Perfection Lumiere is the replacement for the now discontinued Pro Lumiere, a foundation I just couldn’t get on with. It was too heavy and slick for my oily skin and it smelled pretty pungent. This new offering promises to ‘perfect’ imperfections with it’s special light reflecting pigments, offers a lighter oil-free formula that is apparently suitable for all skin types, provides SPF 10, will deliver a luminous semi-matte finish and last 15 hours.

As its Chanel, all of the above claim’s made me a little bit excited, and the fact that I adored their previous offering, Vita Lumiere Aqua. Instead of barreling over the sales assistant in Sephora in pursuit of this foundation, I decided to reign myself in and calmly ask for a sample first. Reason being, the price tag is rather extortionate at 25bd (50euro) and the reviews I have read from trusted sources have been a little bit mixed.

I’m happy I held back (for once) as I am very disappointed with this foundation. It’s quite difficult to blend and sets on the skin incredibly fast, leaving quite a lot of streaking if you’re not careful. The best brush to apply it with is a flat synthetic foundation brush and literally brush it on in solid stokes. The pigmentation isn’t that great so it takes 3 or 4 pumps to sufficiently cover the skin. It dries to an almost powder like finish which feels quite pleasant but looks very dry. Yeah, it smells pretty nice but unfortunately that’s just not going to cut it. What displeases me the most about this foundation is it’s complete lack of luminosity, it’s a flat matte finish. Yes, I have an oily skin-type and usually love mattifying foundations but this just sucked the life out of my face and clung on to every lump, bump and flake it could find, as well as finding a nice snug home in my pores.

I find it quite amazing that this foundation is advertised as suitable for all skin-types as I most definitely wouldn’t recommend this formula for use on any level of dry skin and would nearly go so far as to say it should only be used on very oily skin. It also doesn’t last 15 hours, but then again what does?

Personally, a big fail from me. That’s not to say it won’t work for you, but if you’re thinking about getting it ask for a sample first!