Vichy Dermablend Foundation

Vichy Dermablend Foundation - Shade 15 Opal - £16.00 

I think we're off to a good start here in understanding each other - my first blog post was about eye cream and this one is about a high coverage foundation. They're both staples in my collection so I think it's a good base to gather what my beauty preferences are - good skincare and flawless finishes. 

In terms of flawless finishes, the Vichy Dermablend foundation delivers. With a coverage that seems to be enough to cover imperfections but light enough to let my freckles show through (you can see them on my forehead) this foundation is a real winner. I've been a huge fan of the Estee Lauder DoubleWear for many, many years now but I know for a lot of people they find it thick and difficult to work with as well as just being a little too much coverage - it pretty much blanks out everything on your face. Whilst I find that applying DoubleWear with a good buffing brush leaves a beautiful finish I do have days where I don't want such high coverage or thick foundation on my face - but without looking like I've slapped on tinted moisturiser - and that's where this one fits in. 

With the whole concept of Dermablend being about coverage I was expecting a really thick consistency, which this one doesn't have. Not to the extent of other high coverage foundations anyway, though it admittedly is thicker than the likes of L'Oreal True Match/Luminous Silk. Brush wise I've been swapping between the Real Techniques Buffing and Expert Face brushes and finding that both leave a really lovely finish. It doesn't feel heavy or thick on the face and I quite forget I'm wearing it, so points for how comfortable it is. 

Coverage is buildable so brilliant if you want something more natural on most of your face but want to build up to cover any areas of pigmentation or redness, I found it was more than able to cover the small scars I have on my cheeks from where I had spots when I was younger but I did still reach for a concealer for under the eyes. 

Wear time on this one is pretty good too, I found it lasted all day and - bonus - didn't need to paired with a smoothing primer such as the Clarin's Instant Smooth or the Benefit POREfessional to stop it from sinking in to pores the way DoubleWear does.

Packaging - well, it's pretty boring and nothing special but it's what's inside that counts, right? Just not exactly a bottle you'd want to display on your dressing table. Plus points are that it's not a hard bottle which makes it great for travelling and it houses 30ml of product, which is actually the exact same as DoubleWear  though the squeeze tube makes it seem like a much smaller product.

For the price point this is a brilliant alternative to a high end high coverage foundation such as DoubleWear (£28.50 for 30ml) or Laura Mercier Silk Creme (£34.00 for 35ml) that doesn't let it down on wear time or finish, though for me DoubleWear does last longer and cover more, so they're both something I want to have in my collection.

Swatches L - R

Laura Mercier Silk Creme in Soft Ivory - Estee Lauder DoubleWear in Shell  

Vichy Dermablend in 15 Opal - MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation in NC15

 L'Oreal True Match in N1 Ivory - L'Oreal True Match in C1 Rose Ivory

The only thing that let me down about this product, and part of the reason I was sure I wanted to review it, was that I couldn't actually test the colour before buying. I have, since buying it, seen some of the larger Boots stores become equipped with tester racks but they don't seem to be maintained very well and it seems as though this range is pretty much forgotten about, perhaps because it's located in the skincare aisle with the other Vichy products rather than with the make up. 

The shade I purchased - 15 Opal - is the lightest and I had to blind buy, hoping it would be light enough for me - I know all my fellow pale girls out there will feel my pain at this by how often the lightest shade in a foundation range is still not light enough (get on it please brands!)! As you can see from these swatches it is by far the darkest of my foundations and for me it means that I need to be light handed and use this with a good buffing brush. It also means that if I build up the coverage in certain areas then it becomes too dark. I'm lucky that what I want to cover is mainly the scarring on my cheeks and then I'll be placing blusher over the area so I can build it up without being too obvious but I think if I was trying to build this up elsewhere on my face the colour would be noticeably too dark. Having said all this though I'm a girl who can find MAC NC15 a bit too dark sometimes so I am super pale and the shade range is probably suitable for most skin tones, though the lack of testers is a problem. At £16.00, although this is a much more pocket friendly alternative to a high end foundation, it's still more expensive than the high street offerings that are about the £10 - meaning this is 160% of the price, you want to be able to test it and check the colour is right for you. 

If you can find a tester then I really do highly recommend this foundation if you're after something with a flawless finish, good coverage and good wear time.