Review: Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation… my inexpensive alternative to Guerlain foundation!

I recently discovered Bourjois in person. I’ve seen the pictures of the pretty baked eyeshadows and blushes in magazines but because its not widely available in Canada, I’ve never tried it out for myself. Well, Bourjois is available at almost every drugstore here so I finally got my chance!

Just recently, Bourjois released a new line of base products called Healthy Mix. There is a foundation and a concealer. After swatching it at Boots, I instantly decided to buy it.

The concept of Healthy Mix Foundation is that there are fruit extracts to mimic the effects of skincare:

Apricot > Radiance

Melon > Hydration

Apple > Anti-oxidant

Ginger > Energy

Also, they claim that it is very long-lasting, with perfect wear up to 16 hours.

I purchased this product in shade 53, which is a light beige (Beige Clair).

When it is blended out, you can barely see that there is any foundation there at all; it is very natural.

My FOTD from a few days ago, you can check out the product breakdown here.

The good:
The product comes in plastic bottle with a vacuum pump. The pump is very convenient to get the right amount of product; I use about one and a half pumps to do my entire face and chin and blended down onto my neck.

The first thing I noticed when I applied this is how light and smooth it is. After it dries, it basically melts into my skin, creating an invisible mask that is almost weightless. The coverage is medium but buildable. It does a good job at covering most of my lighter scars, but some of the darker spots and scars would probably do better with a bit of concealer. Additionally, pore coverage is not bad, but a base would probably make it better.

It does make my skin look incredibly radiant, but compared with the radiance that my Guerlain Parure Extreme gives me, this is more dewy, which can translate into oily and shiny for some oily-skinned people. The Guerlain foundation was matte, but still made me look naturally radiant. Even though I know I shouldn’t be comparing a $60CAD foundation with a $14ish CAD (£9) foundation, I really felt that in many of the other aspects this Bourjois foundation is really comparable to Guerlain.

Oil control is also fantastic. I didn’t blot my face for an entire day, approximately 14 hours, and even though it looked shiny, it wasn’t really oily like usual. This doesn’t clog my pores or make me break out either, which are always pluses.

The bad:
I had it on for 14 hours, which is already incredibly long for a foundation, but because they claimed it to last up to 16 hours I had to try to leave it on for as long as possible. Well, it doesn’t last 16 hours, I think 12 is probably the max it will go. After that the oils will just suck up the foundation making it look muddy. But I think 12 is already good enough as usually we don’t wear makeup for more than that (unless its a special occasion or you’re going clubbing or something).

Also, I really dislike that there is no sun protection in here. Although I usually apply a base with sun protection in it anyways, I still prefer have a little bit of protection in my foundation just in case I get lazy with a base or something. I guess that is just personal preference though. My Guerlain foundation has an SPF of 25 and PA++. It also smells kind of fruity-floral-ish, but it can get somewhat strong and might be overpowering if you are sensitive to smells. I love fresh scents so I’m okay with it at first but after you’ve had it on your face for a bit, it can get kind of annoying…

Overall:

I really like this foundation. The coverage is great and it really does make me look radiant without looking oily. Even though I do have my Guerlain foundation, I only got it because it was free with points redemption at Shoppers Drug Mart. I don’t think I’ll ever personally spend $60 on foundation just because I don’t wear it as often as I probably should, so this is the perfect alternative. The sad thing is that there is limited distribution, up to now it is only available in Europe and UK. But I do think that they will be releasing this in North America too as it really is an awesome product. I bought it at Boots on sale for £9 but regular price is £11, for 30mL (1 oz). It also comes with a concealer which looks really good so I might get it too. I will definitely buy this again, if I ever finish the foundations I currently have… =)

Ingredients(click to enlarge):

My score: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

FOTD with Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation *loves*

If you’ve been following me on Twitter then you’ll know that I’ve been raving about the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation. Here is just a very simple FOTD with that foundation, a full review will be coming later. Here is just a super simple FOTD that I did in about 5 minutes. I know I look really tired… but that is because I didn’t get any shut-eye the night before and I’m also not wearing any concealer. Pictures were shot in natural lighting.

Face:

• Paul & Joe Protective Foundation Primer
• Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in shade 53
• Diorblush in 859 Vintage Rose

Eyes:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Benefit Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in Sippin’ n Dippin’
• Soap & Glory Arch de Triumph (eyebrows)
• Anna Sui Super Long Lash mascara

Lips:

• Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in 77 Santal

This is what my makeup looked like after 13 hours of continuous wear. The foundation held up pretty well; even though my face looked, and was shiny after 13 hours of no blotting, it still looks pretty radiant.

FYI, I’m wearing the Alice in Wonderland necklace from Steph at Julu Jewelry. This is probably the most comfortable piece of jewelry I own, I love the chain and the pendants aren’t heavy so I can barely feel it around me neck. That’s pretty awesome considering I don’t usually like wearing any type of jewelry (although I do like to collect it… haha)

Below, the pictures were shot with flash.

Pore coverage has slipped a little, but thats to be expected. I didn’t touch up at all during the day.

Even though I used UDPP underneath the Benefit Creaseless Cream eyeshadow, it still creased on me… *sigh*

NOTD: Dior Vernis in 604 Silver Pearl + Other randoms of the week

Dior released a limited edition nail polish colour in 604 Silver Pearl for Spring 2010. At first when I saw this I felt that it was somewhat unlike Dior to release such a bold, metallic colour. Even Silver Purple from Holiday 2009 wasn’t as flashy as this one.

(with flash)

Silver Pearl is a metallic silver colour. It has very good coverage and you can get it opaque in just one coat. The intensity of the colour deepens with each additional coat you apply, after one coat it is a pure metallic silver but with two coats it looks a lot darker and dirtier, like a dark gunmetal. It is still metallic and with most metallic nail colours there is the problem with streaking. I found that if I applied one thick coat instead of two thinner ones, I was able to avoid streaking, but this also means that there is more chance of getting little air bubbles stuck in the polish. With all Dior nail polishes, it applies smoothly and dries relatively quickly.

(without flash)

I really love this colour, but it would not be very suitable for everyday or office wear, sadly. Maybe if you’re going to Vegas or somewhere flashy, it would be a good match for your nighttime clubbing outfit. If you’re going to shell out around $24 for a nail polish, I would probably avoid this one and get another more wearable colour instead.

This will be the second last of the NOTDs I will be doing with Dior nail polish as I only have one more untested colour from the five that I previously purchased. I especially love the last one so keep your eyes out for when I redo my nails… likely next Thursday as I have a banquet on Friday and I’m going to Prague the same weekend =)

Now onto some random stuff that happened this week…

I finally opened the packages of snacks that Erynn sent me. They are GOOD, love those pineapple coconut balls. They’re perfect for me to nibble on when I’m up at 5 AM trying to finish a paper. Thanks Erynn!

I purchased a mini set of Jill Stuart Sugar Body Scrub and Body Milk last week from Facial Shop, it arrived super quickly on Wednesday after they just shipped it out by regular airmail on Friday. Mail is NEVER this fast in Canada, so I’m pretty amazed.

I also received the jewelry I ordered from Julu Jewelry. Thank you Steph! I ordered the Alice in Wonderland necklace and earring set in sterling silver. She also included some candy, but I devoured them right away, and some skincare samples.

The blues in the crystals are so pretty, its not something you can see through a picture.

And on Twitter you may have heard me rave about the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation. I tried it out at Boots and absolutely LOVED it, so I bought it right away. It really comparable to my current fave, the Guerlain Parure Extreme, but at about 1/4 of the the price. I’m an NC25-30 and I bought this foundation in the #53 shade.

 I also got myself a Soap & Glory The Fab Pore Peel mask; it was around £3-4. I tried it out yesterday and didn’t really like it, but I’ll use it a few more times before reviewing.

Anyways, that was some randoms of my week. How was your week?