Foundation dealbreakers: Review of L'Oreal True Match Lumi Healthy Luminous Makeup in W1-2 (Porcelain Ivory)

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I know that the idea of a perfect foundation, one that blends invisibly and makes you look like you have naturally perfect skin with no makeup on it, is a fantasy. I get it. If you want full coverage or matte foundation, it's probably going to look you're wearing makeup. If you want a more natural finish, it's not going to cover everything 100%. And so forth. But I used to think that I could forgive almost anything for a natural-looking texture, and it turns out that that's not true. L'Oreal True Match Lumi Healthy Luminous Makeup does have a texture that pretty much disappears on the skin, at least when it's first applied, but there were a number of other issues for me that ended up being dealbreakers.

Swatches above are: (1) L'Oreal True Match Lumi Healthy Luminous Makeup in W1-2 (Porcelain Ivory); (2) TheBalm BalmShelter Tinted Moisturizer in Lighter than Light; (3) Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation in Porcelain (reviewed here); and (4) Sephora Collection Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer in Fondant (reviewed here).

The first problem was completely my fault. I bought the wrong shade. I swatched this foundation at a Shopper's Drug Mart in Canada almost a year ago, and W1-2 (Porcelain Ivory) looked like a perfect match, even though I am more neutral than warm (W="warm"). How, I'm not sure, since it certainly doesn't look very close in the photo above. I sent an email to myself telling me to buy this shade! There is, in fact N1-2 (Soft Ivory/Classic Ivory) in the line, but in the store it looked too dark, so I went with W1-2. W1-2 is peachy color--too peachy for me, as it turns out, though it's not a terrible match. Here is an awkward photo I took of the edge of my face to try to see how far off it was. You can use this to get a sense of the coverage and texture as well.

If you look at my jawline where I've tried to blend it on to my neck, you can probably see that it's not quite right. The best thing about this foundation is that it's very natural looking, which I think helps disguise the color mismatch to a certain extent. You can hardly see that there is anything on my skin, with one exception: it settles into fine lines, like the ones on either side of my nose and mouth, immediately after application. It doesn't settle into pores, fortunately, and the problem with the lines can be helped to some degree with powder.

The coverage is light-medium, though it can be built up a bit. You may be able to tell from the above photo that my moles and freckles are still visible but redness is evened out.

This foundation feels light on the skin, not like you're coated in something heavy, but to the touch it's like a moisturizer that hasn't absorbed completely. And won't absorb, ever. I'm not sure if that type of formula would be appealing even to people with very dry skin, though I certainly wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. My hair stuck to the sides of my face, even after powdering. It was very unpleasant. Even though it feels sticky, it doesn't transfer much, at least.

Already I wasn't very happy with the sticky sensation, but then the oil in my skin broke the foundation down very quickly. In a couple of hours of wearing this stuff, I'm shinier than I would be if I wore no makeup at all (again, even when I set it with powder). In 4-5 hours, it starts seriously fading in some areas (nose, cheeks) and getting cakey in other areas (chin, forehead). It even interferes with the wear time of my concealer somehow, so that my favorite Sephora concealer gets cakey, which usually doesn't happen. Dealbreaker.

I understand that "dewy" and "luminous" foundations are usually targeted toward dry skin, and matte ones are usually meant for oilier skin. I get that it has to do with how the formulas function. But I still don't like it. I prefer a more luminous, or at least satiny, look, and I have oily-combination skin. It's tricky--and the fact that I don't wear foundation every day only make me pickier, I think, because if I'm going to go to all the trouble of applying it, I want to really like it.

I returned this stuff and bought myself a new bottle of an old favorite foundation: Boots No7 Lift & Luminate Foundation in Cool Vanilla. It's not a perfect fantasy foundation either, because the lightest shade is too dark for me (swatched here). But I can easily fix that with a little white mixer (I use the one from Lord & Berry), and it fulfills all my other requirements about natural finish, neutral tone (not cool, despite the name), and decent wear time. I'll write a full review of it some time in the near future.

How about you? What are your foundation demands and dealbreakers? I'm also curious if you've tried this particular foundation and if it works significantly better for skin types different from mine.