L'oreal Color Riche L'Ombre Pure Mono Shadows
L'oreal Color Riche L'Ombre Pure Mono Shadows
Watching my fair share of British YouTubers, I sometimes end up lusting after products that are not available in the US. Case in point- the L'oreal Color Riche Mono Eyeshadows. What started off as a passing interest turned into a hot pursuit once I learned the exclusivity of these items. Fuel to my fire were the consistently stellar reviews that I came across in my search. I don't think I came across a single negative opinion of these shadows. To my luck, I was able to get a great deal on them on Ebay so that I am now able to bring you my own review.
L'oreal Color Riche L'Ombre Pure Mono Shadows, clockwise from bottom left: 502; 106; 107; 200; 204
I was, of course, drawn to the neutral shades. No surprise there.
106 Breaking Nude (matte)
106 Breaking Nude is a medium nutty taupe shade in a matte finish. The color is quite lovely as it has that gray-lilac undertone that can lean warm or cool depending on how you pair it or blend it out. The texture is soft, smooth, and a bit powdery but I have not had any issues with fallout. The pigmentation is great.
107 Macaron Vanille (matte)
107 Macaron Vanille is a peachy nude "bone" shade, also in a matte finish. It's not my favorite shade as I don't have much use for ones like this but I think it would be great for under the brow or for a clean professional eye look. As with 106 Breaking Nude, the texture is smooth and powdery-feeling but without fallout. Again, good pigmentation.
200 Over the Taupe (frost)
200 Over the Taupe reminds me of a warmer, lighter version of MAC's Satin Taupe. It is an interesting warm taupe brown with pink-mauve undertones. It has an incredibly frosty finish that I find to be quite unfortunate. The color is beautiful but the frost makes it rather difficult to wear. When I put it on the lids, all I see is the harsh silver sheen. When I blend it out, the color loses its dimensions and ends up looking flat and muddy. The texture of this shadow is very soft, creamy, and a bit crumbly, much like a pressed pigment. However, it lacks that bit of tackiness that I like about other pressed-pigment-like shadows, such as The Body Shop's now discontinued eyeshadows (as reviewed here) or L'oreal's Infallible Eye Shadows (as reviewed here and here). Because it is missing that quality, it ends up spreading over a wide area during blending, which contributes to the muddiness of the color. As I have already said, it is truly unfortunate as this shade had such potential. In fact, it was the one that caught my eye in the first place.
204 Golden Nude (frost/shimmer)
204 Golden Nude has the same issues as 200 Over the Taupe. It is a lovely warm golden nude shade with high shimmer. However, the finish is so frosty that once on the lids, it just looks tacky. When blended, it loses all of its original appeal.
502 Quartz Flume (satin)
Lastly, 502 Quartz Flume is a deep cool gray-purple shade in a satin finish. It is also reminiscent of MAC's Satin Taupe. In fact, I think if 200 Over the Taupe and 502 Quartz Flume had a baby, it would be Satin Taupe. Anyway, this particular shade comes in a wavy textured pan that adds a nice touch of luxe. I don't know the difference between the textured versus smooth pans. I believe they all belong to the same range of eyeshadows. Whatever the case, this shade is very smooth in texture but does not feel powdery like the matte shades, nor creamy and crumbly like the frost finish shades. It has good pigmentation when I swatch it but when I try to blend it out on the back of my hand, the color wipes right off without depositing any color. It is difficult for me to say much about how it performs in actual wear on the lids because the shade is so dark that I use it only in a very small area along the lashline. I have noted, though, that it is far less pigmented going on the eyes than I would expect from looking at it in the pan or from my swatches.
L-R: 106 Breaking Nude, 107 Macaron Vanille, 200 Over the Taupe, 204 Golden Nude, 502 Quartz Fume
L-R: 106 Breaking Nude, 107 Macaron Vanille, 200 Over the Taupe, 204 Golden Nude, 502 Quartz Fume
I am sad to say that as much as I wanted to love these shadows, I am not sold. They were so promising on swatches but I was very disappointed with the application and actual wear. The frost finish of 200 Over the Taupe and 204 Golden Nude is a huge deterrent for me as I find it to look cheap and unprofessional. Furthermore, once blended, the shades lost their impact. They ended up blending so much into one another that the colors got all muddled. I had to go over the shades multiple times in order to get the look that I wanted, which is more effort than I have the time or interest in investing. These might work better for people with more lid space (I don't have much) so that there is more room to do targeted blending and surface area for the shadows to disperse over.
204 along the inner corners, 200 across the lids, 106 along the outer V, 502 smudged close to the lash line, and 107 as the blending shade along the crease
Lower lash line: 204 along the inner third, 502 along the outer 2/3
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