at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, on my way back from a trip away.

The pack contained three colours: 390 Nude Treasure, 102 Beige Praline and 453 Rose Creme, and to be honest, I grabbed them in a bit of a rush, having just stepped off a long-haul flight and feeling very much the worse for wear. I had been looking for some nudes to add to my collection, as I didn't actually own many at all, but have recently found that I quite enjoy having them in my make-up bag for low-key, day-time looks.

I'll be honest. When I first got home, took them out of the box and swatched them on my hand (there hadn't been any testers available in the Duty Free shop), I was disappointed to find that these shades all contained gold shimmer. My bad for not being more awake in the airport. I was really looking for long-wearing, moisturising lip colour with a matte finish. 

While the shimmer was not my cup of tea, though, I was pleased to find that these lipsticks do apply really smoothly and are not at all drying on the lips, as they are enriched with Omega oils and Vitamin E.  They are quite sheer, but they're buildable, so with a couple of coats you do get a more intense colour, and the rich texture and gold packaging gives them quite a luxurious feel.

Nude Treasure was definitely my least favourite shade, as despite being a really pretty sheer beige-gold, it is just far too light for me and doesn't suit my skin tone.

I found Beige Praline to be a lot more wearable. It's a much richer shade of bronzey beige and is a fair bit darker than Nude Treasure.

But my favourite of the three is definitely Rose Creme, which is a pretty, dark beigey pink, again with a little bit of gold shimmer, although I found it to be more subtle in this case.

I wouldn't say these lipsticks are particularly long-wearing. As they are quite sheer and of a thin, slippery consistency, they do tend to slide off pretty quickly, especially if you are me (no lipstick ever seems to stay put on me for more than a couple of seconds!).

Something else I wasn't a fan of was the strong, perfumey scent these lipsticks have, and the fact that they tend to leave a soapy taste in the mouth if I drink through a straw while wearing them! I do find this really off-putting, as I do not like to taste my lipsticks at all, unless they are specifically designed to have a nice fruity flavour (rare!).

Color Riche Serum in Radiant Rose S103

(swatched above alongside others)

Containing collagen and Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate, plump and moisturise, this lipstick is much more up my street.

It's a beautiful medium fuchsia and is more pigmented than the normal Color Riche lipsticks, and it really does feel intensely moisturising, even as I apply it. Again, it glides on really smoothly, and the wear seems to be slightly longer, but I'd put that down to the higher level of pigmentation.

I did want to show you some pictures of me wearing the lipsticks, so you can really see what they look like on, but I didn't have a chance to get any when I was taking the photos for this post. I am hoping to do so this weekend, but in the meantime, you can see me wearing Radiant Rose in my blogger profile picture. It's actually become on of my favourite lipsticks.

Have you tried any lipsticks from L'oreal's Color Riche lines?

What did you think of them?

xx