Not a sight for sore eyes, Chemist Warehouse.  An empty spot where my favourite shade of ColorDrama (#630 Nude Perfection) should’ve been.

See that empty slot above #630 Nude Perfection?  Therein lay the drama.  There were none to be had for love nor money.

Which was kind of a problem for me because I don’t usually like to be anywhere without the reassuring presence of one of these pencils of perfection.

Things were looking pretty bleak for my desk in the office at that point.  Is it even possible to work at an office desk that doesn’t have your favourite lip product squirrelled away somewhere on its surface or within its drawers.

Then I found a lifeline further up the cosmetic aisle.  These new L’Oreal Infallible Matte Fx lip powders.  They’re currently $20.39 at the warehouse but I’m sure you all know about Priceline’s 40% off beauty that is still on today….  I have to avoid these sales because I often end up buying far more than I actually need.  I also fall into that beauty back up trap of buying eight of my current favourite mascara only to find myself a new favourite before I’ve even used tube three of my back up haul.

I’m linking here to a comprehensive review with swatches by Lani Loves (a new beauty blogger discovery for me).  Keep reading or return for my sometime beauty blogger thoughts.

First impressions

I bought shade 001 – Silencio, a nude pink with some warmth to it.  More pink than good old Nude Perfection but I figured I might as well embrace the variation in the theme of nude lips seeing as I was trying a new lip product.

Infallible Matte Fx is made up of a sponge tipped brush that you dip into a well that contains the product.  The handle of the applicator is a nice size and easy to hold and control.  The brush screws into the colour barrel which means there’s no chance of spills or leaks if you remember to close properly after use.

This is a close up of what the lip powder looks like.  It doesn’t look you get a lot so I’ll be interested to see how long this lasts for me.  L’Oreal promises 10 hours of wear and the flexibility of creating gradient, ombre or fully matte lips with the product.  I’m not sure I could pull off gradient on my lips and I tend to prefer the ombre look on cakes or (other people’s) hair so the matte look is really the only claim that interests me.

Application

I found it really easy to apply Matte Fx.  It’s much like painting your lips on with a fine felt tip.  I like how the shape of the applicator lets you apply switch between large brush strokes and more precise lines if you use the tip of the sponge.  I needed a couple of coats to get enough matte coverage for my liking.

Wear

As others have noted, Matte Fx is a little drying.  In addition to prepping with some lip balm (Lucas’ Paw Paw, of course) I found that I needed a little more on top of the Matte Fx. I got around 6 hours of wear from one application with some transfer of colour to the rims of cups as the day wore on.  The texture of Matte Fx is quite light.  There was no fragrance.  It was easy to remove with my usual cleansing oil.

Pros:

• innovative packaging
• reasonable wear time
• the shade Silencio was just what I was after
• brush applicator is easy to use
• matte finish isn’t overbearing but I did wear lip balm over the top