L'oreal Lucent Magique Light-Infusing Foundation

On days when I want to skip putting on sunscreen, I tend to use foundations with SPF as a replacement. It's a rather bad habit because it's actually easier to use sunscreen, then concealer rather then work with a foundation. However, I'm really not one to say no to extra coverage and my recent foundation of choice has been the L'oreal Lucent Magique Light-Infusing Foundation with SPF24. I bought this as a replacement for the L'oreal True Match (which I misplaced or gave away, can't for the life of me remember) and also because I read that it was water-based. There are so many shades to choose from as with the True Match range and the shade G4 matches my NC30 skin pretty well. 

The packaging is quite sophisticated, the foundation being housed in a glass bottle with rose gold accents and a pump. Not good for travelling but nice for looking pretty on the table. There's 30ml of product, and the pump! Oh the pump, it has a nice little dent that fits the finger ever so perfectly, and it's so easy to control the amount that comes out. The nozzle area is also flat so that when you wipe it off on your hand, all the product comes off and does not collect! This is the best pump design that I've come across yet. I apologize for the rave, I'm a design student at heart. 

L-R: MAC Studio Fix NC30, L'oreal Lucent Magique in G4

The product itself is quite thin and really blendable. The shades come in 3 groups - Golden, Neutral and Rose (I think) and the golden range has really strong yellow undertones which are slightly too strong for me. My colour match might actually lie within the neutral group. 

The coverage of the L'oreal Lucent Maqiue can be considered medium-full, however I find that the best way to use this foundation is to buff a thin layer all over the face just to even out the skin tone. Using it in a thin layer makes this foundation almost undetectable. If you have smooth skin, then the foundation layers well with no cakiness. If you have fine lines, then layering is a no no as this foundation does migrate into those lines (for me it's under eye crease and laugh lines) which is also why I strongly recommend a single thin layer. That being said, I find that this foundation doesn't feel like anything on the skin! Skin also still looks like skin with this on. That's mostly why I like it quite a bit.

The finish is very glowy as the name suggest - light infusing. Unlike it's True Match counterpart where I found (to my horror) GLITTER, this light-infusing foundation does not rely on glitter for the finish. Thank God. Powder with this foundation is a necessity, because boy does this foundation transfer like a mother-. This is not particularly long wearing, I'd give it around 5-6 hours without a primer, setting spray or powder. I have oily skin and I do like this, but oil control is zilch - hence the powder. Dry skin types will really like this foundation as it doesn't dry the skin out and doesn't cling to dry patches either.

 My favourite way of using this is to pop concealer on before buffing a very thin layer of this on and sealing that with powder and a setting spray for some serious glowy goodness!


Summary:

Pros:

• Medium - full coverage
• Extremely lightweight on the skin
• Dewy finish without glitter
• Can be layered without caking
• Does not dry skin out
• Brightens up the face
• Doesn't cling to dry patches

Cons:

• Transfers Transfers Transfers!
• Doesn't last very long
• Tends to gather in fine lines 
• Layering this foundation tends to exacerbate the above problems

Conclusion: This foundation has great coverage even when used in a very thin layer, which is the ideal way to use it. If you have oily skin and need a ton of coverage, then this is not the foundation for you! L'oreal Lucent Magique gets a B+ from me - only when used the way it should be used.