Tuesday 24 January 2012

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Review

I know I've absent for a while, it was my birthday at the weekend, and I'm also on a currently on a course this week, (which is proving very helpful and I shall report on that later). So my free time has been very limited. I will be posting about my birthday and sharing some of the fab things I got super soon :)

But for now I just had to blog about this new product....

I'm sure many of you are aware of Chanel's newest foundation to launch, Perfection Lumiere. This replaced one of beauty's most loved foundations, Pro Lumiere. It will also be replacing matte lumiere, which whilst I don't own, I do know is also a very popular and well loved choice.
Pro Lumiere was one of my most loved foundations, it gave a beautiful natural dewy finish, but also provided a good coverage for flawless skin, it's been a makeup artists favourite for years, which is why it took by surprise to hear that it was being discontinued. Due to this, I had such high hopes for the new foundation, I've always got on so well with chanel foundations and I've never been let down by them, until now, sadly.



Thankfully I didn't dive right in a purchase a full bottle, because it has a very hefty price tag of £36. Any cosmetic product with this kind of price, even by my standards, really has to be something very special. I can definitely justify the price when it comes to my beloved pro lumiere and vita lumiere aqua, however i found this new addition to the line very disappointing.

I took a sample of shade 30, this my shade in the other chanel foundations (however in this particular range I found it a little bit more orange). I was super exited to try it out, but when applied, it made my skin look so flat! I'm lucky and usually have very good skin, however after applying this foundation it reminded me of those bad school days when I was younger and no idea what I was doing with makeup, it looked caked on, seemed to highlight imperfections I didn't even know existed, and made me look like I was desperately trying to cover up bad skin, when really, underneath the very thin layer, my skin was in fact very decent!

I think the reason for this is that the foundation is VERY matte. I'm not a massive fan of matt foundations to begin with anyway, if you are then you may get on with this product, but trust me when I say it really is very matte. I prefer a foundation to look like real skin, and skin this matte just doesn't exist. If I had to describe how this foundation looked on my skin, if you imagine using poster paints at school and remember how they looked when they had dried on paper, it wasn't far of that... on my skin.

Another problem I have with this foundation is that it contains spf 10 with titanium dioxide being the active ingredient, so I wouldn't particularly advise using this foundation if you're going to be around any flash photography.

This foundation does have a very strong floral/fruity scent as well, personally, I love this, as I like a nice smelling foundation, some foundations, for example mac studio fix fluid smell pretty foul. However some people I understand do not get on very well with strong scented face products.

My biggest issue is really this...
Why replace Pro and Matte Lumiere, two well respected, good performing, loved products, for this foundation? I could understand if it was a product that was a 'better updated version of' pro and matte lumiere, but this is completely different! Right on the other end of the scale! 
It seems silly to replace such a great foundation with a such a different formula.

There are however some good points, I won't totally bash this foundation.
It would be great for really oily skin.
Because of its heavy matte formula, which is thin in consistency but full of coverage, it makes it great for those who have trouble with oily skin.
Also like I mentioned the coverage is very decent, definitely medium to full.

I really didn't want to have a bash at chanel, adore the brand and have never had an issue with any of the products before, but this one disappointed me SO much! Especially since it's been really hyped and has replaced one of my favourite foundations.

I really do hope Chanel realise their mistake as I would presume most of their customers would easily prefer having pro lumiere back in the line other than this very poor product, any day!

As I said, this is just my opinion, you may love this foundation! I do urge you all to go and try a sample first though, try it on yourself at home and see if its for you, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it for dry/combination skin. I have normal skin and still found this made my skin look like the sahara crying out for a drink!. 

Have you tried this foundation yet? What are you views? Are you upset about Pro lumiere being discontinued? 

Lots of love,
Gemma.
-x

2 comments:

SuburbanFairy said...

Oooh i have dry skin so i'll be staying away i think! haha
xxx


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Unknown said...

Such a great review, will not be investing. Thanks for sharing :D

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