FOTD
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How Exceptional is the Rouge G L’Extrait’s “Exceptional Hold”?: A Special FOTD Review

I know I said I was on a makeup ban, but what do you expect me to do when my Guerlain SA, Jean, texts me about a 30% off sale. “Resist like a responsible adult, Carina,” you might say. Unfortunately, I can’t hear you as I’m drowning in lipstuff happiness.

See, my friend Gracie, keeps asking me if I plan on buying any shades from Guerlain’s Rouge G L’Extrait line. And I’m just always so puzzled by the persistence. I mean, what’s so great about this lip gloss, really? What about it would make me want to drop $48 on one color? Pretty steep, if you ask me. That said, I don’t think I would ever buy it at original price, unless I had a more stable and higher-paying income.

For a 30% off sale, though, I think I can forgive myself.

Guerlain Counter Swatches

So, the Rouge G L’Extrait by Guerlain is a line of “lip colour” that they released pretty recently, in August 2012. It’s a “lip colour” because it looks like a gloss—with a doe-foot applicator and a creamy consistency—but it acts more like a lipstick. A matte lipstick, to be more precise. “How can this be?” you ask. I don’t know, but it’s pretty amazing!

(I swatched four shades of Rouge G L’Extrait before settling on the first one I picked—at the rightmost—which is Orgueil.)

I know a lot of companies say they’d do stuff, but the three things that the Rouge L’Extrait boasts of being:

  • a crème de rouge
  • being a matte colour, and
  • having exceptional hold

It’s easy to judge the first two, and I’ll tell you right now, they are truth-tellers in this case. But what about exceptional hold?

One of my posts drafted for this blog is called “Confessions of a Lip Licker.” Lipsticks do not tend to hold on me, even though they claim to be long-wear. It’s a sad fact that I’ve come to accept. For a $48 “lip colour,” though, I am bound to have high expectations.

I got the Rouge G L’Extrait in Orgueil (M69). Named after the seven deadly sins, each Rouge G L’Extrait shade represents one, Orgueil being French for pride. It’s described as a plum, but it’s a beautiful, bold color that comes across more ruby-berry-bluey red than plum. I didn’t expect myself getting since I tend to stick with safe shades for lipsticks, but I couldn’t let it go.

I know this is long enough for a long-review, but! I’ll save that for another time. This is for a special Face of the Day timeline to display just how long-wearing this liquid lipstick is.

I took this photo immediately after putting it on, around 3:30 in the afternoon. Love at first swipe!

I was exceptionally pleased with it—from the texture to the color—but if it lasts on my lips remains to be seen.

Face of the Day details:

  • Face: Ahava Light Foundation, The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Pore Minimiser
  • Eyes: MAC Paint Pot (Rubenesque), bareMinerals A Vision in Velvet eyeshadow (Satin Peach, Velvet Espresso)
  • Cheeks: NARS Powder Blush (Orgasm)
  • Lips: Guerlain Rouge G L’Extrait (Orgueil M69)

Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait - Orgueil M69 - 7:14pm

After about 4 hours of wear, at 7:14 pm, with my high school lady loves, Pam and Tata. We had coffee (créme brulee coffee for me!), cake, and a session of merciless self-loathing (lol) and a few rounds of high school catch-up with each other and people who aren’t there (double lol). I missed them a lot!

Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait - Orgueil M69 - 7:47pm

At 7:47 pm, waiting to be seated at Mitsuyado Sei-Men, a new ramen place along Jupiter that Sarie and I wanted to try. Ah-maw-zing color still, at 4.5 hours. On another note, my NARS blush has faded.

Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait - Orgueil M69 - 8:23pm

At 8:23 pm, after a few bites of food and a giant lip-wiping. There is still a visible stain, post-curry drenching and wiping. Close to five hours of wear at this point, after coffee, cake and a dinner of ramen, chicken karaage, and gyoza.

Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait - Orgueil M69 - 8:45pm

8:45 pm—all gone! Look at the face of this tired self. I had wiped my lips a few times in between this picture and the last one and I think the wiping just about did it.

As for the rest of the product, it is, as always, extremely luxe. Here is what the packaging looks like, sans box:

guerlain rouge g l'extrait - orgueil bullet

Gorgeous! I mean, I’m pretty sure this is why you’re so expensive, Guerlain. So pretty, though. It’s quite big, but the heft is what you really notice first. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather my makeup’s packaging be heavy but exceptional than light but cheap.

guerlain rouge g l'extrait - orgueil case mirror

The heft can probably be attributed to the mirror each tube of Rouge G L’Extrait comes with. For easy reapplication, though I don’t know why you would need to anyway, unless you have a really long day. I prefer to use doe-tip applicators on clean lips, though, so I don’t think I would reapply on-the-go, unless I really really really had no other choice, but that doesn’t seem to be a scenario that’s likely.

guerlain rouge l'extrait - orgueil applicator

Germ central! Doe-foot applicators are the very thing that turned me off of glosses in my earlier years because the applicators felt so yucky, but I have since warmed up to the idea when I purchased a tube of Larger Than Life Lipgloss from the NARS x Andy Warhol collaboration. I have compromised and I think I can deal with this just as long as I put on the lipstick only on clean lips.

guerlain rouge l'extrait - orgueil case top

I love how the color is represented by a dot on the wand end. There’s a label on the underside of the tube, but I appreciate the colored dot for easy color selection.

guerlain rouge l'extrait - orgueil box

The lid of the box has a cute diagram that tells you how to open the contraption. 🙂

VERDICT: Great, long-wear lip color with amazing, intense pigmentation. It applies smoothly and dries to a velvety matte finish.
Would I purchase this again? Heck yeah. It’s something worth saving up for, in my opinion.
How much? $48 or Php 2,500 for 0.20oz (Bought on sale for Php 1,700+)
Where to buy in Manila? Guerlain counters in Rustan’s department stores.

19 Comments

  1. budziak says

    I never appreciated packaging until Guerlain. Just purchased the refillable mascara and I absolutely love it, same packaging with the mirror and it’s the best mascara I’ve ever used. Love love love it.

    • I’m looking forward to them making the G L’Extraits refillable, too! Oh my, I never intended on trying the mascara. Now, I’m very very tempted to!

  2. Guerlain is super luxe but at least their products live up to the hype! If you’re looking for something cheaper to tide you over, though, Revlon makes something similar. It’s colour stay and has serious staying power but of course I assume the texture won’t be as great as Guerlain. I have two and though the colour and staying power are great they tend to be slightly drying.

    • Is the Revlon one the liquid lipstick? I wanted to get the Peony shade, but it was a bit too shimmery for me. I generally do not gravitate toward glosses, so it was really awesome that this dried on matte! I’m so happy the shades are permanent. ;_;

  3. Woah, 2500 for a lip product. O_O And I thought Chanel was pricey! The color suits you very well, though. 🙂

    I recently tried NYX’s Soft Matte Lip Cream which is somewhat similar, only it’s in cream form instead of gloss, and it settles into a matte lippie after a few minutes. Affordable at 280 lang. 😀

    • I know it’s O_O but it really applied SO WELL and didn’t settle into cracks (I had forgone lip exfoliating hehe and said to heck with it) and didn’t really fade even after multiple color transfers. I haven’t actually tried NYX, but my friend Tata was wearing the same one you’re talking about, I think 🙂

  4. Wow — P2500 for a lipstick! Ang sakit sa heart! BUT in all fairness, it looks great on you plus it’s long lasting pa! Plus, the packaging is so luxe! Ang ganda, sobra!! 🙂

    • Super sakit! Haha it’s the kind of thing I would set aside Php 210 for each month for a year just so I could have another color, you know? Haha /baliw

    • Try it! Revlon has a bunch that don’t BUDGE, reportedly. This has a bit of a transfer “problem,” though I don’t really mind it.

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