L'Oreal Shine Caresse & YSL Glossy Stain Comparison

Whenever a successful product is launched into the market, it generally isn't long before others try to emulate its success by coming up out with similar products (think the plethora of BB creams we now see in the market). Sometimes it’s even the same company who come out with similar/competing product to cater for a different demographic/segment of the market.

Such would appear to be the case with today’s product review. L’Oreal is the parent company for both L’Oreal Paris and YSL but have different target market; one being more drugstore or budget friendly and the other caters to the high-end prestige market - but undoubtedly they would share many R&D findings and outcomes between both companies and their products would contain similar formulations which would be tweaked enough to provide differentiating factors to justify the two separate markets.

So with the success of YSL Glossy Stains since its 2012 launch, it wasn’t long before a more budget friendly version of the product was brought to the market by L’Oreal to fill the gap. This is how I think L’Oreal Paris Shine Caresse lip gloss/stain came to existence.

I couldn’t help myself the other day when there was a 40% off sale in Priceline and picked up a couple of shades to try out and do a comparison with my much loved Glossy Stains (reviewed and swatched here).

L'Oreal Paris Shine Caresse - 6ml 

This hybrid gloss/stain is marketed as:
"The next generation lip colour, that combines the texture & shine of a gloss with the long wear of a stain. Delivering a lasting colour with a subtle glossy shine". 

It’s touted to contain a unique formulation with 30% water and 60% oil, that delivers real hydration for up to 6 hours after application. To me it sounds very similar to the Glossy Stain.

Packaging –  this comes in a clear tube showing the shade of the product and has a gold base and a tapered gold applicator lid. Initially I thought the base was the lid, but it was the tapered end that holds the tear-drop applicator.

Scent – it has a sweet sugary scent that reminds me of cotton candy at a carnival. Love it or hate it, it goes away after a few minutes on lips

Texture, finish & formulation – Shine Caresse feels feather-light and goes on lips with a watery feel and a vinyl gloss finish. The shine wears out to a subtle sheen after a few hours of wear but is still very flattering. The formulation can gives slightly patchy application of the colour as it doesn't always spread evenly, so may require a second coat to get an even opaque coverage. It is initially hydrating but on me, it does feel a bit sticky/tacky as time goes by and the only way to avoid this is to not layer on the product and rather slick on a lip balm for added hydration afterwards.

Colour -  a decent amount of pigmentation is present in the deeper shades but it can be a bit patchy on application for the lighter shades with its lower pigmentation levels. An extra coat of product is required to achieve good even coverage. As with stain products, the initial colour oxidises and deepens over the first 2 minutes of wear. But once developed it stays true and wears for hours and hours on end. I had #300 and that lasted me more than 6 hours of wear (it did fade to a lighter stain after eating).

Lasting power -  lasts through food without smudging. In fact, this is the stand out feature of Shine Caresse, along with its lightweight formulation which gave very comfortable all day wear (save for the slight sticky feel at times).

Colours 
#200 Princess is a coral red on my medium pigmented lips. I find the colour goes it slightly patchy and my natural lip colour shows through slightly (especially at the edge). It is a very pretty shade that compliments all skintones, particularly warm and medium skins.

#300 Juliet is an oranged based red when swatched on skin but a deep red on my lips and in certain light (especially after the colour develops), it looks like a deep bruised berry colour. It is definitely one of the most changing shades I've encountered in a while which goes to show some shades are just unpredictable on individual lips.

Shine Caresse v Glossy Stain
The most visually obvious similarity for me between the two products is in the sponge tip applicator - the slight difference in shape doesn't detract from the fact that they are fundamentally teardrop shaped. The initially watery feel, the light-weight texture and likeness in shine finish is also quite uncanny.

Ingredients listing comparison
YSL Glossy Stain: Octyldodecanol, Aqua / Water, Trimethylsiloxylphenyl Dimethicone, Ethylcellulose, Sorbitan Stearate, Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Sucrose Cocoate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Hydroxypropyl Guar, Calcium Aluminium Borosilicate, Silica, Benzyl Alcohol, Limonene, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Alumina, Benzyl Benzoate, Anise Alcohol, Acrylates Copolymer, Tin Oxide, Parfum / Fragrance 

L’Oreal Shine Caresse: Octyldodecanol, Aqua / Water, Trimethylsiloxylphenyl Dimethicone, Ethylcellulose, Sorbitan Stearate, Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Sucrose Cocoate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Hydroxypropyl Guar, Calcium Aluminium Borosilicate, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Hydroxycitronellal, Alumina, Silica, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Linalool, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Citronellol, Acrylates Copolymer, Benzyl Alcohol, Tin Oxide, Parfum / Fragrance

As predicted, Glossy Stain and Shine Caress can pass off as siblings as the main ingredients are the same for both products. But this is where the parallels starts to end. The difference are in the trailing ingredients gives Glossy Stain (pigment and fragrance being a main difference) the advantage in pigmentation and comfort during wear.

Glossy Stain shades doesn't change colour as much during its development stage so what you see in the tube colour is more representative of its end shade. It is also much more pigmented, especially so for the lighter shades where one coat is enough for a decent colour payoff whilst with Shine Caresse, its sheerness means multiple coats to achieve the same level coverage.

Scent wise, Shine Caresse comes across as being more synthetic but I don’t mind it at all. In short, Glossy Stain wears better, doesn’t feel sticky after long hours of wear and has more sophisticated colours selections.

Obviously the price points between the two products are also very different. Shine Caresse is less than half the price of Glossy Stain in Australia so you can buy two for the price of one.

The price difference makes L’Oreal Shine Caresse an excellent alternative for many and I have to agree. But my lips are quite snobby and whenever possible, I’d take the YSL Glossy Stain for a bold shot of colour and only supplement with the Shine Caresse when I want to wear sheerer lip shades.

L'Oreal Shine Caresse - RRP $23.95 Available in 8 shades in Australia at pharmacies, Priceline, Kmart and Target stores. Note that the shade numbers and names differ from region to region (Asia and North America seems to have different number and colour releases for the same shades compared to Australia).