Brand favourites – L’Oreal

L’Oreal is one of the biggest beauty companies in the world, with countless brands under their belt, from high-end, to drugstore, to pharmacy brands, to niche. Plus, of course, their own eponymous brand, the one you see everywhere, in every drugstore, in every country. Pulling technology from all their other brands, there’re a lot of absolutely stellar products, but there’re two lines that are generally good, whatever product you try: Base products and mascaras. Let’s have a look at my favourites, shall we?

Base products

Nude Magique Cushion

My current favourite base product is L’Oreal’s first foray into the world of cushion foundations. In Western countries, it’s called Nude Magique Cushion, comes in three shades, and promises a dewy glow, true to its Asian roots. If you can find your match, it’s a glorious product that gives you a doll-like, glowy porcelain skin (the finish, not the colour). I love it, although I do find it overpriced, would like a few more shades and would love L’Oreal to include a refill like Korean companies usually do with their cushions. I wrote about it here, and I have a back-up. That says it all, right? I wear the lightest shade, and looking at swatches of my two fave base products I can say that they look pretty much alike, though in terms of coverage, they’re at each end of the spectrum.

perfect match foundation

Which brings me to my other favorite base: L’Oreal perfect match foundation. It’s been rumoured to be a dupe of Armani’s Luminous Silk foundation, but after having a look at the ingredients I can say – nope, not a dupe. But! Actually, the Perfect Teint ingredients look a bit better to me (no alcohol, no fragrance), with a bit of skin-befitting ingredients like Tocopherol and Panthenol. I don’t know why this one is called perfect match in Germany, but true match everywhere else. I also don’t know why we only get nine shades, while in the US (for example), there’re 33! But nevertheless, I wear the shade Linen which matches me perfectly (in winter). I use, as always, a beautyblender to apply this, and that yields a very nice finish. Speaking of the finish, that’s rather semi-matte, and coverage is rather high. That’s usually something I tamper down a bit with highlighter and bronzer to bring some dimension back to my features. While there’s some micro shimmer in the bottle, I can’t detect that on my face.

Mascaras

Miss Manga

For years, the Miss Manga waterproof was my go-to mascara. I might’ve tried some others in between, but this one was my holy grail I always went back to. It has everything I love – a big wand (why does that sound vaguely dirty?!), a deep black colour and it gives an awesome volume to my feathery lashes. They have grown quite long thanks to my beloved Revitallash, but still, volume is something I always want from my mascaras, and Miss Manga gives it. (Well, with a name that says Mega Volume, it better does!) Waterproof here means serious business. You’ll have to work a bit to remove it with something oily, otherwise it won’t budge. It doesn’t smudge, and the moveable ‚head’ – yeah, well. A bit gimmicky, can’t detect if that actually does something, but it doesn’t hinder the application process.

Miss Hippie

Miss Hippie is Miss Manga’s little sister. She promises feathery, fluttery lashes – not as dramatic as Miss Manga’s. The wand is different – instead of a tapered wand, we have a conical one. The finish, though, is quite similar – deep black, waterproof, smudge-proof, with lots of volume. Maaaaayyyyybe this one is a bit less dramatic, but honestly, I don’t see much difference between the two.  I’ve to say, though, that while they both add tons of volume to your lashes, if you need something lengthening and separating, you’re looking at the wrong product. If you want to choose between the two, go with the wand you like better. I honestly like both, and both have a place in my mascara drawer.

Other products that are Holy Grail material

Eyeshadows

There’re some other L’Oreal products that I think of as Holy Grail products that I quickly want to mention: First are my beloved L’Infallible Eyeshadows that are now sadly discontinued (at least in Germany). They’re a dupe to Armani’s Eyes to Kill Shadows in the glass pots. While Armani’s colours were always a bit more complex, L’Oreal’s one brand a few stellar shades like Sahara Gold and Bronze Taupe. Basically, those pressed pigments are super easy to apply and have a wonderful shimmer to them, rendering them true solo artists.

Skincare

Second is one of the best micellar waters on the market that has still stayed a secret – the Skin Perfection, or, as it’s called in English, Micellar Cleansing Water. With an impressively short ingredient list, it’s suitable for sensitive skin, and I love it for easy makeup removal. I always use it after cleansing my face after the first round of cleansing with a balm or oil to remove the last lingering traces of makeup in the evening. It just got a lift (aka new packaging), but ingredients have stayed the same, thank God!

So, here’s my little L’Oreal favourites post. I did the same thing with MAC not too long ago here. Go and have a look!