Strawberry Hearts Chocolate Darts: L'OREAL GLOSSY BALM Lip Crayons: Innocent Coral, Lovely Mocha, and Vintage Rose

Hey y'all! Today, I am sharing my review of the new L'Oreal Glossy Balms. I first heard about this product through the Nouveau Cheap blog.

Sidebar! I think most people, especially those of us who are actively engaged in social media and beauty blogging or v-logging, are familiar with blogs like Temptalia, Nouveau Cheap, and Musings of a Muse. These three beauty blogs are the best source, in my opinion, for learning about new and upcoming makeup, skincare, and other beauty products. I became familiar with these blogs while in law school. Often my study breaks involved a visit to these websites. I found it quite refreshing to read a blog post in between reading cases. Eventually, I was motivated by these blogs to create my own blog and hopefully I can also become a valued source of product reviews and pictures.

After reading a brief post - mainly a preview - on Nouveau Cheap, I decided that I would not to try out any of the L'Oreal Glossy Balms because the shades did not seem unique or inviting. A few days later, I visited Target to purchase protein bars. The protein bars that I like are not found in the grocery/breakfast foods isle, but in the pharmacy department. Well, the beauty and pharmacy department are almost always in the same vicinity in Target. So, I could not really resist taking a glance through the beauty isle, which is when I found the L'Oreal Glossy Balms. During this trip, I purchased the shades Innocent Coral and Lovely Mocha. Afterwards, I purchased three more shades - Vintage Rose, Baby Berry, and Pink Me Up. I was also tempted to purchase Petite Plum, but decided to get it at a later time. Let me begin by saying that I absolutely loved Innocent Coral and Lovely Mocha and extremely disliked the Baby Berry and Pink Me Up. Thus, I decided not to bother talking about the latter two shades. If you have a similar skin-tone to mine (reference: MAC NC35 or Revlon True Beige), I would not recommend Baby Berry at all, while Pink Me Up might suit you as per your personal taste. Another point I would like to note is that Vintage Rose and Lovely Mocha are similar enough that both are not needed. Of the two, I would recommend Lovely Mocha because Vintage Rose is more sheer and has very subtle shimmer, while Lovely Mocha is creamy and opaque.

All in all, I am quite fond of Innocent Coral and Lovely Mocha and recommend them to you. Both shades are beautiful and suit my skin-tone. Also, I categorize these shades as work-appropaite without looking boring, like the ever-popular muted rosy brown lip color. These days I am working as a judicial extern, so I obviously, yet sadly, do not feel comfortable wearing bright or bold lip colors. This week I wore a muted orange manicure and felt overly conscious and awkward. Vagabond status! I felt more comfortable once I observed a law clerk and another extern wearing gorgeous statement necklaces that added a pop of color to their dress-suits.

So, what all features of the L'Oreal Glossy Balms do I like? L'Oreal Glossy Balms offer excellent pigmentation and medium coverage, which can become full coverage in a couple additional swipes. In my experience, sometimes lip products that are nicely pigmented, fall short in regards to formula, and vise versa. The lip crayon do not compromise on the formula/texture. In this case,"balm" was appropriately used as part of the product's name. I found this product to be non-drying, lightweight, smooth, but not overly emollient, and decently moisturizing* (*not a lip treatment balm though). Lastly, this may only be my experience, but I felt that once these Glossy Balms wore off, my lips were subtly stained or looked slightly deeper than their natural pigmentation. (emphasis added). The staying power is neither weak, no exceptional. I am constantly drinking water and consume coffee twice a day, so my lip products tend to transfer onto the cup or bottle and gradually fade off in about three hours on average.

Although I like both Innocent Coral and Lovely Mocha, the former is my favorite of the two. Innocent Coral is a medium pink, while Lovely Mocha is a rich light mauve, with cool purple-blue base. Innocent Coral appears to have a red base on my arm, but on the lips it looks neutral to blue-toned. Lovely Mocha also looks like it has neutral undertones, but at times it looks cool-toned on the lips. Vintage Rose is basically identical to the natural pigmentation of my lips. I would describe it as a muted pink with a subtle rosy brown base.

Innocent Coral, Lovely Mocha, Vintage Rose (top --> bottom)