Monday 23 April 2012

Chanel Perfection Lumiere



Chanel’s Perfection Lumiere foundation was actually my first high end cosmetics purchase. As a milk bottle, I found drugstore foundations to be too limited in their shade ranges for my skin tone, and I had to suffer desperately trying to blend my foundation in and failing. I’m a sucker for a good advertising campaign, and Chanel drew me in with theirs: their biggest shade range yet, suiting all undertones? I was sold. Clutching my debit card, I nervously walked up to the counter in Boots and asked to be colour matched.

I was matched to 22 Beige Rose, the second lightest shade with pink undertones. Sadly, I’m still left scrubbing at my face in a last-ditch attempt to blend. In hindsight, I hold my hands up and admit fault: it was a perfect match under the artificial lights, but I didn’t bother to check in natural light – I was too excited! I should have asked for a sample rather than jumping straight in at the deep end, but there you go. I can make it work if I’m very careful about blending and applying powder afterwards, but it’s a lot of hard work. I also find that it does oxidise slightly through the day if I apply a little too much.

Really, though, it’s not a bad foundation by any stretch of the imagination. The above could probably be remedied if I’d just be more thorough with checking my colour match. It has medium, but buildable, coverage that evens out my skin tone and covers most blemishes fairly well. Despite that, it’s very light on the skin; you can barely feel it there. It’s also very long-lasting, both on the skin and in terms of the foundation itself: a little goes a long way. The matte finish is gorgeous, and it stays matte through the day when set with powder. And of course, top marks for the classic Chanel packaging.

The matte finish does mean it clings to dry patches though, so this particular foundation would be better suited to those with normal/oily skin. I don’t particularly suffer from dry skin, but it clings to any dried out spots I’ve got, and it’s not nice. I also find it’s hard to blend.

So, no, it’s not bad, but it’s just not great. At £36 it’s expensive, and I’ve definitely learned my lesson. Maybe I’ll go back and get a sample of the lighter shade, but to be honest, I’d rather look at alternatives.

What has been your experience with Perfection Lumiere? Should I give it another chance?

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...