Review: L’Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

L’Oreal True Match Foundation, £9.99
Where to buy: Boots | Superdrug | Feelunique | Asda | Fragrance Direct | Chemist Direct

This winter has not been kind to my skin; my natural tan has completely faded, which has left me with what my husband calls the ‘sick grey’ skin colour. Isn’t that lovely? (#NOT) So, as I expected, none of my foundations suit my skin tone perfectly anymore; even my holy grail Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk (GALS, for the intimate) is starting to look a little bit dark on me. But instead of splashing out on a lighter shade of GALS, I took Amelia Liana’s advice and bought the L’Oreal True Match Foundation, which is supposed to be a dupe for Luminous Silk. Sounds promising, doesn’t it? Let’s put it to the test!

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Summary

  • SPF 17
  • True to skin shades
  • Warm, cool & neutral undertones
  • Natural matte & luminous finish
  • Light / medium coverage
  • Silky texture
  • Creamy liquid formulation
  • Lightweight
  • 20 shades (I’m shade N4, for reference)

About

The L’Oreal True Match Foundation is marketed as a ‘super blendable’ foundation with a creamy liquid texture, flawless finish and true-to-skin shades that ‘matches the colour and texture of your skin’. It contains SPF 17 and it comes in a 30ml glass bottle with a pump – hooray!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/jOpNh0c8ms4&w=714]

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Video

Since you guys seemed to find my previous First Impressions review video useful, I decided to do another one for this foundation. So before you continue reading the review, watch the video above to see this foundation in action and to see how both shades look on camera.

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Texture & Finish

This foundation has a silky texture and matte & luminous finish. It’s pretty much identical to Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk in this aspect, and it feels very pleasant on the skin. True Match claims to give your skin a flawless finish, which I slightly disagree. It’s definitely not a natural finish, but it’s not flawless either, so I’d put it somewhere in between natural and flawless.

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Coverage

True Match has a great light to medium coverage, perfect as an everyday foundation if you’re used to wearing foundation on a daily basis. It covered my redness and hyper-pigmentation with 1 layer and without clinging to any dry patches. But that’s as far as I will go with this foundation; 2 layers or more can be problematic on dry patches. If you definitely need more than one layer, I recommend avoiding any extra dry areas on your face. In comparison to GALS, True Match will give you much less coverage.

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Formulation

This is where True Match mainly differs from Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk; The L’Oreal foundation is a creamy liquid and the Armani foundation is more like a creamy paste. GALS is thicker, and therefore it gives you a higher coverage and it’s more long-wearing than True Match. I found conflicting information online regarding the presence of oils in this foundation; the L’Oreal website says it’s oil-free, but on the Boots website it says it contains ‘3 light, non-greasy oils’. If the presence of oils is a problem for you, it’s worth confirming with an official L’Oreal representative.

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Shades

The main premise of the L’Oreal True Match foundation is having shades that are true to skin tones, instead of generic shades that don’t suit anyone in particular. There are 20 shades in warm, cool and neutral undertones, with a very good range of light, medium & dark shades. I couldn’t choose one, so I took home N4 and N5, but as you will be able to see on the video above, N4 ended up being a better colour match for me, as it’s more of a true beige than N5. Even though N5 may look lighter on my skin, it’s not actually any lighter in real life, it’s just less beige and more grey on my skin.

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Here’s a list of all the shades available:

  • Warm: W1 (Golden Ivory), W2 (Golden Vanilla), W3 (Golden Beige), W4 (Golden Natural), W5 (Golden Sand), W7 (Golden Amber), W8 (Golden Cappuccino)
  • Neutral: N1 (Ivory), N2 (Vanilla), N3 (Creamy Beige), N4 (Beige), N5 (Sand), N6 (Honey), N6.5 (Caramel), N7 (Amber), N8 (Cappuccino), N9 (Cacao)
  • Cool: C1 (Rose Ivory), C2 (Rose Vanilla), C3 (Rose Beige), C5 (Rose Sand), C7 (Rose Amber)

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Lasting Power on Dry Skin

This foundation lasted very well for about 7 hours, when the first signs of fading (around my nose) and shine started to appear. As such, it is ideal for a normal 8-hour day at work, but if you’re planning on going out for drinks afterwards, you might need to touch it up a little. Comparing True Match to Luminous Silk in this category is a bit unfair, as the latter is extremely long-wearing and it stays looking flawless for a good 12 hours – trust me, my Wedding day was the biggest test for GALS, and it passed with flying colours! A moisturiser is recommended before applying True Match, but not totally indispensable.

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Flash Photography

True Match has SPF 17 in its formula, which may give you some flashback. However, in my experience, I was pleasantly surprised with the low amount of flashback I got whilst wearing this foundation. As you can see from the photo above, there is definitely a bit of a white cast over my face, but it’s nothing too noticeable or worrying. If you want a safe choice for flash photography, Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk is your guy!

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised by the L’Oreal True Match foundation and I believe it is very similar to the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk foundation. Granted, it’s not an 100% dupe because True Match is less long-wearing, less flawless and less creamy, but it’s the most similar foundation to GALS I’ve tried so far, and it doesn’t cost a small fortune! It’s fantastic for everyday use and the wide shade range with different undertones is commendable. If you’re thinking of buying Luminous Silk but you can’t quite afford it yet, give L’Oreal True Match a go and see how you get on with it first.

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation (Before & After)

Have you tried the L’Oreal True Match foundation? What do you think of its similarities to Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk?

NOTE: The photos have only been edited to correct colour and light; they have not been retouched.

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