L'Oreal Color Riche Extraordinaire in #204 Tangerine Sonate review & swatches

The mid-March heat wave immediately shifted my interest from spring-time pastels to playful brights and I suddenly realised I needed something orange. 

I went to the nearest drugstore to see what they've got and my eyes fell on the new product from L'Oreal, the Color Riche Extraordinaire gloss that was on 40% off offer. I thought that was a good opportunity to give this a go.

The packaging looks better in pictures than in reality. The golden plastic seems actually quite brittle and it makes strange cracking sounds when I try to unscrew the top which make me fear the whole thing is going to fall apart and make terrible mess everywhere around.

The shade I picked is #204 Tangerine Sonate, which is an opaque bright orange that on my lips leans slightly coral. It's a gorgeous shade that shouts spring to me and I'm pretty happy to have it in my collection.

My only grudge is that my expectations about this product were so high due to the hype it got that it simply doesn't live up to them.

The fluffy applicator deposits a ton of thick product that feels kind of gloopy on my lips. The gloss is very opaque, but I think it's partly because of the amount of product that lands on my lips. This is a bright, pigmented shade so any unevenness is instantly visible and I haven't been able to avoid sheerer patches on my lips.

The gloss isn't as moisturising as you could expect as it kind of sits on my lips, but it's not drying either.

This product lasts just as long any other gloss does, but the good thing is that it disappears quite evenly. It leaves no stain behind.

Color Riche Extraordinaire has almost no scent detectable when you sniff it, but when applied to my lips and inhaled it starts to reveal a peachy scent. 

This is a very decent gloss that I really do enjoy wearing, but there's nothing exceptional or 'extraordinaire' about it. It lasts no more than 2 hours, feels very weird on the lips and the packaging seems a bit whimsy.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.