Beauty Review: Chantecaille Future Skin Oil Free Gel Foundation in Nude

I bought this Chantecaille Future Skin Oil Free Gel Foundation quite a long time ago from Space NK in London – last Christmas to be exact, in Nude shade which was a perfect colour match for me back then. This costs GBP63 for 30g of product, which makes it one of the most expensive foundation that I have ever purchased but I was in a spending mood then.

The product claims to be an “oil-free gel foundation containing 60% charged water and seaweed. With aloe, chamomile and arnica to calm irritation, rosemary, green tea and rice bran to prevent oxidation, seeweed to regulate sebum.” It is supposed to have medium to full coverage. That’s a lot of claims – let’s see if the product actually lives up to them!

I really don’t like the packaging – it’s a small plastic pot where I have to dip a finger or a brush directly into the foundation to get some out; I find it quite unhygienic with all that contact. It has a small plastic “stopper”, the kind that usually gets stuck to the pot or top of the lid – mine is stuck to the lid and I really didn’t want to unstick it. Otherwise, it looks fine.

The texture feels a little thick – it doesn’t spill out if you turn the pot upside down; I would say it’s thicker than cream but slightly creamier than the usual “gel”. It’s not oily at all so I believe that the “oil free” claims are true. When applied, it dries down pretty quickly and surprisingly doesn’t feel heavy at all despite how thick it felt.

The colour Nude unfortunately does not match my skin. It looks lighter than my skin, but once blended in it turns into a dark beige with orange tint which I suspect is a result of oxidation. My hands are darker than my face and this turns out darker and more orange than my hands – I’m not sure who this will match as there’s too much orange in it. I’ve used this in different climates but it always turn into a dark orange-tint beige instead of what it looks like in the pot. I’m angry with myself because I allowed the salesgirl at Space NK to talk me into accepting this shade without trying it on first.

I hate this foundation. I know hate is a strong word, and I rarely ever say it, but I truly hate this. It does not wear well at all. It looks extremely cake-y at the onset and it’s so difficult to blend with the skin – it just sits on top like a mask. If you use a brush, there will definitely be brush strokes. If you use a beauty blender, it just shifts around and sits on top. The best way I’ve learnt is just with my hands and really spend some time to rub it in.

The biggest problem is when I have powder on. As the day wore on, it kind of shifts and slides around on the skin and migrating the powder in the process; within two hours (after I’ve spent the entire morning trying to make it work), it becomes extremely obvious that I’m wearing foundation. It’s really weird because this usually only happens with oily products but this is not oily at all – the pigment just seems to separate from whatever was holding it together. I have relatively good skin and I rarely ever get bad comments about my skin but I get comments about using too much makeup when I have this on.

I do not recommend this at all. It’s really painful for me to say this because this cost me so much money but it’s not worth it at all. There are many way better foundations, and even the cheap drugstore ones fare much better than this overpriced nightmare.