Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Wear Foundation Review and Wear Test

I purchased this foundation in two shades – 095 Ivoire Warm and 130 Ivoire Neutral. I returned the 095 shade for a few reasons – it was light enough that it was unflattering on my skin, the product was expired (I ordered in May and the product had an expiration date of April printed on it), and I’m not impressed enough with this foundation to own it in two shades. I don’t think….

This review is mixed. I have to say that my first impressions of this foundation were pretty terrible. However, I have to admit that it is growing on me, and I have been wearing it for over a week straight at this point. It’s definitely not my holy grail foundation, but let’s go over the Pros and Cons.

Pros

• Lightweight
• Looks like skin (because it’s low coverage and you can actually see your skin)
• Over 50 shades available
• Pump functions well

Cons

• Has some alcohol-like ingredient and feels drying for the first couple hours of wear (I think it’s probably the isododecane)
• Fell short of long-wearing claims for me (see the wear-test photos below)
• Couldn’t cover spots because wherever I built up layers of the foundation ended up clinging to powder in a really unattractive way.
• Glass bottle packaging is tapered at the bottom which makes it unstable when standing up. It keeps falling over on its side which is driving me nuts! If a product has a pump, I like to store it standing up so that the product collects in the bottom where the pump reaches.
• Price: retails for $47 (I purchased during a sale on Lancome’s website for 30% off). This is a pretty high price. There are tons of foundations on the market for a fraction of this price.

Conclusion

I can’t truly recommend this foundation. I see that it gets amazing reviews, so I don’t know if it isn’t working for me, or perhaps my expectations are just unrealistic. If you truly want a long-wearing foundation and don’t mind paying this price, then I think Estee Lauder Double Wear is a better choice.

I ended up having the best luck applying this in a very thin layer with my fingers and using a light weight gel moisturizer to prep my skin. The texture of this product is incredibly thin and alcohol-like. It reminds me of an alcohol-ink that’s used for arts and crafts.

But am I going to make it work and finish this bottle because I paid for it? You bet I am!

Wear Test Photos

Let’s dive in to some super-unflattering close ups of my face! For these pictures, I tried super hard not to touch my face and I did not wear a mask at all on this day. I also did not use any blotting papers to remove oil on this day. I did use blotting papers on several of the initial days I wore this foundation because as you can see my face gets really shiny during the day when wearing this foundation.

I think using blotting papers and touching up with powder once or twice during the day would really improve the performance of this foundation. But I’d really rather not have to do that, and to be honest., that isn’t the performance I was expecting from this product.

If you’d like to purchase this foundation or find more information, it can be purchased at Lancome.com, Ulta, Sephora, and many other retailers.

Link to purchase at Ulta.com

Have you tried this foundation? What was your experience? Am I doing something wrong? Is my skin just to oily or dry or something for this one?