Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation (my stop smoking reward)

Confession time...I was an occasional smoker.  I know! It's horrible!  But, I've made the decision to quit and it's been 4 days, so as a reward, I forked over the $45 to try out Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua Skin Perfecting Makeup.  The catch is, if I buy a pack of cigarettes at all, I have to give away the foundation to either my sister or a friend who is a similar skin tone.  Really, with the amount I would have spent in 3 weeks on smoking, I could have bought the foundation.  So, really, in the long run, my wallet (and lungs!) will thank me. (And by occasional, I meant, um, a regular smoker...I always down-play it).

I picked up the foundation after work today at the counter in Macy's.  There are two sets of shades, either B (beige) or BR (beige rose), each side ranging from 10-50.  I went to get color matched and the MUA matched me as BR20 (tendre).  I never trust lights in the department store, but when I tried it again at home, it was still a good color for me (for some reason MUA's always match me to something orangey...gag).

One key thing to remember about this foundation is to SHAKE it.  If you don't shake it, it will be a watery mess.   It's a water based foundation meant to be applied with your fingers or a foundation brush (no sponges).

I'll be posting a full review once I can try it out for a few weeks, but my initial impression is: what's the hype? Is it nice? Yes. Ultra light? Yes. Does my skin look amazing? No...

(photo wearing only Chanel Vitalumiere)

The key thing to remember is that this is sheer coverage.  If you are looking for coverage, this is not for you.  I picked this up for days that I want something on my skin, but have psoriasis flare ups near my ear.  This is not what I would choose if I was looking to cover blemishes, cover rosacea, or even out very discolored skin.