Powder foundation was never a part of my makeup arsenal. I prefer to keep my routine simple with as few products as possible. As someone who has oily skin you’d expect powder to be one of my basics, but because of the amount of coverage it offers I have always thought of it as an optional nice to have. I need my foundation to be high coverage and to cater for oily skin without leaving me dry, and powder just doesn’t offer the amount of coverage I need. I purchased my first powder foundation in January this year. Then a month later I got gifted Lancôme’s powder foundation. I decided to use it for at least 3 months before publishing my review. Anything less and I don’t believe my review would be well rounded enough to be informative and hold any weight. Don’t you hate those product reviews where everything is positive and there’s nothing negative? How honest can that review be? It must be difficult to want to make a client happy while also being real and honest. It’s a fine line to walk.
So I’ve been using this powder foundation for just over 3 months now and I’m absolutely loving it. I have oily skin and now that I use powder, I don’t know how I survived without it in the past! My liquid foundation is oil free but after an hour my face is oily and shiny. It’s highly annoying. A good powder over my foundation sets it in place and keeps my face matte for a longer period of time.
- It’s velvety smooth and blends really easily. I apply it using the Lancôme Powder brush instead of the sponge that comes with the product. I feel like it distributes the powder more evenly and if I want to build it up in one area the brush allows me to do that without applying too much in one go and in one spot. My skin is left soft to the touch.
- It manages to mattify my skin but is also luminous. This is where English fails me because it’s so hard to describe this is words. I hate looking too matte. I feel like it’s unrealistic and unnatural. I want to control shine but still have a healthy glow to my skin. Trying to find a product which balances the glow/matte ratio without looking "cakey" is hard. Lancôme manages to balance the two quite well.
- It's not heavy nor does it cake. It's very pigmented but super lightweight. I often forget I’m even wearing powder foundation.
- The packaging is ultra luxurious. The mirror is large enough to see your whole face in and the actual foundation product is protected by a golden lid so you can use the compact as a mirror while keeping the compact looking impeccable. I hate the plastic disk that comes with other powder foundations. You spend hundreds of Rands on a powder then all they can do to separate the product and sponge is place a plastic disk between the two which easily gets lost.
- It comes in shades for black people too! Yes! The images of me on this post were not photoshopped nor were they colour corrected. I wanted to show how close the color and tone matches my natural skin.
- It doesn’t come cheap. Lancôme Teint Idole retails at R565. This is not for you if you if you’re on a budget and looking to save.
- It is touted as a long wear foundation and is said to last for 24hours. My oily skin requires me to blot and reapply powder by noon at least if I first applied in the morning. Don’t expect to last the whole day looking matte and oil free if you have oily skin like mine
- I know I complimented the packaging earlier but on the downside, the compact can be a little too large. It’s larger than the palm of my hand which means it's not very compact. On one night out I couldn’t fit my cell phone (which is also quite big), lipstick, my car keys and this compact into my clutch. If I’m going to have to choose between my phone and powder compact, best believe I’m taking my cell phone with me.
- It is a powder so coverage isn’t great. It’s a nice addition to my foundation but it’s not enough when I want to use this on its own. I have tried using it without liquid foundation and I still feel like I need some concealer to correct my spots. If your skin is naturally flawless and you're looking just for a little evening out then this may work for you. For my needs, it's not opaque enough.
