Teint Visionnaire is the latest foundation from Lancome. Actually, it’s also their latest concealer because this is a bottle of foundation that has an extra compartment on top filled with a matching concealer. This is a “skin correcting makeup duo for dark spots-pores-fine lines,” according to Lancome. The foundation and concealer is supposed to be a combination of skin care and concealing. Think of it as an advanced BB cream: more coverage, coverage you can customize (thanks to the concealer), and balanced skin.
The SPF 20 formula is a blend of oils and pigments so it just glides on to the skin. Although it does have oils in it, I didn’t find the foundation to be particularly oily and I was able to wear it although I do have oily skin. I also didn’t find that it made me break out in the week that I’ve been trying it out.
It also has Vitamin C in it, however the foundation is housed in a clear tube, so I’m not sure how stable the vitamin C will remain over the long run. The foundation is hydrating which makes it suitable for people with dry to combination skins. Because it combines skincare and coverage as well as SPF, you may find that you can skip applying your regular skincare products and just reach for this foundation.
I’ll cut right to the chase and say that I really love this foundation.
It is light coverage with a slightly dewy finish. The attached concealer matches the foundation very well which makes the duo super easy to use. In fact, the concealer is pretty much a more pigmented, concentrated version of the foundation. It’s not great if you need major color correcting (yellow for dark spots, or green for redness), but if you’re out to cover the odd blemish or even prime your eyelids, then this concealer will do the trick. I found that it didn’t cake up or get into the fine lines around my eyes either.
The foundation really does make your skin look poreless: actually, it just looks like a better version of your own skin which is why it’s so great to use. For once, a foundation isn’t just correcting colour; it’s also correcting texture. It feels quite like there’s a primer built into the foundation, which is kind of awesome.
I did mention that it sets to a dewy finish which isn’t great for oily skins, including my own. Because my skin gets dewy on its own, I prefer not to use anything that adds that effect, but I found that I could just powder over the foundation and it looked great. I did have oily-looking skin after a few hours, but even though my skin looked oily, the foundation itself was in tact which means that it can hold its own against oil. It’s really up to you whether you’d like to sport a dewy look, and I rather like it because it just makes skin look so healthy.
The foundation is quite liquidy and very easy to apply; I really liked using my Beauty Blender sponge (I hadn’t used it in ages!) because it sheered out the foundation nicely and I could add more to where I needed it. As I mentioned, this is a light coverage foundation so you do see your skin through it but it’s also buildable.
The kicker: this foundation is SPF 20 which means that it doesn’t photograph particularly well (at least it doesn’t on me). I did find that flash kind of bounces off the foundation and makes me look a little paler than I’d like, but if you’re not running into a camera very often, then this might just be the foundation for you. It does come in 18 colours which is a huge improvement compared to other brands – even some MAC foundations only come in 16 colours, so this is pretty awesome. I was able to find one that suited me nicely.
$60 at Lancome counters.
With an amazing lineup of moisturizers for the body (most of which have a very high concentration of Shea Butter!), it’s easy to see why we missed L’Occitane’s haircare collection. But it turns out that the company has paid special attention to its haircare range, blending essential oils into their Aromachologie formulas to provide aromatherapy benefits when the products are used.
