Can we talk about…Vichy Mineralblend, the best foundation this beauty editor has tried all year

By Holly O'Neill
18th Jun 2019

Can we talk about…Vichy Mineralblend, the best foundation this beauty editor has tried all year

There is no thrill like the thrill of being a beauty editor who can truly recommend an €18.95 foundation.

Without a doubt, the most common question I get asked as a beauty editor is: “what’s the best foundation?”

It’s a question I absolutely hate to answer because the answer disappoints people so much. The best foundation I’ve ever tried, which you’ve probably heard from most make-up artists or experts, is La Mer The Soft Fluid Longwear Foundation. At €100, it’s not for everyone, but as with all of La Mer, if you have a big event coming up, like your wedding, or really want to treat yourself, this truly is the best foundation. Genuinely, and I swear this is the truth, every time I wear it, someone asks what foundation I’m wearing. When I wear it to the office, other IMAGE staffers know – “you’re wearing La Mer again, aren’t you?”

Your foundation needs to really work for you. Who has time to top up their foundation during the day? La Mer is the perfect balance of radiantly hydrating, unmovably long-lasting and buildable, natural coverage that looks like skin but can conceal redness or a spot if necessary. And though there have been many fabulous foundations that can get me through the day, there’s never truly been one as faultless since the day La Mer The Soft Fluid Longwear Foundation landed on my desk.

Until I tried the new Vichy MinéralBlend foundation. Which costs €18.95.

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There has been a veritable tsunami of foundation launches that include the world ‘hydrating’ or ‘radiance’ and for the most part, from the ones I’ve tried, they’re really good. And isn’t it wonderful to have a whole 180 departure from the onslaught of full coverage, once the only available option.

The new Vichy MinéralBlend made it’s way to me via a goodiebag I received at WellFest with no pomp and no indication of the power beholden in this small tube. I popped it into my handbag for future trialling. Never has a product that is so good launched with such little fanfare. I haven’t seen any marketing for it. There was no launch event. It’s been on shelves over a month now and not once has anyone run screaming into my face, “can we talk about the new Vichy foundation!” So here I am, shouting it into the black hole void of the Internet hoping that it reaches you and changes your face, as it has changed mine.

I took it back out of my handbag the Monday after WellFest, when I was tired and groggy on the morning commute, not paying much attention, unaware of the holy grail I held before me. It’s important to note that whatever foundation I wear, even La Mer, I usually boost it with a hit of glow from Charlotte Tilbury, usually Hollywood Flawless Filter or the Glowgasm palette, sometimes the Bar of Gold, but always Tilbury and every day, because nobody does glow like Tilbury. So I bounced a very small amount of Vichy onto my skin with a damp Beautyblender, and revisited my face in the mirror to find what had once been a tired, grey face transformed into a hydrated, even base, with redness concealed but skin still visible, and all the glow power of a Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Light Wand. I mean every word I just said.

“You’re wearing La Mer again, aren’t you?” was the first question when I got into the office. I rushed to my desk to rustle through press releases to find out what the hell I’d put on my face, to see €18.95 as the RRP. It couldn’t be.

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Vichy has taken the plumping and hydrating power of their hero Minéral 89 daily booster and applied it to their foundation, which works miraculously to visibly plump and hydrate the skin while providing the perfect buildable but natural concealing of imperfections. Everything else is kept natural – it’s coverage that looks just like skin, with the glowiest of glows thanks to natural hyaluronic acid (plus it’s 70% mineralising water-based) meaning that day after day, your skin is improved, making it even glowier over time.

Available in just nine shades, it’s a disappointingly narrow selection at first glance but each shade works on a range of skin tones.

If I’m going out-out, I like an even base of quite-full coverage that can withstand a full flash selfie at 3am but that I can also build shades of blusher and bronzer and eyeshadow around. If you wear that face every day, this is not the foundation for you. This is for those who want skin to look like skin. This is a summer foundation, designed for when the heat demands a light base, for when your freckles come out and you want them to shine through while simultaneously hiding redness, for holidays when you can’t be arsed with the full ten-step-routine. This is the new era of skincare and make-up hybrids that really deliver, improving skin over time while staying perfectly moist all day, not budging, concealing while enhancing. And once again, it’s only €18.95.