Top 10 of 2012: Best Drugstore Beauty Products

This has been a year filled with some fantastic formulas and shades–and at less than $10!  Here are some of my favorites:

• Maybelline Color Tattoos — excellent cream eyeshadows
• Revlon Lollipop — glossy fuchsia lipstick
• Revlon Papaya — coral gloss
• Milani Green Safari — creamy shadow pencil
• Revlon Gold Coin — metallic gold polish
• L’Oreal Smoldering Plum — rich plum eyeshadow
• Milani Olympian Blue — bold blue eyeshadow
• NYX Pink Lyric — bright pink lipstick
• Wet ‘n’ Wild Grew Up in Cobalt-imore — metallic blue polish
• L’Oreal The Queen’s Ambition — silver over black polish

What’s was your favorite drugstore beauty buy of 2012?

A Very Sultry, Smoldering Plum

L’Oreal Smoldering Plum Infallible Eyeshadow ($7.95 for 0.12 oz.) is a deep, dark, and wickedly intense red-toned burgundy purple with a subtle frosted sheen. It’s a more intense versino of Urban Decay Rockstar. MAC Young Punk is purpler, less burgundy. MAC Dynamic Duo 4 is reminiscent, but less red-toned and matte. MAC Indian Ink is a matte version. Giorgio Armani #2 is slightly richer, blacker, and has red and blue-violet shimmer–so it translates a bit differently. Giorgio Armani #3 has a very reflective sheen that’s more silvery–the purple is a bit grayer, less red-toned.

I love the intensity of this shade, and it even had a fair amount of darkness even when applied dry.  It’s definitely smoother and richer-looking when applied damp/wet, though, but what’s worth noting is that the color will stay that intense even after it dries so long as you use a damp brush to apply the color initially.  The texture is soft, smooth, and finely-milled. It’s not dry at all, and it really has that creamy-powdery feel that’s a hallmark of the L’Oreal Infallible/Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Intense ranges.

Smoldering Plum wore very well–a solid twelve hours without fading or creasing. The newest released shades seem to have a lot better wear than a couple of the other shades I had tried previously (notably, Perpetual Purple, which was more like a perpetual disappointment).

For a comparison against Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Intense, please see this post. As a quick summary, L’Oreal’s colors can be less nuanced/have less depth, and then the wear seems to be a little more inconsistent with L’Oreal (some wearing fantastically, others creasing/fading more rapidly). The way I look at it (assuming you wear primer, because then the wear is usually fine), the more the merrier!  There doesn’t seem to be a lot of overlap between the color ranges, though–they’re not putting out dupes so much as different shades in a similar formula.

The Glossover

	Smoldering Plum A
	This is a perfect pick for fall--it's rich, dark, and on-trend for the purple-hued fall/winter season we'll be seeing in the next few months.
	Product 9.5/10 Pigmentation 9.5/10 Texture 10/10 Longevity 10/10 Application 5/5
	Where to Buy
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See more photos & swatches!

L’Oreal Smoldering Plum Infallible Eyeshadow

L’Oreal Smoldering Plum Infallible Eyeshadow

L’Oreal Smoldering Plum Infallible Eyeshadow

L’Oreal Smoldering Plum Infallible Eyeshadow

L’Oreal Smoldering Plum Infallible Eyeshadow

Giorgio Armani #29, #27, L’Oreal Smoldering Plum

Giorgio Armani #29, #27, L’Oreal Smoldering Plum (12 hours of wear)