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| Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation |
It has claims of "radiance boosting", purports to be long-wearing (16 hours) and contends that it has a glide-on formula.
All are true. At first glance, this seemed like a really lovely foundation. I really don't like its scent, but it does mostly wear off, so I can ignore this for now. The colour I picked (#52, Vanilla) is an absolutely perfect match for my skin (about a MAC NC2 at the moment). It didn't oxidise on me, like a lot of foundations can. It had light to medium coverage. It didn't dry and settle into lines over the day.
Does it glide on? Yes it most certainly does; at the time of my trials (on and off over a three week period) my skin was most definitely combination, dry and almost flaky in places (thanks to the winter weather and a trial of another moisturiser rather than my beloved Creme de la Mer), and "normal" everywhere it wasn't dry. But this foundation most certainly glided on, with or without a primer underneath.
Does it wear for 16 hours? Well, it certainly wore for the entire day, although it did need a bit of setting with powder in some areas to get that longer wear out of it. And the scent wore off as the day progressed too, another plus.
Does it boost radiance? Yes, it most certainly does. On the first day I used it, I was decidedly tired, washed out and a little grey, had also used some Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl (drool), and had topped my cheekbones with Lumière Sculptée de Chanel highlighting powder. So I couldn't really gauge the radiance from the foundation and the bang of robot from everything else shimmery. So the next day, on the sage advice of a friend, I just used this foundation all on its lonesome :-) And I loved it.
Fast forward a couple of days of usage, and I'm not so sure. Weird bumps are appearing on my cheeks. I don't really get spots, and on the extraordinarily rare occasion that I do, they're invariably small, singular, in my "congestion zone" (nose, chin). These never really turned into spots, but were itching a little and more to the point, by the end of the day it was a relief to get my makeup off and my face calmed down. Red bumps persisted, so out went the Healthy Mix foundation for a bit.
So "in case" it was just a once-off incident, or down to some other reason (different moisturiser, hormones, whatever), I gave the foundation a skip for a week, then went back to it "to see", while resuming my more usual skincare. Again, all fine for about two days, when suddenly, I have the same spots back, and this time they're nasty... More itchiness, more blotchiness, more redness, and full-on spots, on my cheeks. Very odd. At this point it can only be the foundation. I have tried it now with multiple combinations of primer/not and different moisturisers.
That's not to say that this foundation won't work for you, perhaps I just have a sensitivity to something in the ingredients. It certainly does all that it claims. But I won't be repurchasing, and given how it fared on my skin, I wouldn't in conscience recommend. I don't use anything on anyone else that I haven't trialled first, and I won't be using this one either, which is a shame. Onwards to my next foundation...