L'Oréal Magic Nude Liquid Powder Bare Skin Perfecting Makeup Review + Swatch

310 Light Ivory

3/8/2016: NOT vegan, NOT cruelty free

310 Light Ivory

REVIEW + SWATCH

Description from L'Oréal's website:

Get the ultimate un-makeup look with Magic Nude Liquid Powder Bare Skin Perfecting Makeup with SPF 18. Revolutionary liquid transforms on contact, leaving a soft powder like finish. This foundation is so amazingly lightweight it's like wearing no makeup at all! Just shake and apply – it’s magic!

310 Light Ivory

This foundation is a liquid-to-powder, meaning that it goes on as a thin powder but settles into your skin as a buildable matte powder.

It is a bit difficult to dispense this product since there is no pump, and the liquid form is very watery. The back of the package recommends to drip out a few drops onto your fingers and go from there, but I find that dripping some onto the back of my hand and then picking buffing it in with a flat top kabuki is my favorite mode of application.

You really do not need a whole lot of this product, which is good because the bottle feels very small for the price. For a light coverage, day-to-day look I'll use about three or four drops. If I need more coverage, I can build it up one or two drops at a time. You can get a rather full-coverage flawless finish with this foundation without feeling overloaded with makeup, which is the aim of this product.

I prefer matte finishes to dewy and have been constantly on the look for a powder that could mattify my skin. I found a few that I liked, but then I realized that my foundation was a dewy finish and therefore worked against whatever mattifying techniques I'd tried. This foundation, with or without powder, stays all day and stays matte all day. Powder and primer obviously do extend the life of this product, but they aren't necessary.

If you apply this foundation with nothing as a base, you won't even know that you're wearing makeup. You can touch your skin and not smudge it or get any on your fingers, which I find awesome. So far this product has stood up to every claim that L'Oréal has made about it.

The smell is a bit chemical-esque, somewhere between acetone and Revlon's Colorstay liquid foundation. This is only at first application, though, and goes away almost instantly.

Bare skin

Here is my bare cheek, with absolutely nothing on it.

310 Light Ivory

Here is my skin with two or three drops of Magic Nude buffed into it. The lighting changed a bit from picture one to picture two, but just know that it isn't the makeup that is making me cool-toned in the second picture.

As you can see, this foundation does a good job at mattifying and covering small blemishes. You still need a concealer, depending on the state of your skin and how much of this stuff you apply, but it does even out redness and light discoloration. I find that I still need something to go under my eyes, but that may just be because they're perpetually tired.

CONCLUSION

I love this foundation! It's my favorite so far, and I've tried a few. It's on the more expensive end of drugstore, but it is well worth the price. I will certainly be stocking up on this so that even if L'Oréal decides to discontinue it, I'll still be good.

BUY HERE, $12.99