CHANEL Ultra Le Teint

If I had my own meme, it would say, ‘I hardly ever wear long-lasting, matte foundation, but when I do it’s always CHANEL.’

Until now, my go-to long-wear foundation was the (now discontinued) CHANEL Le Teint Ultra Tenue, which had similar properties to the new Ultra Le Teint, but thanks to new technology developed by CHANEL Research, the new formula is even more hydrating and perfecting on the skin. 

It’s thanks to this technology, too, that the formula manages to be both matte and luminous at the same time – something I didn’t believe until I saw it on my own face. The formula is imperceptible, even on my dry skin and is as comfortable as a tinted moisturiser. (I loathe the feeling of thick, chalky foundation, so this is a huge nod in its favour.) It is also transfer proof – I’ve tested it on a white shirt, and there was not a foundation smudge in sight! Obviously, this means that you will have to use a proper makeup remover to get it off at the end of the day, but who cares if your foundation stays in place and matte the entire day?

It’s housed in the beautiful frosted glass bottle, just like other CHANEL foundations, but sports an elegant matte black cap instead of the glossy one. It dispenses through the normal CHANEL pump that I find always releases a perfect amount of product and doesn’t clog up.

Application is easy, too. I find that applying it with my fingers and then blending with a damp beauty sponge works best for my skin. Having said that, when I was colour-matched for it, they used a brush, which worked just as well. I often find that longwearing formulas take a serious amount of work to look good. Not this one. The silicone soft focus powder included in the formula means I hardly ever need to wear under eye concealer with it, as it just illuminates darks circles away (unless I’m seriously tired).

Going back to colour matching; I’m thrilled to tell you that CHANEL Ultra Le Teint is available in an incredible 30 shades! Each shade delivers the same perfecting, hydrating, illuminating matte finish.

If you want to get your own CHANEL Ultra Le Teint (R925), pop down to your nearest CHANEL counter (in selected Edgars and Woolworths stores) and get their consultants to colour-match you, as the shades names are different to the other CHANEL foundations.