Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra 24H #13 Sienne

In February I set out to purchase a foundation and initially headed over to MAC in Selfridges for the Matchmaster; fortunately the snotty sales assistant caused me to leave the store in disgust and I found myself at the Lancôme stand in Boot's Oxford Street.

The makeup angels were with me as I have found my newest go-to foundation!

Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra 24H #13 Sienne

It appears I have missed the bus with this one as Lancôme's Teint Idole Ultra 24Hour has been around for a while. I was quickly matched to #13 Sienne. I found that it's lightweight texture sunk into my skin, not leaving a nasty cloggy feeling I previously found with other liquid foundations. There wasn't an offensive smell; I suspect the low SPF of 5 was a pay-off for good colour coverage. Many foundations accused of being ashy or changing often have SPF of 15 or higher in them, affecting their ability to retain their colour integrity. The lovely sales assistant was so confident in the product I didn't feel that she was pushing it on me and was happy to try to provide me with a sample but she'd run out of containers. Past experience has taught me to hold off buying a foundation from a new source until I've had time to test it out in natural light. However, it was as if the Teint Idole Ultra just spoke to me, reassuring me that it would be OK and to take the chance. A believer in signs, I decided that the earlier bad service had been needed to place me at Lancôme's counter and promptly purchased a bottle.  I'm glad I listened to my gut as I love it. While the idea of wearing anything for a full 24 hours breaks me out in a cold sweat, the foundation does have a lot of staying power. I haven't had to worry about re-touching or irritation to my sensitive eczema prone skin. A damp beauty bender had been the most effective way for me to apply the foundation and I adore how easy it is to build up coverage when needed. 

Lancôme

Over the last couple of years I have consciously tried to shift my purchases to brands that make an effort to represent women of my skin hue. The fact that Lancôme reportedly created a Women of Colour division to tackle the problems associated with producing foundations for black women (ash, redness) had me sitting up to take notice.

Source: Daily Mail

A quick google search will show that Lancôme have featured black women in thier adverts / campagins for a while. Their recent appointment of Lupita Nyong'o further cemented my decision to continue in this manner as I grow tired of brands who either continue to ignore, or worst, pay lip-service by chosing women who are lighter than my mediterarrian friends and bleating that they service all women! With a price point comparable to other brands that women of colour frequent in droves, I'm increasingly of the opinion that if I dont start supporting brands that are clearly reaching out to me with quality, well thought out products, I can't continue to complain.

Have you tried Lancôme, what are your thoughts?