Bourjois Foundations are the Win.

I Love Bourjois, and not just because their advertising is so pretty.

If you are pale (like me) and too poor to justify buying a house brand foundation (like me) you might come to love Bourjois too.

Many drug-store brands are starting to cater towards the super-pale complexions now. But in the past I found it incredibly hard to find a foundation that wasn’t prone to being too yellow or just too plain dark (thanks Revlon). Then, several years ago I was having a wander through Target and saw the prettiness of the Bourjois display.

Bright pink, beautifully designed and (for once) logical in its layout, it was suddenly super easy to find the thing I was looking for. Now, at the time I think there were only two foundations, one liquid (10 Hour Sleep Effect) and one powder compact (which I paid no attention to whatsoever). So I picked up the aforementioned liquid and started to have a play with the tester. For the fist time in my life I had the experience of a foundation melting into my skin, adequately toning down my epic rosy cheeks while being indistinguishable from my own texture. Needless to say I bought it. I used it for about a year and then they introduced the Healthy Mix foundation, which is my new favourite.

10 Hour Sleep is a great light, quite sheer, vitamin enriched foundation with a dewy natural finish. On good skin days when I don’t have too many blemishes or excessive discolouration it is perfect. Whack it on with your fingers and you are good to go. It comes in a pump-pack which is nice, but it is very runny so beware using too much. It is buildable if you wanted a little more coverage but its not very good at doubling as a concealer. The smell is quite pleasant and although it is very runny its very easy to work with.

Be warned, it contains no sunscreen. I wear sunscreen underneath when I’m outside. I wear shade 71, which is the lightest one, and it happily wears on me for somewhere around the 8-9 hour mark with finishing powder and 3-4 hours without.

Almost Empty. Swatches: Shade 51 on the left, 52 on the right.

Healthy Mix foundation is the darling of the current Bourjois foundation range. Even people like Lisa Eldridge like it. It is my favourite because it provides more coverage than the 10 Hour Sleep Effect but still conforms to your own skin texture, leaving you with a nice natural, clean and even finish. Again, no sunscreen, which is a bit of a downer, but it makes up for it by being so awesome.

I double the foundation as a concealer by getting the tiniest amount possible and tapping it on the problem. Bourjois do make a matching concealer but I have never really seen the point of buying two products when one will do. Its also buildable if you need more than medium coverage.

Healthy Mix boasts a 16 hour wear time, but when it comes down to it, no foundation is going to last perfectly on your skin for that long no matter what they say. Having said that Healthy Mix has been one of the best lasting foundations I have ever tried. Whack it on (fingers again- sorry Michelle Phan) light dusting of your favourite powder and BAM. Lasts me a good 10 hours before starting to degrade. The fantastic thing about it is that if you match your skin tone (which you should be doing anyway) the degradation is hardly noticeable. Win.

In this one, I am somewhere between shades 51 and 52 so I do have both. I don’t usually mix them, I just choose the colour based on what I look like. If I look alive when I get up I will go for 51, if I need extra help I will go 52. There is almost no discernable difference between the two colours, but it does make a difference when you need more colour. The trick is to stick extremely close to your own tone, don’t go a whole shade darker or lighter. 

In the above photo I am wearing both shades. I used 51 on picture's right and 52 on the picture's left. As you can see, almost no difference.

I think regardless of what other foundations I try, these two will always be in my collection.