Review: Chanel Perfection Lumiere

As most of you probably all know, Chanel is discontinuing Pro Lumiere and Mat Lumiere and has put out a new foundation recently called Perfection Lumiere. When I first heard Pro Lumiere was being discontinued, I was really disappointed, it is a foundation that I love, perfect for dry skin, great coverage, lovely dewy finish, full review here. Mat Lumiere I hadn't tried before, mostly because it's a matte finish and for my dry skin, I don't like a matte foundation. I had hoped that this new Perfection Lumiere would be somewhat of a hybrid of both foundations, the good of the dewy and matte factor, however as you will read in this review, that's not the case.

This foundation is not currently available in Canada, I couldn't get a definite answer from Chanel sales people regrading this, some said it's out spring 2012, some did not know, some looked at me like I had two heads when I spoke about it. I greatly dislike how we get products much later in Canada (and for more money too). I purchased this a few weeks ago off Amazon.com from the seller Avdo, it was $64.99 when I bought it (add shipping), had since gone up to $72.99. The seller is great, I didn't have to pay any customs (after speaking to the seller) and I highly recommend them. I purchased mine for free through gift cards from Swagbucks, I get a lot of my cosmetics this way.

Chanel's Perfection Lumiere is a long-wearing flawless fluid makeup with SPF 10. The box reads "lightweight, yet perfecting coverage, adjustable makeup result, oil-free, dermatologist tested." It goes on to say in the booklet how it's the perfect balance between light and correction. This foundation comes with the most extensive colour range of any Chanel foundation ever, it has 20 shades, separated into three groups: beige rose (pink tones), beige (yellow tones) and beige ombre (olive tones). Check out karlasugar's swatches of all the shades here. I was pleased to see 10 Beige appeared to be light enough for my skin and decided to get that colour without swatching it. I'm always the lightest or second lightest shade in foundation, so there was no question that B10 would be my colour.

The packaging of Perfection Lumiere is very similar to the Pro Lumiere, frosted glass bottle with black logo cap, except the Perfection Lumiere is a big wider and shorter. The amount of product inside is the same, 30ml.

Judging by the bottle and when I pour some on my arm here, you will notice how much darker the lightest colour in Pro Lumiere is (on the right) compared to the Perfection Lumiere on the left.

And here spread out a bit, I was pleasantly surprised that Perfection Lumiere is MUCH lighter than Pro Lumiere. I've included NARS Gobi in the bottom picture,for comparison purposes.

While I was doing these swatches, I noticed something, the shade was oxidizing A LOT! So I left it on for 30 minutes (on the left) and then apply it freshly right next to it. The colour oxidizes drastically and changes in colour noticeably! I have never noticed my foundation oxidizing this much before (and I use a lot of foundation).

And here I compared the final oxidation stage Chanel Perfection Lumiere in center after 30 minutes or so, right of that Perfection Lumiere after about 20 minutes and on the left Chanel Pro Lumiere after 20 minutes. My camera does not capture colour very well, so you will have to take my word for it but, Perfection Lumiere in B10 once oxidized is darker than Chanel Pro Lumiere in 10! 


As far as the finish and coverage. Chanel Perfection Lumiere on me is quite matte. Compared to other matte foundations that I have (MUFE Mat velvet plus for example) this one applies more smoothly, but still shows dry spots and flaky skin and isn't great for dry skin (more for combination/oily/normal skin). This is the nature of matte foundations though, not great for dry skin. I think if you have any imperfections, the foundation will stick to those areas and your look will not be "flawless". This settles around my nose and on my forehead a lot. I have to prep my skin thoroughly if I want to wear this. I don't powder this (since it's already more matte than I would like). Long wearing claims? I think this is definitely long wearing, but I have dry skin so my foundation doesn't really move. The coverage is medium-full, comparable to Pro Lumiere's coverage.

I prefer Pro Lumiere so much more to this, and that makes me sad because Pro Lumiere (and Mat Lumiere) are being discontinued. The colour while at first looks great and light enough for me (NC15), oxidizes horribly on me and turns darker than Pro Lumiere. Keep in mind, if you blend the colour in, it will look more natural and less orange, I have packed on the foundation for swatching purposes. I wonder why this goes so dark though? it must be the ingredients in it. I have read from others that Perfection Lumiere settles into fine lines and feels more drying than Mat Lumiere, so that is definitely something to consider.

If you aren't pale as a ghost and dry as the Sahara like I am, this foundation might work for you. The finish would be nice on someone with oily/combation/normal skin I think. I do think Chanel has left out all the Pro Lumiere fans with this release. Have you tried this? What did you think?