Big L’Oréal Paris Blowout Giveaway

Enter for a chance to win an 11-piece L’Oréal Paris collection of recently launched products! The prize includes:

Revitalift Deep-Set Wrinkle Repair Eye: this dual-end tube features both day and night formulae

Two Colour Riche Anti-Aging Serum Lipcolor lipsticks, one in Real Red (the color Linda Evangelista wears in the ad campaign) and the other in Pucker Up Pink

Two Infallible Never Fail Plumping Lipgloss (is that redundant, or what?) tubes, one in Plumped Pink and the other in Plumped Red

Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara in Black

L’Oréal HIP has become a favorite for those who like vivid color and deep pigment. I have a total of five (!) HIP High Intensity Pigments Matte Shadow Duos to give away:

Dashing: pink/charcoal
Striking: bright yellow/charcoal
Poppy: goldenrod/brown
Perky: bright green/slate
Animated: white/blue

I’m sweetening the offer by including a 0.05 ml sample vial of Bare Skin Eau du Parfum from Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries; a sachet (packet) of Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion; and two Eye Majic instant eyeshadows:



NOTE these products were provided to me by representatives for L’Oréal Paris, Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries, Skin MD Natural, and Eye Majic.

HiP high intensity pigments™ Kohl Eyeliner

There’s some thing exotic about loose kohl powder. Matin said that everyone in his native Afghanistan used surma (kohl) powder to line their eyes and that it remains his favorite product to use. My husband, who grew up in Calcutta, remembers how the Afghan wallahs walked up and down the streets peddling surma and hing, a sulfurous natural resin used in cooking (because of its odor, hing is usually cut with rice flour or chickpea flour).


L'Oreal HiP high intensity pigments™ Kohl Eyeliner

Now L'Oreal has come out with its HiP high intensity pigments™ Kohl Eyeliner. At $12-13, it's nearly one-third the cost of Guerlain Terracotta Loose Powder Kohl Liner ($34.00), a similar product.

When I first tried L'Oreal HIP Kohl Eyeliner , I had a lot of problems with smearing on my lower lids - as though I had some sort of Alice Cooper thing going on. At first, I thought that it might be the Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer that I was using. The Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer has a lot of slip, due to the presence of silicones. I switched to L'Oreal True Match™ Super-Blendable Concealer , but had the same problem.

With some experimentation, I learned how to work HiP high intensity pigments™ Kohl Eyeliner. Here's how:

* Stroke the fine-tipped brush on the back of your hand to remove excess.
* Apply. The brush enables you to get right at the root of your lashes.
* To intensify or smudge the line, pick up the pigment on your hand with a chisel-head eyeliner brush, and smudge

You might also use a sealer, but bypass an overpriced product like Paula Dorf Transformer ($19-20) in favor of La Femme Cake Eyeliner Sealer ($3.50) through makeupmania.com.

Now that I've gotten the hang of using HiP high intensity pigments™ Kohl Eyeliner, I'm enjoying using it.

You may find HiP high intensity pigments™ Kohl Eyeliner at big box stores (Target, Walmart), supermarkets, drugstores (particularly The Big Three), and drugstore.com.

Finding cosmetics for African-American women

Here's a good article from Richmond.com about finding cosmetics for African-American women at drugstores and other venues. Especially valuable is the review of foundations from Iman, CG Queen Collection from Cover Girl, L'Oreal HIP, and L'Oreal True Match.

If you're a "woman of color" (a marketing rubric to encompass women whose origins come from elsewhere than Europe), do you prefer to shop a brand targeted toward women of color or one that appeals to everyone? Why?

A lousy mascara, a so-so mascara, and a great mascara

Bésame is a boutique cosmetics line that replicates vintage cosmetic containers from the 30s and 40s - its reproductions are more authentic than Body & Soul, another cosmetics line that strives for vintage appeal. I've had good things to say about Bésame's Enchanting Lipstick, but I can't say the same for its Sculpture Lash Mascara in Black, a recent addition to its line (Bésame has also added Enriched Lip Glaze to its line). This mascara doesn't build any volume and it smears as well. This mascara is not worth the $26.00 price charged for a single tube.

Curiously, the Bésame Sculpture Lash Mascara in Plum doesn't smear, but like the one in Black, it doesn't build up volume.

The find is L'Oreal HIP's High Drama Volumizing Mascara in Ultimate Bronze Black, part of its limited edition collection in orangey shades. It really makes eyelashes appear thick, and doesn't smear. At $9.99 a tube, it's a great mascara at a much more comfortable price point than Bésame's Sculpture Lash Mascara.

Finding those hard-to-find inexpensive cosmetics

Every now and then, I get inquiries about specific Love My Lips products. Unfortunately, finding these products is catch-as-catch-can. I don't know of any store that carries a complete line of Love My Lips products. Moreover, Bari Cosmetics, which distributes Love My Lips, has not been responsive to my inquiries. To those people looking for Love My Lips products, I suggest prowling dollar and close-out stores, including, but not limited to, the big chains such as Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Big Lots!

Jordana is another much sought-after brand of inexpensive cosmetics, particularly for their eyeliner pencils. Walgreen's drugstores carry Jordana's eyeliner and lip liner pencils, and you can find a broader range of Jordana cosmetics at dollar stores, although I haven't seen Jordana at the big chain stores. Alas, I can no longer find Jordana's eyeliner in Bittersweet - it was the perfect black-brown eyeliner that I favor. Now, however, you can shop for Jordana online at BestBeautyOnline.com.


My web stats indicate a number of queries on L'Oreal HIP foundation. It has been harder to find this in stores. My contact at L'Oreal tells me that several retailers are no longer carrying L'Oreal HIP Flawless Liquid Makeup, in order to make room for other L'Oreal HIP products; however, Rite-Aid and Wal-Mart are still carrying L'Oreal HIP Flawless Liquid Makeup. Rite-Aid partners with drugstore.com for online shopping.

My web stats also show a few queries on Boots No 7 products at Canada's Shoppers Drug Mart. While Boots No 7 and Botanicals may be found at select CVS stores and many Target stores in the U.S., only four Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Canada carry Boots cosmetics: for more information, visit Shoppers Drug Mart.

Update on mass-market brands: 2007

This past spring brought several new launches of mass market brands. The Max Factor (owned by P&G) and Almay (owned by Revlon) cosmetics lines were completed revamped, while L'Oreal launched its HIP line and Revlon launched its Vital Radiance line for women over 50. The Style Page wondered how supermarkets, drugstores, and "big box" retailers (Wal-Mart, KMart, Target) were going to accomodate these new brands.

See The Beauty Newsletter for a critique of Almay's dated eyeshadow concept.

HIP appears to have been a success - L'Oreal has recently expanded the line with two new products: Pure Pigment Shadow Stick and Shocking Shadow Pigments, in addition to new colors for its eye shadow duos(another indicator is that searches on "L'Oreal HIP" are a major driver of traffic to this blog).

Max Factor, however, has been a disappointment: many of the main drugstore chains (CVS, Walgreen's, Rite-Aid) do not carry the line, and it is found only at Wal-Mart and KMart. Maybe the problem was the ads that featured Carmen Electra wearing scary makeup.

Revlon's much-hyped launch of Vital Radiance has been a disappointment. Due to lackluster sales of the brand, Wal-Mart, Target, and CVS plan to cut back drastically on the number of stores carrying the brand, while Revlon believes that consumers need more time to know the brand better.

According to WWD, "Market reports indicate that Wal-Mart will trim the line [Vital Radiance] from 2,500 doors to 500, while Target will cut it from 1,500 to 500."

My take is that consumers were turned off by the prices of Vital Radiance products, which are higher than those for other mass-market brands. Vital Radiance's target audience of women over 50 are probably value-conscious and rejected the higher prices.

I am not the only one who thinks this way - see comments on my post Vital Radiance UPDATED 2006-02-22.

Revlon should have priced Vital Radiance lower, or issued discount coupons to entice first-time buyers. Then there's always the dicey proposition of marketing to older women without making them feel ... old. An introduction of skin care products planned for 2007 might change Vital Radiance's fortunes.

Revlon sees a $40 million loss from Vital Radiance. Things haven't been so great on the personal front either: Revlon Chairman Ron Perelman's marriage to actress Ellen Barkin ended in February 2006, after five years of marriage.

Free shipping from drugstore.com

Free Shipping on orders of $25.00 or more! New Customers Only. (Ends 4-30-06) from drugstore.com

This is a great opportunity to try Vital Radiance and L'Oreal HIP among other products (drugstore.com also offers an extensive selection of eco-friendly housecleaning products) and have your order delivered directly to your door.

L'Oreal HIP High Intensity Pigments

L'Oreal has a new makeup line called HIP High Intensity Pigments now available at drugstores and mass-market retailers. I was struck by the outre makeup on the models that looks like something to be found on a MAC display. Even the typeface for HIP looks like MAC's.



The collection comprises 61 shades of creme blush, base, eyeshadow, lipcolor, lip gloss, bronzer, and eye color.


L'Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Flawless Liquid Makeup, Sand 802

In her article on determining your skintone, Paula Begoun noted that "The goal is to use foundation to neutralize whatever overtones are present with a neutral- to slightly yellow-toned foundation, thus matching the skin's natural undertone. ... There are a few exceptions to this guideline: Native North American or South American women, a tiny percentage of African-American women, and some Polynesian women do indeed have a red cast to their skin." L'Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Flawless Liquid Makeup comes in a variety of shades appropriate for women of color with reddish casts to their skin (select the link to find other shades other than that pictured). The HIP Cosmetics website states that there are "violet perles" in these bases, but I don't know how they affect the shade or the shininess of the makeup.


L'Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Brilliant Shine Lip Gloss, Tempting 378

L'Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Brilliant Shine Lip Gloss are packaged in the same tubes used for L'Oreal Colour Juice Sheer Lip Gloss (a favorite of The Style Page BTW). They come in both pearlized and non-pearlized shades.

Overall, this is an impressive debut. L'Oreal is the leader among drugstore brands when comes to innovative product offerings - by comparison, Revlon's recent product offerings are uninspired.