A L'Oréal lipstick edit built around Colour Riche, which debuted in 1985 and is still on lips forty years later. Satin, matte and liquid formulas come first, then four luxury houses that share a corporate family with the brand.
L'Oréal Paris Lipstick Started With One Tube in 1985
In 1985 L'Oréal Paris launched Colour Riche with Andie MacDowell as the face of the campaign, and the lipstick is still going forty years on. That is where the story of L'Oréal lipstick really begins for me. The company itself is older: chemist Eugène Schueller founded it in 1909 to sell hair dyes that were kinder to skin and hair, and the name comes from an early dye called L'Auréale. Colour Riche was pitched around care as well as color, and the brand's own anniversary page calls its debut the start of the skincare-meets-makeup movement. You can still see that thinking in the formulas of grid one, which lean on omega 3, vitamin E and argan oil in a satin finish. The shade names are the fun part. Ballerina Shoes and Toasted Almond are the nudes, Fairest Nude is exactly that, and the liner in Toffee To Be gives the group a way to define the edges. Grid two moves to matte, and grid three is a sideways step into four luxury houses.
The matte half of the family
Grid two is the matte half of the family, and the finishes are not interchangeable. Intense Volume Matte in Le Nude Rebellious is a powdery matte lipstick, and the brand says it carries hyaluronic acid so the finish does not read flat. Blurred Matte in Le Rouge Paris brings the classic red into the Colour Riche line. The Infallible Matte Resistance pair, Le Rouge Paris and First Move, are a liquid lipstick with a precision applicator, and the brand says they last up to 16 hours. Here is a small test I like. Swatch the bullet and the liquid version of Le Rouge Paris side by side on the back of your hand, then see which finish you prefer on your own mouth. The same shade name can sit differently in a different texture, and that is the whole point of having both.
Four matte finishes
Colour Riche Intense Volume Matte Lipstick in Le Nude Rebellious
L'Oréal Paris
$9.97
Colour Riche Blurred Matte Lipstick in Le Rouge Paris
L'Oréal Paris
$11.49
Infallible Matte Resistance Liquid Lipstick in Le Rouge Paris
L'Oréal Paris
$11.97
Infallible Matte Resistance Liquid Lipstick in First Move
L'Oréal Paris
$11.97
The luxury lip counter
The last four are the luxury lip counter, and the link to L'Oréal is real but not identical. Lancôme is owned: Armand Petitjean founded it in 1935 and it joined L'Oréal in 1964. Yves Saint Laurent Beauté was already in L'Oréal's luxury division by 2019, Valentino's beauty license took effect in January 2019, and Prada's followed in January 2021. Lovenude in 01 Undressed Pink is a warm pink nude with a balm-like feel, and Lip Idôle Butterglow in 10 Pink Ôh La La is a sheer pink balm with squalane. Prada's Fuoco is a refillable hyper matte red, and the brand says its shades come from a black base and three pure pigments meant to echo Saffiano leather. Valentino's Spike in 100R is a buttery pink nude. What I would skip is layering a balm-like formula over a hyper matte one in the same sitting. Pick one texture and let it be the point.
Four houses under one roof
One tube, many neighbors
I did not expect a tube from 1985 and a leather-inspired lipstick from a Milan fashion house to belong in one story, but corporate families are odd that way. What connects them is the small daily habit of picking a color and putting it on. That habit is the real subject here. The practical thing I would tell a friend is to find the one Colour Riche shade you like, then treat everything else in this edit as a variation on it. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Blue Lipstick, Worn Like a Grown-Up and The Best Lipstick for Every Kind of Day.
