L’Oreal Lucent Magique BB Essence Review & Swatches

L’Oreal Lucent Magique BB Essence released earlier this Spring in Japan and other parts of Asia and is a new fluid foundation that provides a smooth, naked finish in a weightless watery formula.

Fluid foundations are trending at the moment and more and more brands are releasing their own variations. Some are great formulas, others are not so great but whether you embrace the trend or not there’s no denying that fluids are popular right now and gaining a good deal of speed in the foundation world.

L’Oreal Lucent Magique BB Essence is sadly available in two shade selections but you have to keep in mind this is a Japanese launch and the population’s skin tone isn’t as diversified as the US or Europe thus the lack of shade selections.

Although many Asian products particularly Korean ones are becoming more and more popular here in the US I’m doubtful we’ll see this particular product launch in the US. But we may see some variation of the formula as cushions makeup and fluids are starting to becoming increasing more popular at the drugstore. Although you might recall L’Oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder which is sort of the same general idea but it’s a formula I never really loved sadly. This made me a little scared to try L’Oreal Lucent Magique BB Essence but I’ve had great success with Japanese formulas so I decided to purchase and try it out.

According to the description this provides sheer weightless naked coverage with a lit from within radiance that doesn’t look mask-like and doesn’t feel heavy or cakey.

This comes housed in a glass bottle with a small wand that has a tiny ball on the end for application. You simply dot it onto your face and blend out (don’t forget to wipe it off prior to replacing it in the bottle)! Sadly, this is a dangerous packaging as it can shatter if you drop it plus you can’t exactly tote it around should you wish to touch up.

There’s a Porcelain and an Ivory shade available. I purchased Ivory as that was the second and apparently darkest shade. Those familiar with the original BB Creams from Korea, Jadilla J BB Cream, and some older Skin79 BB Creams will feel right at home with this shade as it is a pale gray pink shade that tends to look chalky and pasty on skin. As brightening and whitening products, foundations, and BB Cream are all the rage in Korea this is a normal color and it will look good on a certain skin type. I can sometimes get away with a shade like this but L’Oreal’s formula seems to creates more of a pastiness versus offering any coverage so it wasn’t an ideal shade for me and ended up making me look a little ghostly. You can mix it with other foundations to lighten them up which actually works out better for me versus using it on its own.

Although it does promote a “light from within radiance” there is no shimmer, sparkle or glow to the finish. Actually it feels very silica-like as I blend which I hate as that makes my skin itchy. This is actually why I didn’t like the original Nude Liquid Powder that launched here in the US back in 2013.

As far as weightless it is indeed a lightweight and pleasantly textured product. It blends easily into skin with a soft finish but as I said it feels like a bit of a powder which I didn’t like but this didn’t translate to adhering to drier areas or looking cakey! It doesn’t have a ton of pigmentation because as you blend it sheers out considerably. It felt more like a primer to me and since the color is so off that’s exactly how I’ve started using it as it’ll brighten my face and I can apply my own foundation on top so I’m not left with a ghastly finish.

This is formulated with an SPF 19 but as far as I’m concerned that’s utterly useless so I apply my own SPF prior.

L’Oreal Lucent Magique BB Essence isn’t really worth your trouble. Many users will find the shades unusual and difficult to wear plus the unusual silica feel on skin might not be agreeable to certain skin types. There are lots of fluid foundation options available at the moment that are far better options than L’Oreal Lucent Magique BB Essence.

Personally this one was a skip for me.

If it does intrigued you, you can get it now at Sasa.com.