L'Oreal Shine Caresse Eve - Review, Swatches

L'Oreal recently launched the Shine Caresse lip stains which is basically the combination of a lip stain and a lip gloss. Here's what L'Oreal has to say about the new product:

Discover a stain that thinks it’s a gloss. Now hydration & shine meet lasting, lightweight color. Shine Caresse combines the power of a lip stain with lip-gloss luster. This next generation lip stain, formulated with a blend of light hydrating oils & concentrated pigments, delivers lasting color with a glossy finish. Packed with 30% water, Shine Caresse leaves lips soft, comfortable and hydrated for up to 6 hours.

There are eight shades in the Shine Caresse range, priced at Rs 499 each and I have to give it to L'Oreal for coming up with some really pretty names for these. When i went to the store to check them out, only two colors stood out for me. One was Juliette, a lovely bright reddish orange and Eve, a beautiful fuchsia. Eve came back with me home and this post is all about her.

Packaging:

The Shine Caresse stains are supposed to be dupes of YSL's famous glossy stains. I have not used YSL so can't really compare between the two but in terms of packaging, L'Oreal did not do too bad at all. The tube looks sleek and chic and I love the metallic finish. The applicator is a slightly bent leaf-shaped one which is quite convenient to use. It deposits the right amount of product, the tip is pointed so lining the lips becomes easy and with this shape you can cover the entire lips without any difficulty. 

Color and Pigmentation

The main reason why I bought Eve was because of the color. I am a huge fan of hot/bright pinks and this attracted me immediately. Unfortunately, on my lips, the color is anything but fuchsia. It turns into a berry color, darker than what you can see in the tube. Well, it even smells of berries! It's not that the color is bad. It is quite gorgeous and perfect for medium-dark skin tones but this was not the color I was expecting so definitely a tad disappointed. On the lips, you can hardly make out that there is shimmer but if you look very closely, you can see tiny pink shimmer particles. The pigmentation is amazingly good. Usually lip stains go on quite sheer and you need to layer it on for color but this is far from sheer. Two swipes completely cover any pigmentation and the end result is glossy and very shiny lips.

Texture

Eve feels quite watery when applied but then it settles down on the lips. It is lightweight but slightly sticky but not the typical gloss like stickiness. While L'Oreal claims that the stains keep lips hydrated for up to 6 hours, on me that is not the case. It dries out my lips after a couple of hours and I need to apply a balm. Would have definitely liked the texture to be more creamy and hydrating. 

Staying Power

Very few lip products last on me for more than 4 hours and this is pretty much the same. For a stain, the staying power is impressive and it survives meals and drinks. The only problem is that it fades unevenly. So the color is gone from the middle but there's some left on the sides and that looks terrible! I now make sure to fill in my lips with liner first and then layer the stain on top to prevent myself from looking like a clown!

Wearing L'Oreal Shine Caresse Eve

Am I head over heels in love with the new Shine Caresse? Well not really and the major reason is that it dries out my lips. The texture is not creamy or hydrating and I absolutely hate the fact that it fades unevenly. Also, I wish the color was true to what's shown in the tube. I definitely did not need another berry lip color! Personally, I think a one time buy is good enough for me. I'd rather buy a few more lip polishes :)

Have you tried any of the L'Oreal Shine Caresse shades? Do you like them?