Project foundation: Bourjois 123 Perfect liquid foundation

123 Perfect is the newest range from Bourjois. Today I’ll take under my magnifying glass their 123 Perfect liquid foundation in Light Vanilla shade (no. 51).

Manufacturers description

Rested yet radiant complexion and a flawless, even result for up to 16hrs, 24h hydration, has 3 correcting pigments (yellow – dark circles, mauve – anti dullness, green – anti redness), SPF 10, non-comedogenic, lets skin breathe …

Bourjois 123 Perfect liquid foundation: bottle, ingredients
Bourjois 123 Perfect liquid foundation: bottle, ingredients

Finish

Matte. But in combination with my SPF emulsion, finish quickly becomes more semi-matte like.

Formula

Water-silicone based formula that has almost liquid to powder like properties. It’s lightly scented. Does oxides on me, but still manages to look OK.  Building layers to achieve better coverage is easy.

Application

Easy to apply and doesn’t really look bad when applied with any of the tested methods. I got best results with stippling method. Real Techniques stippling brush or Sigma F82 round top kabuki … with Sigma giving me slightly better result. One pump of product for more sheer application and 2 for heavier coverage. Sponge also gave me good results, while buffing didn’t look too hot on the parts with flaky skin … or larger pores. Flaky/dry skin needs either primer or second layer of face cream to stop acting up.

Coverage

Medium to heavy, covers all the redness and smaller blemishes with one pump of product (my preferred amount as it does everything I want without giving me the “super artificial masked look”).

Packaging

Glass bottle, clear plastic cap with the shade number on top. Pump works great and dosage is good. 30ml (1fl.oz) of product with 12month shelf life … after opening the product.

Price

~14 EUR in Slovenia.

Swatch

Not a perfect match, but doesn’t stand out too much either. This is light beige shade with slight amount of yellow undertone and maybe grain of orange? But as foundation “drys” it becomes more orange-y and darker. I have no clue how this kind of color looks good on me, but as I said is does not stands out too much … darker hue is bigger problem than orange undertone but still kind of blends in + setting powder probably also plays part in minimizing the oxidation as frankly – I almost never notice the major color change on my face, but it looks really freakish when I look at hand swatch.

Bourjois 123 Perfect Light Vanilla swatch
Bourjois 123 Perfect Light Vanilla (no. 51) swatch

I compared Bourjois 123 Perfect foundation Light Vanilla with two other liquid foundations in 51 shade … Healthy Mix and Healthy Mix Serum. 123 is the darkest of the bunch. My arm does not have the same undertone as my face, so none of the shades will look as a perfect match. The closest to my face undertone is Serum … but I like it’s formula the least and 123 the best.

Bourjois Healthy Mix, Serum, 123 Perfection liquid foundations - no. 51
Bourjois Healthy Mix, Serum, 123 Perfection liquid foundations - no. 51

Conlusion

This is matte foundation so I never expected from it to look like “my skin”. I tried bunch of matte foundations and none achieved that goal. Full matte effect does not last long on my extremely oily skin, but I prefer the slightly dewy look anyway. I can wear it without blending it half down my neck, so the color is not that “off”, transfer is minimal after I set it with powder.
Stying power is not bad even without powder on top of it, but I need it if the weather is hot, I know I’ll be more active …
Smell I could live without, like all other foundations this one is also comedogenic for me (isononanonates, zinc …), but it’s not bad. I would say that foundation is more appropriate for oily skin.
Foundation gets plus for not causing any unwanted reactions and the fact that is not heavy … half of the time I forget I’m even waring it.

My female friends tell me that this is one of the foundations that looks really good on me, while my male friends say that all foundations look icky. What do you think whose opinion counts more?

Would I recommend it? I would suggest that you first test it, but my impressions are good.
You can get miniature testers in drugstores, but all of them come in 53 shade. Luckily all shades are available as store testers.

Have you already tried out 123 Perfect foundation? How do you like it … especially in comparison with other Bourjois liquid foundations?

*I received the product for review purposes

This post is also available in SLOVENŠČINA.

15 thoughts on “Project foundation: Bourjois 123 Perfect liquid foundation”

  1. Hejla! Dobra ocena, me pa zanima nekaj drugega… Zasledila sem da uporabljaš pixiwoo čopiče… kje jih je najboljše kupiti? (spletna stran) Krivično se mi zdi da so na amazonu toliko cenejše vendar se jih dobi samo če si v ameriki.
    Lep dan :))

    Reply
    • Hja – če potrebuješ samo 1 čopič (mogoče 2), potem iherb.com, če želiš set ali več čopičev potem kakšna UK stran. Swapi so sploh OK, ali pa, če ti jih prinese kdo, ki se potepa po UK, USA …

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  2. OMG I’m so glad someone confirmed the oxidisation of this foundation! I’ve been using the Healthy Mix Foundation for a while now I could have SWORN that I look more orange when I got home as oppose to walking out the door in the morning hahah now at least I know I’m not going insane! Much love from Ausralia! xoxo

    Reply
    • I’m sorry that you got the short end of the stick (oxidation varies from person to person) … but I can confirm you’re not becoming color blind. :biggrin:

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  3. It’s brand new, right? Cause I haven’t seen it in stores yet. A good coverage-matt finish foundation is always a must-have, I’ll definitely check it out!

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  4. I tried this on the back of my hand at the store and it seemed thick, hard to blend and really heavy coverage. I’m used to lighter coverage and a dewy finish (I’m using Healthy Mix and Rimmel Wake me up right now) even though I have oily skin like you so I wondering if I should buy this…On the other hand I’ll be a maid of honor soon, so maybe something more matte would look better on photos :think:

    Reply
    • Hmm – that is weird, mine was pretty easy to blend … on my skin at least. Maybe you could use pressed powder over the foundation you already own and touch it up more often along the day? Just make sure beforehand that it works with flash photography.

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  5. Že nekaj časa uporabljam njihov Healthy Mix in mi je kar všeč, vendar bi lahko bil odtenek še malce svetlejši (uporabljam najsvetlejši 51), pri tej novi podlagi mi je všeč matirajoč učinek ampak me barva ne prepriča

    Reply
    • Tudi jaz se ne bi branila št. 49. :biggrin:
      Škoda, da nimajo testerjev v vrečicah tudi za št. 51 … ker tole podlago definitivno mora vsak preizkusiti na obrazu. :yes:

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  6. Meni je bil njhov Healthy Mix (navaden, ne serum) super. Tale me pa ne prepriča nevemkaj, bom počakala še na kakšno oceno. :yes: Drugače pa super post! :love:

    Reply
    • Jaz pa Healthy Mix-a nikoli nisem mogla uporabljati samostojno – nekaj v sestavi mi povzroči, da se mi po obrazu naredijo/pokažejo drobne luskice. Ko ga pa zmešam s kako drugo podlago, je pa super. :think:

      Reply
  7. Super in zelo poglobljena ocena. :yes: Bravo!

    Jaz sem samo preizkusila 123 (tester) in mi je bil obupen. Takrat se mi je zdelo, da nimam tako zanič kože, ko pa sem nanesla puder, so se pokazale vse luskice in nepravilnosti. + Odtenki so za moje pojme tako oranžni, da sploh niso realen odraz odtenkov polti.
    Kljub temu, da je prekrivnost dobra in tudi obstojnost zadovoljiva, jim ne morem odpustiti “suhosti” formule in zgrešenih odtenkov. :undecided:

    Reply
    • :rose:
      Mat formule se mi na splošno zdijo kot nekaj, kar samo mastnokožke pozdravljamo. :silly:
      Sem hotela dodati še prej/potem fotko, ampak sem čisto izgubila živce s fotkanje … sploh se ne vidi realno stanje. Bo treba še naštudirat zadevo. :sigh:
      Moram priznat, da mi ni jasno – pa kje se ta orto oranžna izgubi na obrazu? Zdaj razmišljam, če sem mogoče tudi Lancomovim podlagam naredila krivico in v bistvu ne izpadejo na obrazu tako oranžne. Nove formule so me čisto zmedle. :think:

      Reply

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