L’Oreal Infallible 24 Hr Matte foundation

A few weeks ago, I already reviewed the L’Oreal Infallible Stay Fresh foundation. While that looked like a promising foundation, it didn’t do the trick for me and since I like the Nude Magique Cushion foundation so much I wasn’t about to give up on L’Oreal’s foundations just yet. I purchased this L’Oreal Infallible Matte foundation in a deal hoping to try my hand at a fuller coverage foundation. Here’s how I fared.

L’Oreal Infallible 24hr Matte foundation 11 Vanilla

As per usual, I bought the lightest shade. For once that is available here which is a plus. There are not that many shades in the range, only 8 or so, which isn’t much. This means you have to be lucky to find your shade match. At €15.99 this isn’t a cheap foundation, but if you buy it on sale it’s not too bad. Offers go on regularly, so you don’t have to pay full price for this if you don’t want to.

The Packaging

I like the packaging of this. I’m a fan of foundations in tubes. It simply ticks all the boxes: it’s lightweight and easy to travel with, while hygienic to use and easy to store. What’s not to love. I think this also looks quite appealing to be honest. The shade is visible through the tube and this way you will always know which foundation you’re grabbing for.

The Ingredients

With foundation I like to look at the ingredient list. This foundation is heavily based on silicone, as are most foundations. This doesn’t really claim to have any extra benefits for your skin, but it does promise matte and flawless looking skin.

The Swatch

As you can see this foundation looks a tad too dark for me. However it is a shade that I can make work. Once blended out it is nearly undetectable on the back of my hand. It isn’t too yellow, which is my usual gripe about drugstore foundations and so I was very intrigued to see how this would work.

The texture is quite thick and creamy. The finish is most definitely matte once this settles down onto the skin. It is one of the first fully matte foundations I’ve tried. I have dry to normal skin that has some texture issues around the cheek area. Other than that, I develop quite some redness, but I don’t need a whole lot of coverage. I was curious to see how I would fair with a higher coverage foundation.

The Application

On the left is my bare face: without anything on. On the right, I did one half of my face. Look at that coverage! This is definitely a fuller coverage then I usually go for. While the bottle claims this to be full coverage, I’d say it is medium to full: you can easily build it up if need be. The shade match is pretty decent and that came as a surprise. On the back of my hand this looked to be quite dark. Full face, I like the look this gives, but still this isn’t my favorite foundation. Unfortunately this foundation behaves very fickle on my skin. Depending on how much I apply, whatever the day brings and how my skin is feeling that day, it either looks great or absolutely hideous.

Let me explain: while I really like this foundation when freshly applied, the way this wears throughout the day differs. On some days this looks flawless all day. On other it looks like a hot cakey mess that shows off every dry patch and fine line on my face. This stuff makes me look old on a bad day, flawless & glam on a good one. I haven’t been able to figure out what it is exactly. I tried less powder (=more creasing), more powder (=dry and cakey look) and any other element I felt I could control in my make up application.

The Conclusion

How this foundation will work for you, totally depends on your skin type. I think that if you have normal to oily skin that the L’Oreal Infallible Matte foundation will be a great foundation. If you are like me and have dry days, this is one to stay away from. While great the first hour or so, this can wear horribly throughout the day and I can’t pinpoint what it exactly is that does that. Alas, that is a gamble I am not willing to take.

What matte/ full coverage foundation would you recommend for dry/ normal skin?