Makeup foundations cover the most on our face, which is why I place a higher value on foundations as compared to other makeup products. I’m also more lenient in spending more money on them. I’ve religiously used my Lancome Teint Miracle Liquid foundation for ages (more or less 5years!) and while I still love it, I wanted to find a cheaper alternative where I could save money. 

I’m saving up for a new bad ass camera so I wanted something that acts like a high-end product but also easy on the wallet. I don’t know if it’s the same with you but I often get a nagging feeling to conserve a product when it’s expensive. I got myself a few of Loreal’s bestselling True Match foundation (some were sent to me) to check if it lives up to the hype. After all Loreal practically owns Lancome so maybe it is as good as my beloved Teint Miracle.

Before that though let me tell you about my first ever meeting with Solenn Heussaff at the #GreatLorealMakeover event. She’s a top Filipina-French supermodel, professional makeup artist, actress, host, and more…. (BTW I’m still a little broken hearted that our one and only supposedly”hi-res” photo is blurry) She’s multi-talented, gorgeous, and REALLY TALL! Thank goodness she sat down during the photo up haha!

PS. It was also very very nice meeting some of you there! It made up for the fact that we got into a little car accident on the way to the venue. 

Solenn mentioned our (especially with Filipinos) tendency to use a foundation shade that is way lighter than our actual skin tone because we want to be “maputi” /  have milky white skin like Sandara Park or Emma Watson, which I’m still sometimes guilty of. Although most of the times its the opposite way around, cos i want to be as golden tan (and glowy!) as Jlo from The Bronx. 

She encourages us to “love your own and be proud of what you have”, and when finding the right shade of foundation for you, its good to stay within one shade darker or one shade lighter than your actual skintone. You can also keep both so you can switch it up on days after you’ve gone to the beach or to EDSA on an afternoon without sunscreen. I thought her words were good reminders for us that each skintone is uniquely beautiful on its own. Sometimes we look up to certain celebrities that we forget to appreciate that.

I’m not sure what the exact difference between these two bottles of True Match foundations, but the SA explained that the bottle with a pump is the luminous variant, it’s not so visible in photos but you should see traces of glowy sheen on the cream. The luminous foundation also adds a glow on the face that looks super flattering on photos. While the plain bottle without the pump is plain matte foundation.

Other than that though, the formula is generally almost the same. It’s liquid base, feels light as a feather, and very watery so it’s super easy to blend on the skin. Its light to medium coverage that will smooth out your complexion but not necessarily fully cover heavy blemishes. I have a combination skin type and this stays put for 7 hours before it starts to fade a little. I noticed that the only time the luminous variant it turns oily around my t-zone is when the weather is really hot. This could be a problem for girls with oily skin type, so I’m not in a position to give a firm verdict on that. Either way that could also be fixed by retouching your makeup with a good powder, which is what I usually do when it’s needed. 

W3 Nude Beige (matte) is the perfect match for me color-wise, it’s a medium warm beige that I think could fit most asian skin tones. G3 Gold Vanilla (luminous) is a tad shade darker that is perfect for a “morena” brown glowy look. L2 Rose Porcelain (luminous) is about 2 shades lighter on me. By itself it’s a bit too white, but after blending it with the Nars Laguna Bronzer and Benefit Hoola (for contour) — or with mixing it with W3 or G3, it easily falls close to my actual skin color. 

Guys I LOVE these foundations and I highly recommend these. It’s the only thing that got me out of my Lancome Teint Miracle fever, which BTW I’ve temporarily stopped using ever since i got these Loreal True Match Foundations. I believe it’s originally P600 but you could get this at a huge discounted price during a Loreal sale event, which happens quite often. I’d say get one as soon as it goes on sale cos these are great quality drugstore foundations :)