Lisa Eldridge, No 7 and foundation.

I don’t usually blog about foundations because what is perfect for me could well be terrible for someone else. That happened with my Illamasqua Skinbase post earlier in the year. With that in mind, here is a post about foundation.

Lisa Eldridge’s announcement on the complete revamp of the entire range of Boots No 7 brought with it the surprise of a true match foundation that should match all skin tones. Basically, No7 teamed up with Pantone using their colour technology to create a definitive set of shades for all skin tones across all 7 of the formulations. To get a correct match, the No7 staff will be using a hand-held scanner to determine the shade that matches the skin tone. According to Lisa, the scanner works in all light and even in no light to find the true match.

I spent a couple of hours talking to people in a group about this new revelation and the consensus is that although the tech sounds very impressive, it remains to be seen if there will be a proper pale shade and proper dark shades in decent formulations that do live up to the claims. All too often, the brands say they have a full range of shdes but when you go to buy the foundation in the right formula and shde for you, its too dark and too pale. They’ll only have medium shades in stock. However, all No 7 counters (apart from the non-staffed stands) will have the entire range in stock. It is a massive for a drug store/medium range brand (and a Brit one at that) to have gotten there first with a tech that is so different from the norm.

So far, Illamasqua, YSL  and Chanel seem to be the only brands that do stock decent formulas and a fantastic range of shades but as ever, the formulas do not work on everyone. Not everyone can get away with Skinbase for instance. It is a marvellous foundation for me but for others, its too oily on the face. Why not use primer? Because a lot of people just want a simple routine that consists of wash face, moisturise, perhaps use a serum and on with foundation first thing in the morning.  BB creams were supposed to be the answer to that but for a lot of people, they just did not live up to the hype. Most seemed to be repackaged tinted moisturisers, which are fantastic in themselves but not when sold under the pretext that they are true BB creams that do everything.

So, how does one get the perfect foundation?

Decide your skin type and formulation. Dry skin should go for creamy formulations. Oily skin should go for oil free or powder formulations and combination skin should go for a formulation that is specifically for combination.  Obviously, this is entirely up to you – some people with combination may feel better with a powder foundation, for instance. Adapt them for your own needs once you get confident with what you personally like.

Decide your budget. This could be from £5 to no limit. It does limit your choice so be aware that its worth saving, if you can, for a more mid-range brand such as My Face. Sleek have a good range of colours.
Decide your brand. All brands want you to spend with them. So, the best way to decide the brand you want to spend with is to take a couple of empty pots and get a sample. Try it at home in daylight. You’ll know if it is the right shade for you as there’ll be no tideline and little if any patchiness. It does take some guts to ask for samples, though.

Now, colours. This is the hard bit. Some brands do not cater at all for very pale people and very dark people. Sleek is amazingly good for dark skin on a budget. Boots 17 is almost perfect for pale people on a budget. I’ve been burned before and I’m fed up of mixing white with the lightest shades. Clinique promise paleness but their palest is too dark for me by one shade. So far, for me, Illamasqua do the best range in both light, medium and dark. When I say dark, I mean Alex Wek dark. And when I say pale, I mean Snowman pale.

I really wanted to add Kevyn Aucoin foundations to my professional make up kit but the colours are limited to medium shades, sadly.

I do feel that the brands are getting somewhere with their ranges now. They do try to listen. I mean, they’re finally getting there with colours for dark skins at long last and that is fantastic. Now it remains to be seen if they can get a good range of pale that does not go orange or pink.

I’m not knocking the new No7 foundation matcher – far from it. I do have hopes that all the problems will be over and I really, really want it to work so well. I realise that not everyone will get their match but at least Boots are trying so hard. This huge project has been three years in the making and a ton of effort has been put in to get it to work. It is the biggest thing ever to happen to make up; even bigger than YSL’s Touche Eclat foundation. They (No7) promise to have the best range of colours. I’ll be at my local counter to find this for myself as I’m very, very pale.

So, opinions? Do you find getting your foundation is a pain or do you always get your match? And will you be giving the No7 shade matcher a go?

Read Lisa Eldridge's scoop on it all here.

See Illamasqua's comparison chart here.

I do not have any pics of the new range because no one seems to have any apart from Lisa Eldridge herself. There aren't even any on the Boots website.