Today I'm going to show you a review and swatches of the l'Oréal Nude Magique cushion foundation in the two lightest shades: 01 Porcelain and 03 Vanilla. Cushion foundation (and cushion blush) is one of the most hyped beauty innovations of the past year or so, brought over from Asia: it looks cute, it's very practical for touch-ups during the day, and the "tap tap" sponge application ensures a soft, velvety finish.
Brands like MAC and YSL are launching cushion foundations, and Yves Rocher has also started offering a one (the Pure Light cushion foundation). L'Oréal is a beauty enthousiasts favourite for drugstore foundations, and the packshots seemed to indicate that the range of shades would be reasonably wide - the lighter shades seemed nice and pale, unlike most drugstore foundations that go down to a beige at most. In sum, I was eager to try this one on for size. Read on to find out how I liked L'Oréal's new cushion foundation!
First of all, the packaging is really cute. I love the purply metallic compact with the big mirror, and all of it feels relatively sturdy for being plastic. One thing that did strike me immediately, however, is how little product you really get with these cushion foundations. A normal bottle of foundation generally contains about 30 ml of product, but if you lift up the foundation-saturated cushion, there's only a bit of foundation under there. Of course, the cushion is saturated, but I don't think it contains 30ml of product. This compact probably won't llast you anywhere as long as a regular foundation bottle.
These are the two shades I received for reviewing: the two lightest shades in the range. As you can see, they're light but not THAT light - anyone who generally needs an ivory type foundation will not be able to find their colour in this product. In addition, both of these are on the yellow side. The yellow undertone is much less noticeable when I apply them to the face versus on the inside of my arm, though. The 03 will probably work for me when I have a bit of a tan going on, but right now, 01 works best.
Holy redness, Batman! I'd just gotten out of the shower, which probably explains my healthy, flushed *cough* look. As you can see, the L'Oréal Nude Magique Cushion Foundation has pretty great coverage, much better than I anticipated. The sponge applicator makes it easy to build up coverage where needed, and I had no issue creating an even canvas for my makeup. The finish is on the dewy side of matte - velvetty is what I'd call it. And as you can see, the yellow undertone is barely noticeable, but that might be because of the prevalence of red/pink cancelling out the yellow.
Zooming in near my jawline, there is a slight colour difference - a bit more yellow than my neck, and a bit darker. But because my neck is SO much lighter than my face naturally, I look like a ghost if I match my foundation to my neck. I just have to find something that doesn't clash too much with my neck or my face and then blend it down instead of stopping the application along the jawline. That's what I always do, so I do consider this a good colour match. I think you can compare 01 Porcelain to Revlon Colorstay 150 Buff Chamois or Bourjois Healthy Mix 51 Light Vanilla. Light for a drugstore foundation, but definitely not light enough to serve the fairest complexions.
And this is what it looks like with a full face of makeup. I really like the natural, dewy finish of this foundation, and its coverage is great. I don't get a lot of slippage during the day, which I normally do get from dewy foundations: it wears quite well, as long as you don't touch your face too much, and if your skin isn't too oily. And if you do find it wearing off, it's super easy to touch up where needed: just grab the sponge and *tap tap*! That's the best thing about this foundation, apart from its impressive coverage: it's a great product to use on the go. Even though you don't get a lot of product, that's a relatively minor letdown for me.
A bigger issue is that this foundation doesn't really allow you to mix and match to find your ideal colour and formula. I generally mix up some liquid highlighter + two different shades of foundation to get my perfect match, regardless of how pale or tan I am, but that's incompatible with how a cushion foundation is packaged and used. All in all, this is a really nice foundation, but you just have to be lucky in finding a reasonably good colour match.
Get it at drugstores like Kruidvat for €17.99.
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