L’Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipsticks – Soft, Shiny, Balmy Caresse For Your Lips.

This summer, L’Oreal has come out with two lipcolour ranges that “Caresse” your lips. While the lipgloss, Shine Caresse, is really long-lasting, the lipstick, Rouge Caresse, is soft, creamy, shiny, balmy and hydrating. (Read my comparison with the YSL Glossy Stain here and to win a Shine Caresse Gloss, enter my giveaway here). Here are two shades in the Rouge Caresse that I am reviewing today, 06 Aphrodite Scarlet and 403 Hypnotic Red.

The Rouge Caresse lipstick has a flutter of kissable, soft colour. It’s delicate texture glides onto lips creating a veil of colour with a luminous shine. It adds a desired pop of colour with a meltingly soft application. 

The lipstick contains light oils, crystalline wax, transparent blenders and pearl pigments that deliver true colour with a weightless comfort.

You can see all the shades of the Rouge Caresse range on the L’Oreal Paris Website.

The Rouge Caresse lipsticks have a very soft, buttery, balmy texture and they glide smoothly onto the lips. I don’t need to wear a lip balm underneath this lipstick because it is quite hydrating and doesn’t dry out my lips. The pigmentation isn’t very great, though and I need to apply 3-4 layers to get the colour to show on my pigmented lips. Because of it’s texture, the lipstick doesn’t last too long on me, say around 2-3 hours after which it leaves a faint stain behind.

Hey, wait…why am I getting a deja vu? I feel like I have already said these things for another lipstick. Oh, now I remember…the Bourjois Shine Edition! Now that I think about it, it’s true. The formulation and texture of the  L’Oreal Rouge Caresse lipsticks is very similar to that of the Bourjois Shine Edition lipstick (reviewed here).

Left: Hypnotic Red. Right: Aphrodite Scarlet. Picture taken in natural day light.

As you can see from the swatches, the names are quite misleading and the lipsticks aren’t as pigmented as they appear to be in the tube.

Picture taken in yellow light without flash.

Aphrodite Scarlet is nothing close to scarlet at all. Though it appears to be a bubblegum pink in the tube, it is actually a very wearable blue-based pink but with a bit of warmth in the colour that makes it suitable for most skintones. In the tube, it appears to have very faint micro-shimmers but they don’t show up in the swatch or on the lips. It is a beautiful colour for summer and for day wear. You can see how smooth, shiny and balmy it looks on the lips but it does take quite a few layers to get the colour to show up this way. At least on my pigmented lips.

Picture taken in yellow light without flash.

Hypnotic Red isn’t as dark and vampy as it looks in the tube, which is a very good thing too. It is  a beautiful berry red colour and because it isn’t very pigmented, this would be a great option for girls who want to start wearing red lipsticks but are scared to go for bold, bright matte reds. This is a lovely, soft colour that is very feminine and I feel that everyone can carry it off.

I didn’t much like the silver and plastic packaging of the Rouge Caresse lipsticks. The gold packaging of the Shine Caresse looks far more luxe as compared to this. The price, however is great at Rs. 499 for 2.5gms while the  Bourjois Shine Edition lipsticks are priced at  Rs. 955 for 3 gms (at least that was the price when I had bought it. I believe Bourjois has hiked the prices yet again.)

What do you think about the Rouge Caresse? Which colour did you like?
And hey, if you’d like to win a Shine Caresse, don’t forget to enter my giveaway….it ends tomorrow at midnight.

PS – PR Sample. Honest and unbiased opinion as always.