L'Oréal Paris Nude Magique Cushion Foundation Review

This foundation was just okay for me, I didn't hate it but didn't love it either. I got the shade 03 Vanilla, the second lightest shade. It was a pretty good match for me with my normal skin tone being an NC15-20. There's only 6 shades available in NZ, which is just crazy, so I'm surprised at how well it matched.

It was a little more pink toned than what I'd normally go for, but because it is such a sheer foundation you couldn't really tell. It does say it's a light coverage foundation, with buildable medium coverage, and I found that to be true. It's super sheer so I will only be wearing this on good skin days going forward!

I used my beauty blender to apply this foundation because I wanted to save the sponge it comes with for touch ups. I found it applied it well, and allowed the coverage to be built up a little where I needed a little extra coverage.

The primer I used made a huge difference in its lasting power - it broke up terribly by the end of the day when I primed with my MAC Strobe Cream, but it lasted all day pretty dang well when I used my Becca Backlight primer. I have combo skin for reference, and made sure to set with powder each time I wore it as it stays quite wet to the touch if not.

I'm excited to have this on hand to carry around when the situation arises, but I won't be repurchasing. I already have a sheer foundation I love that works out much cheaper than the price of this compact for the small amount of product you get.

After using this product for a week it has proved everything L'Oreal claimed it would do. The foundation comes in a lovely wee compact that was great to take on the go for a post lunchtime workout touch up. I would agree that it is light to medium coverage, like a BB cream but a little heavier. I didn't mind it too much considering I usually do like a fuller coverage foundation. The colour match was perfect too, I got 03 vanilla and it was such a good match which was nice as I have been struggling to find a good match with other brands. The foundation made my skin look nice and glowy without being greasy. One thing I didn't like was the applicator sponge. I found it didn't really work that great for really getting the foundation to sit on the skin and in some of my deeper pores, so I used my beauty blender with it and it sat much better on my skin.

I was really excited to be selected for this trial. It arrived & my first impression was damn, this is sooo adorable & I was struck with it's simplicity... very light weight, chuck it in your handbag for touch ups. I loved the metallic purple compact, it's very girly & the label is very eye catching.

Upon opening the compact I was very curious as I have never used a cushion foundation before, it comes with a soft powder puff like applicator with a ribbon finger holder then you flip the applicator holder over and you come across an air tight seal which you remove to access the cushion, which is a sponge that is soaked in foundation. So obviously you use the puff in a dabbing motion against the cushion & the foundation is transferred to the puff and then you apply this to your face.

Now on my first application of the product, I patiently dabbed, dabbed, dabbed away... thinking to myself this applicator is so fiddly, time consuming & unhygienic (Can you even wash this thing?)... honestly I was getting hardly any product on this wee guy so I ditched it for my trusty beauty blender. The blender worked a heap better & quicker application but still wasn't getting a lot of product, I did notice the shade Vanilla 02 was perfect for me and the coverage was a lot more sheer & dewy than I was used to but I went with it, rocking a more natural glowy look.

So overall I was impressed with the formula, it was really easy to blend (with a beauty blender), left a natural finish which I found lasted all day but I did notice some oilyness on & around my nose area (the next day I focused on using extra powder to set it in this area which I found helpful). I loved that this foundation was build able, so you could layer it up to achieve more coverage. In no way did it become cakey or heavy upon doing this. I question the amount of foundation that it comes with, at one point I did remove the cushion from the compact & squeezed it to investigate how much foundation was remaining in the pot... Very little!

I don't think I would repurchase this product as I feel it doesn't come with enough foundation and I wouldn't think one week later you shouldn't have used 50-70% of the product... where as a bottle of foundation would normally last 1-2 months. Also it says 14.6g on the packaging... so seems rather expensive to me. Correct me if I am wrong.. I'm not great at maths! :P

This foundation has been raved about on Instagram and I was over the moon to have secured a spot on the Beauty review trial. I was a bit worried about choosing my shade online as there wasn't much of a selection in the colour range but I am so surprised it was the right shade for me! I am a medium shade with a yellow undertone and I had chosen shade 9 which is the 2nd to last shade.

The packaging is very cute! Its an average size compact but I notice that the top part can get messy because its a shiny surface, I make sure I wipe it down after each use just to keep the compact looking new and smudgefree.

It comes with 2 layers inside the compact, one for the sponge and the second layer is the foundation. I found that even though the sponge is cute, I couldn't use it, when I would apply the foundation it would leave little patches so I prefer applying this with my beauty blender.

The foundation is very interesting, I have never seen a foundation like this as its liquid absorbed into a sponge. If you lightly dab it you get a light coverage, if you press harder you get quite a lot of foundation but for me I find it easier to use a little bit at a time and build it up slowly. It feels very light on my skin and most times I forget Im wearing foundation.

This has been great as it doesn't take much time or effort to apply, but I need to set this as it doesn't stay by itself. I have a lot of redness on and around my nose and this covers 80-90% which I am so happy with. I really like how it makes my skin look, it gives a beautiful glow to me skin. It almost looks natural!

I really like this foundation but it cant be worn for long periods of time, If I apply this in the morning, it will wear off by the afternoon. So I wear this when I run errands, no more than 4-5 hours.

Overall I am happy with this product, I found it a lot safer to travel with since it was a compact and not a liquid foundation and its not heavy on my skin. I would purchase this. Thank you Beauty review for letting me trial this foundation.

I really like this foundation but unfortunately I won't be repurchasing. The 14.6 ml product is only available in 6 shades which don't cater to my skin tone or much of the chocolate club. I have the "darkest" shade #11 Golden Amber and it's still too light. For reference I'm in MAC NC42-44 and I believe #11 is more suited to NC40 or lighter.

But don't think I let the BR trial go to waste! I found that I could wear the pink toned foundation with careful placement of bronzer during the day and just on its own at night. It's lightweight with SPF 29 and has sheer to medium coverage which makes this an ideal foundation for me.

I love the pinky lilac packaging, it's such a refreshing change to black compacts and glass bottles. Under the lid there's a decent size mirror, a small puff and another secure plastic lid which separates the saturated cushion from the main lid and stops the cushion from drying out.

The only issue I have with the packaging is the shade number is not on the compact! I don't understand this oversight. The shade number is found on the security seal which you rip off - was it too hard to add this somewhere on the compact itself?

I prefer to apply the product using a brush and reserve the puff for touch ups. The product says to glide the puff for coverage and tap to add a dewy glow. Personally I'm not convinced that this cheap feeling puff is any good. By gliding or swiping you're only just wasting product by saturating the puff. Also dabbing the puff doesn't make a difference in the glow department - are we activating glow properties here or just saturating our puff even more?

In comparison to a brush I feel that the puff "cakes" on the product and it takes longer to apply because you're using a dabbing motion that covers very little area. I didn't bother using a beauty blender because with the little product we get I didn't want it to drink it up.

I love the natural finish I was left with and for oily skin I was pleasantly surprised that the foundation held out well with more than 7 hours wear before I noticed the product breaking up. There wasn't much glow, in fact I actually spritz my face (MAC Fix + or Tatcha) for the glow which doesn't bother me. I would repurchase this if they had my shade.

I am on the fence with this..... What?!?! The fence? Yes the fence.

I love the squishy. I think the sponge to apply with feels amazing on my skin and is so far holding up to being used and washed. Bonus! The colour match was good for me (benefits of being super pasty people!) and I quite liked how it went on. AND it has SPF 29 - pale people of the world celebrate!!

Before I move onto the buts let us all stop and take a moment to appreciate the squish. It is heaps of fun and a neat new way of having liquid foundation.

BUT TIME....

The coverage is light. If you are after a new BB cream - girl this is for you! If you want to hide the war zone on your face.... it needs some help. So for a light coverage during the day or maybe a base? (with sunscreen - yusss because ain't nobody got time for the sun adding years to our skin) it is great.

This is now my day time replacement for a BB cream. It is lightweight and suited my colour but when I go out I need to hide a world of sin child and this is where this lacks. So while it is great it is not my new miracle cream (Still looking for that little unicorn of wonder!).

I've tried to find this again and cannot. Sad really as it was pretty damn good. Created an awesome complexion and had just the right emount of coverage.

I was super excited to be on the trial team for this since I'd been eyeing up cushion foundations for ages now. This came in a palm sized purple container which is super cute and easy to carry. I am however a little worried that it won't last me long since the cushion seems to hold very little product.

There is a little spongy cushion on the top when you open the lid and then there's another airtight lid underneath that. The cushion that holds the actual foundation seems to be pretty soaked. I watched some online videos and apparently you just gently press it down then use the face puff thing to apply to your face. It felt pretty smooth when I'm applying it but I might try it with a beauty blender instead of the original puff since it's quite difficult to get into the nooks and crannies of my face. Coverage is a bit sheer and I find I have to apply two layers for it to be satisfactory. But the good thing is it looks and feels very light. It dries to a very satin, slightly dewy finish but I immediately matte it out with some finishing powder. I applied it this morning as soon as I got it and in the afternoon it still looked pretty good. My eyelids had a tiny bit of creasing going on and some fine wrinkles were showing but I'd say overall saying power is good. I got the shade porcelain which is the lightest shade in their range. It was still a bit too dark for me (note: my shade=ghost) and I had to bring it down to my neck. I really wish they had it maybe one or two shades lighter. There is no smell and it's easy to remove with a makeup wipe. I don't think I would purchase again unless they decided to expand their range of shades.

I was really excited to try this as part of the review team. The first day I used it as a light coverage and really loved it! Made my skin feel nice and the colour was great. The second day I tried to use it for a more full cover with a primer and found it to be very shiny so i had a look online and found it was my technique. I didn't mind the applicator too much but I will get used to it. Thanks beauty review and L'Oréal for the opportunity to trial :)