Worth the Hype? | L'Oreal Lumi Cushion Foundation

I like to pretend that I can avoid the hype around certain products, but sometimes one will slip through and I feel like I have to try it.

Cushion foundations are everywhere right now, and L’Oréal’s Lumi Cushion Foundation has been making a huge splash. In theory, cushion foundations are perfect. I’m on the go a lot, between travelling, work, and post-gym touch-ups, and carrying liquid foundation and a brush is not always the easiest.

Enter the cushion foundation. With the liquid foundation suspended inside the sponge, it has all of the coverage of your usual foundation, but also all of the convenience of not having to carry around a brush.

So what about this foundation.

It’s not what I was expecting.

This foundation is billed as light coverage, and it is. Unfortunately it’s a little too light. I’m a medium-coverage girl, and this is so light. Cover up discoloration? Nope. Blemishes? Not at all. If you want that kind of coverage, you have to use a concealer. I wish it was buildable, and to a certain extent, it is, but it gets really cakey, really fast.

The other general disappointment is that this is not the same formula as their regular Lumi foundation. That foundation is a drugstore go-to for me, and this is just not the same. I may have liked it more if I hadn’t gone in expecting performance like that.

As you can see, the coverage isn't great.

I believe that this foundation has a singular fatal flaw. The big selling point is that you can use the “pillow applicator” instead of carrying around a beauty blender or a brush. But the pillow applicator sucks. It doesn’t put the foundation on your face. It goes on streaky and uneven in a totally unredeemable way. It does go on well with my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush...but doesn’t that defeat the purpose?

These are both labelled N2. Are these the same L'Oreal? Are they?

Okay, so instead of talking about what this isn’t, let’s talk about what it is. If you’re looking for light coverage, and not looking to build it up, great. If you’re fine leaving it as is and not touching it up, also great! It’s also way better if you have dry skin. If you’re oily, or with oily patches, it’s going to get shiny, because of it’s general dewy finish.

At the end of the day, I am going to use this until it’s gone, and then never repurchase. I don’t want to waste the money, so I’ll finish it up, but that’s all. It’s also pricey for a drugstore foundation (~$15, depending on where you buy it), so I would think twice before you pick it up. Try out the regular Lumi foundation in a bottle, with a pump, for a far superior experience.

What are your thoughts on cushion foundations? Is it worth picking up another to try out?