I’ll start this off by saying I still feel like I’m an extreme rookie when it comes to foundation. I often feel I have no concept as to what colour actually matches my  skin tone. A lot of what I say is going to be based on what professionals at MAC, Sephora or Boots have said to me. At MAC, depending on who I speak to, I’ve been told I’m either NC20 or NW20 (I do get pointed towards NW20 more often though). My veins appear blue, which means I have a cool undertone. One of the most important thing to note in the following swatches are that these are all done on the underside of my arm which is pretty darn pale. The underside of my arm does not match my face, nor does it even match tops of my arms, so keep that in mind as you’re comparing the colours to my skin. I tried swatching on my jaw line but it just made for incredibly awkward pictures.

Things to note about my skin:

• At MAC I’m in the NW20/NC20 colour range.
• My skin is not overly oily, however I do get occasional shiny patches. If I do get oily patches, I don’t generally try to powder it down as I don’t find them particularly blinding!
• My veins appear blue, which means I have a cool undertone.
• I don’t wear foundation every day as I don’t have anything to really cover up. A few occasional red patches where I pick at my skin, but I don’t need to cover acne or anything of the like. For me, foundation evens out skin tone.

On with the swatches! Prices are marked with the appropriate currency to the country in which I bought the foundation.

While in Ireland in May, I picked up the Bourjois Healthy Mix + Serum foundation in shades51 (Light Vanilla) and 52 (Vanilla). I’d heard many a good thing about this foundation and wanted to give it a try. The first thing that has to be said about this foundation is that it smells amazing. Putting this on your face is an absolute pleasure – it smells refreshingly like berries! The consistency is rather thin, although it does have somewhat of a gel-like texture which I suppose is the “serum” effect they refer to in the name. Shade 51 is too light for my complexion at the moment (even though in the swatch above it looks damn near perfect), so I’m hoping my skin pales out enough throughout the winter to be able to use it pure. If not, I’ll mix it with a darker foundation to get a better colour match.

Also worth noting is that this comes with a pump. I can’t tell you how invaluable pumps are for foundation. Nothing is worse than a bottle with an open end (I’m looking at youRevlon Colorstay!). I do find this gets patchy/wears away pretty quickly so the lasting power isn’t amazing.

Right now this shade (52 Vanilla) seems perfect for my skin. It blends in smoothly and evenly. As with the shade I mentioned above, this is a really liquid consistency that feels really refreshing on the skin despite not having a very long wear time. It’s perfect for those who don’t like the feeling of overly thick foundations.

No7 Instant Radiance foundation in Cool Vanilla is the foundation I feel the most comfortable wearing, which probably has to do with it being the foundation shade I was colour matched to in Boots. I’m never QUITE sure if a foundation matches me, so having a laser gun tell me my perfect shade eases a lot of my worry. I was colour matched in Ireland in May, so I had a partial tan at the time as it had already been quite warm in Canada by that point. This is the ONLY foundation I’ve worn where someone has commented on how amazing my skin looked. I will admit that it looks dark in the bottle, but it certainly doesn’t appear that intense on my face.

This also comes with a pump – therefore I love it. There is a faint “cosmetic” scent to the product, but it’s not offensive. Lasting power is quite good as it will endure an entire work day without issue.

I had a bit of a love hate relationship with this foundation. Revlon Colorstay was the first liquid foundation I ever bought after hearing it recommended over and over again for being one of the best drugstore foundations ever. I took a leap of faith with the shade (220 Natural Beige) and it worked out decently well, though I do find this shade tends to run quite pink. This isn’t a shade I can wear during the dead of winter – it’s more an early summer and early fall shade (as my tan is both coming in and going out).

The first time I wore it I wasn’t loving it – it has a rather offensive paint-like scent (although you cannot smell it once it’s on your skin) and it dried down incredibly quickly, which wasn’t something I was used to. I gave up  on this foundation for a while then went back to it to force myself to finish the bottle… only to find that I suddenly LOVED the stuff. The coverage is intense – it will block out almost anything on your face and give you a flawless surface. It can appear quite artificial if you pack it on, so go lightly and build up a second layer if you really need it (I didn’t). It can feel rather tight if you’re not used to wearing foundation. Since the coverage is so heavy, it can look slightly artificial at times, which is why I tend to prefer how it looks after an hour or two of wear time once it’s had a chance to settle into your skin

I only wish this had a pump. I’ve read that some countries do have Colorstay in a pump, but I have yet to see that here in Canada!

Just a paler shade of Revlon Colorstay that I anticipate wearing in the winter. This shade (150 Buff) shade leans more yellow than 220 Natural Beige and is also significantly lighter.

Ugh. This Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme foundation (in 220 Nude) vexes me. First off, the number is the same as the Natural Beige shade in the normal liquid version and yet the shades have completely different names and are not similar at all. I bought this hoping it would be slightly paler than the liquid 220 Natural Beige shade – it’s definitely not, it’s darker!

I wore this throughout the summer as it was the darkest foundation I had and while it matched well enough, it was just never, ever comfortable to wear. Maybe it’s just because it was a cream foundation in the middle of a warm summer, but it just never felt like it completely settled into my skin. It really just felt like it sat on top of my skin. I forced myself to finish it, but I won’t purchase this one again. (And honestly, it has turned me off all cream foundations altogether now.) Also annoying is that despite it being in a rather cute tub, it was frustrating getting the product out. I resorted to using a cotton bud to remove the foundation, placed it one the back of my hand, and then dabbed my brush onto the back of my hand to pick up product.

Covergirl‘s attempt at a CC Cream is a bit of a laugh. The actual tube doesn’t say anywhere on it that it’s a CC Cream… except for the sticker at the top which looks like it was added as an afterthought once the CC Cream craze started up in the beauty world. As far as I can see, it doesn’t actually have any CC Cream properties: there’s no colour correction properties to it and there’s no SPF. So let’s just forget it’s even labeled a CC Cream and move on. I’ve been wearing 110 Classic Ivory more lately to get a feel for it and I will say that it is an incredibly matte foundation. The colour match is quite good for me as we’re headed into the winter, but it does tend to feel a bit drying as I progressed throughout the day. I would recommend wearing a decent moisturizer underneath this foundation. And thumbs up for the pump!

MUA‘s BB Cream was cheap as chips and it doesn’t disappoint. It does feel rather thick, so go easy when you squeeze it out. The first time I applied it I definitely used too much and with the shade being too pale for me at the moment (man, I feel like I keep saying that!) it made me look rather ghostly. The dry down on this product is nice – you’ve got plenty of time to blend it into your skin and it just looks *nice*. To the touch it’s even rather soft. Love the squeezy tube and the nozzle end.

MUA‘s Matte foundation is actually rather impressive. Not only is it incredibly cheap but it also has a nozzle end – a feature which I find to be an incredibly smart alternative to a pump. As a whole, the packaging on this one is rather awesome: It contains an ounce of foundation (typical for foundations) but it’s a flexible, soft tube with a nozzle. It’s compact and perfect for travelling, which makes it pretty ideal. I don’t find it holds up throughout the day as well as Revlon Colorstay, for example, but the cost of this foundation offsets just about every downside to that.

Here are all the foundations swatched side by side on the underside of my arm in indirect sunlight. As mentioned at the top of this post, my face has been colour matched to NW20 at MAC which is darker than my arm.

1. Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Light Vanilla
2. Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 52 Vanilla
3. No7 instant Radiance Foundation in Cool Vanilla
4. Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 220 Natural Beige (Combination/Oily)
5. Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 150 Buff (Combination/Oily)
6. Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Foundation in 220 Nude
7. Covergirl & Olay Tone Rehab 2 in 1 Foundation – CC Cream in 110 Classic Ivory
8. MUA Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand
9. MUA BB Cream in Light

Those are all my foundations! I hoped the colours and swatches help you out if you were looking information and comparisons. Is there a foundation out there that you think I’d like? I’ll admit to never having owned a high end foundation so I’m sure that’s something I’ll be looking into at some point!