Wednesday 2 April 2014

First Impressions - Bourjois Happy Light Foundation


I don't think I've ever seen a "First Impression" blogpost before, if you have, let me know? I love watching these videos on youtube, but somehow I just cannot ever think of starting my own Youtube Channel - so I thought I'd just do a post.
If you know me, you know my taste wanders to the higher end cosmetic brands when it comes to Base Makeup. But lately, I have been finding a fair few gems in the more "budget" makeup brands.. such as the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams (post here) or the MUG Eyeshadows (Here, here, here and here), but the one thing I haven't really found is a good foundation. Now you also know much I love my base products - be it illuminators/ primer/ highlighters/ foundation/ concealers/ bronzers.. the one product over the last month or so that has been a stand out for me was the Bourjois Happy Light Illuminating Primer. I found myself reaching for it practically everyday since I got it - needless to say I was curious about the foundation from the same range.
Colour Match - I have never found a good shade match in drugstore foundations, for whatever reason, and when I saw that they had only 5 shades in the Happy Light range, I was not confident. I thought I'd probably be matched to the darkest shade in the range - 54, but the sales girl insisted that I try 53, which at first looked too light for me; but it blended into my skin so beautifully and ended up looking exactly like my skin - but better.
Packaging wise - it comes in a glass bottle (which means not great to travel with; you probably can travel with it, not a big deal for me) with a coral/pink pump (Hygenic, easy and perfect! It should be mandatory for all foundations to come in either a tube or with a pump) - its so pretty! I'm usually someone who hates anything but monochrome packaging, but who can resist this?
Also, I'd like to point out that this doesn't seem to have SPF in it. Atleast I can't see it on the bottle. A lot of people seem to find the lack of SPF a bad thing - but I really love when foundations don't have SPF (If my beloved Chanel VA didn't have SPF 15, it really would be the perfect foundation) because I can use it at night/when the flash is on and I can look glowy and natural sans the disgusting white cast. During the day, I'd just use it over my regular Sunscreen (Neutrogena SPF 50+).

Makeup - Bourjois Happy Light Fondation in 53, Bobbi Brown Corrector in Dark Bisque, Chanel Loose Powder (under the eyes), Inglot 357 Matte to contour, Anastasia DipBrow Pomade, Eyes - Makeup Geek e/s in Cocoa Bear, Galaxy and Corrupt, Max Factor Lash Extension Effect Mascara, Revlon Matte Balm in Sultry

Bourjois Happy Light Foundation is suited for dryer skins, I have gathered - it provides "8 hours of hydration" according to the bottle - which is something someone like me, who has dehydrated skin really yearns for.
As you can see from the first to second picture above, all I need is one pump to cover my face and blend it into my neck. The texture is a little on the runny side (not as runny as Face and Body though) and it glides onto the skin pretty easily. As I said earlier it did look a bit too light but it blended in with my skin really well. Coverage wise I'd say its sheer-medium. Dabbing a little more product over certain areas really gave me the coverage I needed; it also imparts the most healthy looking glow to the skin which looks so natural and really lovely. I also feel the need to mention that it does have a slight fragrance - but nothing that lingers.
For reference,I didn't powder any part of my face except the undereye area to see how the foundation wears on its own.
If you're someone who doesn't like the feeling of foundation on your skin - you might like this, as I just couldn't feel it. Is that why its called "Happy Light?" Hmm.

Incase you were wondering - I had eaten, and with that went away my lipstick - entirely. Sigh
As you can see - after about 4 hours it settles into the skin a little more - everything still looks pretty great - not a bit of wear in sight. I thought my skin was looking pretty darn good.

I didn't bother reapplying the lip colour for some reason - oh yeah, I just forgot
So this is after a little more than 10 hours. It looked a lot more worn at this point, and had started disappearing around my scarring - you can also see that my undereye concealer seems to have faded a fair bit; but after 10 hours, it was totally expected.
There was no clinging to dry patches, no oxidizing, and most importantly, not once through the day did it look like I was wearing a ton of makeup - I was even complimented on my "glowing skin". Really, if that doesn't tell you how this foundation seems to have performed, I don't know what else can.

So my first impression of this foundation would be - LOVE. Its so light and covers everything I need covering while making my skin look healthy and really fresh - I can see this becoming a summer staple. Just one little point though - I'd suggest getting one or two shades lighter than you normally do - just because the Happy Light range seems to run more yellow and darker than its Healthy mix counterpart. Oh, and it costs INR 1495 for 30ml.

Do you like these First Impression posts? Should I make this a regular feature? What are your thoughts on Happy Light?

P.S. Have you noticed my new blogging schedule? I post Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:30am IST.

4 comments:

  1. Ok I didnt notice the timing but def noticed the M-W-F.. :) great going!
    For some reason I never find my color match in drugstore foundation atleast not in India..I picked up couple of them while in KL and they were a bang on match! I wish indian brands come out with much wider shade range especially for olive/tan skin tones

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    1. Or atleast when they bring them here, they need to keep in mind that people want to look like themselves - so many people (l'oreal and Revlon counters) tell me what if I use x shade I would look fairer - I don't want to look fairer. I want to look like me.

      But try this! Its amazinngg.

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  2. Hey is MAC Face and Body meant for dry skin or oily skin.I am confused..MUA at MAC told me that it is best suited for Oily skin ..do you have nay idea?This is such a nice post..I loved it..

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    1. I have really dry skin - dehydrated even, and I use it and love it. Its water based and seems to work better with dry skin than very oily skin - on youtube a lot of makeup artists like the pixiwoo sisters use it because its good for their dry skin. So I think it works for normal - to dry? Maybe if you have oily skin, get a sample of it and see if it lasts? It comes down to each persons individual skin.

      Thank you :)

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