The Latest | Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet

oooh a candle, how beauty blogger of me!

Oh Chanel, you makers of face base magic. The launch of their latest addition- Perfection Lumiere Velvet caused quite a stir in the beauty blogosphere and on YouTube. It could be because of it's chic and sleek packaging, that it makes a beautiful addition to photos let alone it's new type of formula- lightweight, matte but luminous and it's intended to blur and perfect skin's texture. This one is much more liquidy than my HG Mat Lumiere and therefore more lightweight in coverage and feeling on the skin. I visited my local Chanel counter and got a sample in the shade B30 because it was all they had and it was definitely too dark for my pale face but with a little buff and blend down the neck, you could barely tell. On immediate application the texture is sort of similar to that of L'Oreal's Nude Magique/Eau de Teint foundation- fairly liquidy and dries quickly therefore you need to work quite quickly. Coverage for me I would say is medium but definitely buildable, I do like to add a touch more to areas that have a bit more redness or hyper-pigmentation.

I used my tester sachet over two days and really liked it both days, got compliments on my skin and put it on my wishlist. I then went back to a counter a few weeks later and got another sample because I couldn't decide, first of all which shade to get and secondly, whether to try something new or repurchase my beloved Mat Lumiere that I'm coming dangerously close to finishing plus I've heard rumours of it being discontinued. On second visit to a different counter and department store I was recommended PLV and told that no, Mat Lumiere isn't being discontinued and they didn't know why I'd been told that. (Side note/rant: I swear to the makeup Gods if they were wrong about that I will be so unimpressed and annoyed that the staff at different department stores who are all under the Chanel brand are told different things and have misinformed me. Rant over..) The ladies recommended I go lighter than B20 which I have in ML and go for either B10 or B12 in PLV aka the lightest and second lightest shades. This is how pale I've become, serious first world problems but still. B12 had a slightly more pink undertone which she said would also make my skin appear brighter and kind of cancel out redness which I don't necessarily understand but I went with B12 because B10 looked too light and definitely too yellow-based. At $77 a bottle you do expect good things and now that I've been using it for a few weeks and have applied it in various ways I thought a blog post was in order.

Shade B12

Initially I went straight for the products I know best and I know work well for me so surprise surprise.. Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer was first pick together with the Real Techniques Buffing brush. I wore this to work, asked all my gal pals to analyse my face and they said what I was thinking.. it's ok but my skin/face base usually looks better. Unimpressed the next day I persevered and used Body Shop's Instablur as my base instead and we had improvements. I used my buffing brush again and I saw more of the skin blurring/perfecting qualities that Chanel talks about but still wasn't 100% with how it was sitting. Super disappointed seeing as I'd tried it twice, loved it then spent the money purchasing the full size. Anyway I gave it a rest for a few days and never fear I think I've found the answer! My faithful Hourglass primer does actually work well under this foundation as does the Body Shop Instablur together with the Real Techniques Stippling brush instead (which I prefer with L'Oreal Nude Magique as well) + last tip, as they do recommend- give the bottle a good shake up before you squeeze out your pea size amount. The Chanel site recommends using this foundation with your fingertips but I'm just not the hugest fan of doing that but now I understand why a buffing brush hasn't worked well with it. Lesson learnt! 

What they say:

PERFECTION LUMIÈRE VELVET is a lightweight second-skin foundation. It naturally smoothes and evens out the complexion for a velvety matte makeup result.
The lightweight texture of PLV makes it perfect for normal and combination to oily skin. This ultra-soft emulsion instantly becomes one with the skin, transforming into a natural powdery matte finish that disappears onto the skin.