L'Oreal Ideal Balance

It can't be wise of me to say this to you when the maligned is inevitably watching, but let me say it anyway – my skin pretty much hates me. It bruises easily, and scars easily, and sings siren songs to insects so they'll come and bite me. It picks up passing viruses on occasion (guttate psoriasis, anyone? On second thoughts don't bother – it's appalling) just so I can be covered in leperous outbreaks for months. It takes exception to the oddest ...
...throat infections – and uses them as an opportunity to break out in a rash. And as for the most infinitesimal exposure to sunshine without a factor 35 or more sunscreen – don't make me laugh; it jumps on any excuse.

Oh – and it gives me spots on my T-zone (that's Scientificese for your forehead, nose and chin, fact fans) and dry skin on my cheeks. Which isn't a great look for a fabulous young lady, I'm sure you'll agree.

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It can't be wise of me to say this to you when the maligned is inevitably watching, but let me say it anyway – my skin pretty much hates me. It bruises easily, and scars easily, and sings siren songs to insects so they'll come and bite me. It picks up passing viruses on occasion (guttate psoriasis, anyone? On second thoughts don't bother – it's appalling) just so I can be covered in leperous outbreaks for months. It takes exception to the oddest things – not just chemicals, but late nights, lace underwear, throat infections – and uses them as an opportunity to break out in a rash. And as for the most infinitesimal exposure to sunshine without a factor 35 or more sunscreen – don't make me laugh; it jumps on any excuse.

Oh – and it gives me spots on my T-zone (that's Scientificese for your forehead, nose and chin, fact fans) and dry skin on my cheeks. Which isn't a great look for a fabulous young lady, I'm sure you'll agree.

I'm not quite sure why my skin and I don't get along so well, and I'm not about to start listing the rigorous routines of cleansing and soaking and exfoliating and moisturising and brusking and everything else that I have to go through just to avoid looking like a diseased cut in a butcher's window (yes, here's where you breathe your sigh of relief). What I am going to do is tell you about the best foundation I've found, working under the not entirely illogical assumption that if even my skin can be placated by L'Oréal's Ideal Balance make-up, yours can too.

I've tried a zillion foundations in my time, from Rimmel to Revlon to Clarins to Collection 2000 and everywhere in between. Because I object on principle to spending over £10 on an item of make-up ("It runs out!! You don't even get to keep it forever or anything!!! How crap is that?!!"), I am generally confined to the three decent brands found at any branch of Superdrug or Boots that have foundations priced between six and nine pounds – Bourjois, Maybelline and L'Oréal. And having tried different offerings from all three contenders, it is L'Oréal who've come up trumps in my estimation.

Ideal Balance works on the principle that for people like myself with combination skin (read: oily AND dry, rubbish in both directions) you need a foundation that will both dry out oily bits and moisturise dry bits. Now, I'm always a little suspicious of the "Here's the Science bit – concentrate!" portion of adverts, and the claims that somehow you can mix together raw ingredients in such a way that they become "clever" and bound along to where they're needed while their colleagues go off elsewhere to do something else. I mean, they're particles. They don't know where to go, any more than the "friendly bacteria" that people keep advertising in those sickening yoghurt drinks actually wish you well and regard you with affection. So how could the same foundation carry out two completely opposite functions without cancelling itself out or having a detrimental effect on the opposing task?

Meh. I dunno.
But it does.
Really.

The bottle (it comes in a squeezy plastic bottle that's a vague approximation of the colour of the stuff itself) claims it uses something called "Hydra-Claryl ™" to achieve an "all day soft matte finish". There's more kinda sciencey bumf on the back about "anti-shine complexes" and "lotus flowers" (awww…), which of course is beside the point. We all know that "the Science Bit" is mostly for show and that it doesn't matter what the stuff on the back says – it's how the product works that matters.

The foundation itself has a very light smell that seems more powdery than medicinal or artifically fragranced. It's distributed easily enough from the bottle via a narrow nozzle, so no more of those infuriating bloody pump-action things that claim they're finished when you can blatantly see another fortnight's-worth of makeup still in there. Rightly or wrongly, I hate makeup sponges and always put my foundation on with my fingers (most of the people I know who use sponges use too much foundation because of it and seem to inevitably end up with an orange line round their jaw – how attractive!), which of course puts me in an ideal position to judge the consistency of such products. Ideal Balance is fairly fluid, which again implies that it's light, but it has a kind of creamy texture which not only makes it easy to apply with your fingers, but also feels nice on your skin during the application. The creaminess also seems to make the coverage more substantial and effective – I tried a similar product by Bourjois and was disappointed at the wateriness of the foundation and the virtually invisible coverage it produced.

Once it is applied, it takes only a few light touches of concealer to cover any spots, and none is required under my eyes or anywhere like that since the foundation blends all the dark circles away (thank god…). Because it leaves such a soft finish, any additional makeup is gorgeously easy to blend over it, and you don't need any powder at all. running a finger over your skin reveals that nose and chin feel the same as your ckeeks – soft and dewy without being oily. Rather nice, actually. It doesn't feel heavy and 'cloggy' on your skin, either, unlike some foundations I could name ("Foul-smelling Maybelline oil-curbing make-up, I'm looking at you!").

Something else that's nice about Ideal Balance (and I say this with feeling, being as I am the palest girl in the world) is that all six hues the foundation is available in (ranging from warm ivory to, um, some other darker colour like 'sand' or 'biscuit' or something like that – I didn't really pay attention, sorry) lean more towards a pinkish pigment than an orangey one. This means a better quality of colour and makes it easier to find a tone that matches your skin. because no matter what the make up ladies and air hostesses may say – ORANGE IS NOT A VIABLE COLOUR FOR THE SKIN OF A HUMAN BEING UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.

Ahem… sorry about that…

Anyway, I'm not sure their claim on the back of the bottle to provide a skin tone that "looks fresh and matte for 8 hours" is entirely true, especially since they didn't justify it by saying "up to 8 hours" instead, but I'll let them go on two counts. One is that I'm the kind of person who never touches up their makeup once it's on, because it seems to much effort. The other is that this is the best foundation I've tried in living memory and over the period of weeks and months we've now been together, what's a few extra hours between friends when the friend helps tame a grudging enemy you've lived with, or should I say 'in', all your life?!

Ideal Balance is available for around £6.49 (I think) per 30ml bottle from any L'Oréal make up stand, and I recommend it with all my heart… and skin.
 

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