Review and Swatches: Lancome L’absolu Lacquers

Today is another review brought to you by Octoly, with some products Lancome gifted me. I’ve been a fan of the Lancome L’absolu Lacquers since I tried them last fall, and now I have more shades to give you an idea of the range and my full thoughts on them! Although these were gifted, I requested to try them on Octoly because I already had one and loved it so much, and I wanted to be able to try more shades.

The Lancome L’Absolu Lacquers are described as a “buildable longwear, high shine lipcolor that feels ultra lightweight and hydrating on lips.” Right away, this description reminded me of my beloved YSL Glossy Stains, which might just be my favorite long-wear glossy lip product ever. Except the YSL versions came out years ago, before the matte lip trend came, and then went away again.

Now that glossy lips are back, Lancome has come with their own version of glossy long wear products, and spoiler alert-I love them just as much.

First, they are $26 for .27 oz/8 mL of product, and are available on the Lancome website, Sephora, Ulta, and basically all your department stores. They come in 28 shades from nudes and pinks to reds to deep vampy shades.

For reference, since these do remind me of the YSL Glossy Stains (more on that below) the YSL Glossy stains are $37 for .2 oz/6 mL of product. So fitting for the price range of each brand, you are getting slightly more product for a lot less money with the Lancome versions.

In the past, Lancome has been a bit of a “boring” brand, but this launch really caught me. The packaging of these lacquers are sleek, heavy, and luxurious.

The formula of these are really my favorite thing about them. Like I mentioned, they are very similar to the YSL Glossy Stains. They have a lightweight, cushiony feel to them, and they feel slightly tacky, but nothing really like a sticky lip gloss. It is very much like a liquid lipstick that has a cushiony moisturizing feel. It doesn’t move around very much once they’re on the lips – although they do have a little bit of transfer – and they set into a stain after about an hour or so. They are very buildable, as in you could apply a very very sheer layer, or build them up to be fuller coverage. But you have to work quickly, because once they start setting into the more tacky stage, they start to apply a bit more patchy – especially the darker shades.

The lacquers also have an insane staining power. I’d say the gloss and shine really fades after about 2 hours, but the stain lasts for the entire day, and it’s even more intense if you have a brighter or darker shade. However, my favorite think about these is that I don’t find them drying at all. They’re not moisturizing like a lip balm, but they don’t proactively dry out my lips, which is a HUGE plus.

On all the points above, I find these nearly identical to the YSL Glossy Stains, except I find that the Glossy Stains stay glossy for a little longer. I can still feel the gloss and shine 3-4 hours in, but with the Lancome versions, it starts to set into the stain after a couple hours. It’s not a big deal to me at all, and I definitely find them comparable with each other.

Although I no longer have any Glossy Stains (I actually used them almost to the last drop – and then they expired before I could actually finish them), they were seriously my favorite lip product of all time…for years. And these Lancome lacquers are a close favorite for when I want something lightweight and long-lasting.

Now for some swatches. I have 7 shades of these in total. I already had 274 Beige Sensational, and I received 6 others to try:

• 134 Be Brillant – a bright warm red
• 188 Only You – a bright raspberry
• 274 Beige Sensational – a beige with some peachy tones
• 308 Let Me Shine – a sheer cool mauve with shimmer
• 323 Shine Manifesto – a mauve pink with shimmer
• 378 Be Unique – a bright fuchsia
• 490 Not Afraid – a deep plum

I did find the darkest shade, 490 to apply a lot more patchy. This is pretty typical of most liquid lipsticks I’ve tried, so I would probably apply a dark lip liner underneath to make it look more even.

Now for some lip swatches:

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Overall, these are truly some of my favorite lip products on the market. I love traditional lipsticks, but when I want something a bit more long lasting, but also glossy, these are my go to. While they don’t replace the YSL versions completely because of the slightly shorter wear time, the $10 price difference makes these nearly perfect.

Did I write a convincing enough review for you to at least check them out?

As always, thanks for reading!