This most likely isn't the first review of the infamous Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation that you have set your eyes upon and read. This product is near enough a cult item amongst the beauty blogging community. It has so many fans, perhaps this is down to it being claimed as a dupe to Chanel Vitalumiere - they are made by the same company so perhaps this is true! However as a student I can't afford the Chanel foundation so am unable to give a comparison but here is what I thought of Healthy Mix!
Firstly I'll start off explaining my skin type for everyone just for reference. I am quite dry/normal skin on my cheeks, sides of my forehead/temples, jawline. Sometimes I can go oily on my chin, other times not. The end of my nose and middle of my forehead (think in between eyebrows) can sometimes get oily too (although at the moment it is dry). The oilest part of my face is the end of my nose, just in the center.
I picked up shade 52 Vanilla which sometimes I find too dark for me, but I am unsure how shade 51 would look on my skin. I think I may be a mixture of both these shades but have yet to test this thought out. If I buff shade 52 Vanilla into my skin for long enough it looks perfectly okay. To do this I use a Real Techniques Buffing Brush.
What I like about this foundation is that it really does make the skin look great. I think it gives more of satin finish rather a dewy - you look smooth, healthy without looking entirely glowing or totally matte. Basically it still leaves a shine to the skin without looking or being oily. Application of the product is always smooth. I find that it doesn't cling to dry parts of my skin and sits against the skin creating and achieving a lovely base. It really is a joy to blend! Coverage wise I would say it is medium but definitely buildable. It's not entirely heavy on the face but neither is it light. It never looks cakey but gives the perfect amount of coverage needed.
The claims of it wearing for 16 hours I don't think are strictly true - maybe 8 to 10 hours - but then again depending on skin type this could be different for everyone. I wore this during my internship where I was leaving the house at 7:30am and not returning until at least 7:30pm at the night. The only aspect of my face that looked anywhere unnatural were the end of my nose and chin. With blotting (I used toilet tissue split in half for this) I eradicated this easily without losing too much product that I looked patchy. The wear is definitely one of the better foundations I have used.
For many the packaging isn't that great as it is plastic - for me however this isn't a problem. The pump is great as you control the amount of product being used (no one likes to waste, lets face it!) and I like how you can see how much product you have left as you use the foundation with the bottom of the packing following the product as it goes. It's really easy to keep clean too!
If you hate products that hold a fragrance then I wouldn't recommend this to you. Whilst the fragrance isn't too over powering (I rarely notice it) it could aggravate those of you who it doesn't appeal too - both in scent and in what it could do to your skin. However I wouldn't say that this is too much of negative to rule the product out completely.
Overall this foundation (baring in mind it is drugstore) is great! It works amazingly on the skin - it's moisturising, not at all drying. The coverage is great, as I said it never appears patchy on the skin, nor is it too thick. If you get the chance to pick this up, I for one wouldn't pass it up and can't think of a single reason why you should either!
