Bourjois Air Mat foundation in #02 Vanilla review and swatches

Bourjois Air Mat foundation

Bourjois have recently come out with a new foundation which made my ears perk up as its intended for my skin type. The brand has an outstanding track record as regards foundations. Their Healthy Mix constantly figures among everyone's favourites, I also liked their Happy Light a lot, but the only problem was that they didn't target my skin concerns. So when I saw their brand new release in Rossmann, I grabbed it without hesitation.

The claims behind this foundations are:

• air-light formula
• perfect coverage
• flawless complexion
• shine-free complexion with no mask effect
• undetectable finish
• 24h hold.

Bourjois Air Mat foundation #02 Vanilla

Unfortunately, this foundation fell short of the claims and turned out to be a very old-fashioned matte foundation that we used back in the '90s and which made everyone hate matte skin afterwards. I do agree that this offers quite a coverage, medium at least, but not buildable at all. The foundation is rather thick and super fast-drying, so you need to be quick when blending and also I would recommend doing one part of your face at the time. This sets to a matte, powdery finish which accentuates every dry flake and every line, even those I never knew I had, but now I know, thanks to Bourjois Air Mat. Generally I want to say that this ages my skin by at least 10 years in an instant. The foundation feels rather tight and you certainly do feel that you're wearing foundation. It's also not undetectable as the powdery finish verges on cake-face and is rather noticeable. The 24h hold claim is also ridiculous as on my oily skin the matte finish lasts for 3-4 hours and then my oilies break through with all their might and make the foundation slide on my face and disappear from my nose and cheeks.

I also believe that the price tag is quite steep for a drugstore foundation, the regular price is twice higher than, say Maybelline Better Skin.

And two more things you need to know before you decide whether this foundation is worthy of your attention. The first is that it's rather heavily scented (I like fragranced foundations, but this scent doesn't appeal to my taste) and the shade range is rather limited. The shade I picked is 02 Vanilla, which is very yellow and rather dark, but it blends surprisingly well and still matches my post-summer skin tone, but in winter I would have to go a shade lighter. Hypothetically, of course, as I'm sure you've already guessed that I'm not going to repurchase.

I'm not throwing this away as I believe this could be a good medium to mix with dewier foundations, but I haven't experimwented with it yet.