Anyways, for my first few posts of the New Year, I have some reviews to do for you guys! The L'Oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation is all over YouTube right now, and I really wanted to give it a try.
I remember when I was younger, my mom had an Asian beauty brand cushion foundation that I loved playing with, so seeing cushion foundations in American drugstores really take me back to my childhood. That being said, cushion foundations originated within Asian beauty brands, and, especially with the recent interest in Asian beauty products, have become more popular in the US. It's kind of like how BB creams took the world by storm a few years back. A widely popular product in Asia made its way west!
Anyways, let's get on to the review. First thing I noticed about this product right off the bat was the packaging. It's this gorgeous rose gold compact that easily draws you into the display. When you get to the display, there are these little stickers that are supposed to help you find your shade. Personally, I didn't find those particularly helpful, but it was nice that they tried. Normally with the L'Oreal True Match Foundation, I wear the shade C2. However, within the True Match Lumi line, the lightest they go to in each of the shade ranges is C3, N2, and W2. For those of you who aren't familiar with the True Match line, each shade range is categorized by your undertone (C for cool, N for neutral, and W for warm). In the Cushion Foundation, I chose to go with N2, because I have kind of a cool-neutral skin tone.
Something super important to note is that the shade range of the True Match Lumi line is definitely not as vast as the shade range in the original True Match line. The original True Match line has 28, Lumi only has 12.
When you open up the foundation, it is just as all cushion foundations are. You open it, the sponge is sitting on top of a little cap, and when you open the cap, you see the foundation-soaked sponge. To apply, you just press the sponge into the cushion, then tap it on your skin!
While we're on the topic of packaging, I feel the need to make note that the sponge gets VERY dirty, very fast. While it is easily washed, it stains pretty badly. So your sponge will never look as immaculate as it does when you first open it.
My first thought when I opened this foundation was that it was pretty orange for a "neutral" toned foundation. But I still wanted to give it a shot. When you first apply this foundation, you'll notice it is very thin and almost watery. However, this foundation really lends itself well to the patting motion that is recommended. It's definitely a sheer-to-medium coverage, but you can build it up to medium pretty quickly. When the foundation is applied, it's definitely very luminous, if not a bit slippery. For me, with my dry-combo skin, this is ideal! At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the finish, but after wearing it throughout the day, I noticed something with this foundation that is always a major struggle for me: it didn't cling to my dry patches. Like at all. And it lasted pretty much all day!
Here's the struggle for me. I'm pale. Pasty even. Not only did this shade look orange in the packaging, but when I brought it down my neck to attempt to blend it out better, it definitely came off just slightly dark enough to show up as orange. To resolve the problem, I went back in with my Beauty Blender and kind of dealt with the situation. The problem here for me is that the shade range just isn't a vast as the shade range of the original True Match line. I'm simply too pale for this foundation (shout out to all my pasty girls out there).
Maybe in the summer I could pull this shade off. I mean, it isn't THAT dark on me, so I think with a tan I might be able to wear it. However, I paid $16.99 for this foundation. That's right. $16.99 for a drugstore foundation. Oh, and it only comes with 0.51 fl oz! The standard foundation size is about 1 oz, so you're paying a big chunk of money (for a drugstore foundation), for half the product. You're definitely paying for the packaging here.
Final Thoughts? For mid-range skin tones with dry to dry-combo skin, who wants the ease and portability of a compact liquid foundation? This stuff would probably be great. However, I personally can't forgive the shade range. If you're super fair, or even just a dark-medium skin tone, you're out of luck with this one. I also can't forgive the price. While I have no problem shelling out $45 on a good luxury foundation, I expect to get at least an ounce of product in my foundation. With this, I expect it to run out quickly and have a person running out to the store to buy more.
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this foundation. I've been using it for about a week, on both bad skin and good skin days. I think my biggest beef with it is the shade range. Honestly, if the shade range was better, I could justify the price tag, due to the ease of application, the kind of coverage that gives you the "I woke up like this" look, and the fact that it doesn't cling to any dry spots.
Hope you enjoyed this review! I'm definitely rusty since it's been a while, but I hope to be back into the swing of things soon!
- D.
