Beauty Dish

Review: Avon Beyond Color Line Softening Mousse Foundation

The claims Avon makes for the new Beyond Color Line Softening Mousse Foundation are impressive. Aside from the normal salesy superlatives (At last! A foundation that's soft as silk! Light as air! And hides lines and wrinkles!), Avon also "dares to compare" the new whipped formula with Maybelline. "Better than Dream Matte Mouse" the literature exclaims in pink and white print. The latest brochure introduces the new foundation with great fanfare - even containing a special fold-out section with close-up photographs of each foundation color. Matches over 98% of skin tones the layout touts with confidence. Two gorgeous fully-made up women - one with dark skin, one with a porcelain complexion - stare enigmatically from the page, two Avon Mona Lisas with even delicate epidermis.

I'm not a big foundation wearer. I like my skin to look like real skin, like a real person. I've seen women - and hey, you've seen them, too - with an orange or bronze face at odds with a more naturally colored neck. I have to admit I have been one of those women on those crappy skin days when the zits and dark undereye circles get the better of me. Let's face it, folks. At two-months shy of 40, I'm no spring chicken.

I ordered a demonstration tub of the Beyond Color Line Softening Mousse Foundation in a color that might match my olive skinned complexion. It was a toss-up between the Almond and the Warmest Beige, so I asked my young boys to look at the swatches of glossy brochure paper I held against my cheek.

"Which looks more like my skin?" I asked, lifting my face to the natural light streaming through the kitchen window.

"Uh, mom? Do any of those colors have little red bumps in them? That would look most like your skin." My older boy, 10, attempted to make an objective scientific observation, but I beaned him off the head with the brochure and sent him off to vacuum the living room.

"Well I LIKE your red bumps, mom. I think they're pretty!" 8 tried to get the upper emotional hand, but I beaned him off the head too. Darn kids.

I choose Almond, and the moment my Avon boxes arrived last campaign, I hustled into the bathroom with the new elixir, ready to discover whether I could be a Mona Lisa of the sage desert.

The foundation comes in an elegant glass tub with a rich-looking gray lid. I twisted it off, and stared at the potion inside. It looked like mousse! Like a mocha honey mousse, all whipped and ready for a sprinkle of nutmeg and a sploot of whipped cream. I dipped my index finger in and lifted it to my nose. The foundation has a clean - almost imperceptible - scent, and while it didn't feel lighter than air (c'mon Avon, gimme a break), it felt lighter than any foundation I've ever touched.

I dotted my face with the color and gently applied it in a swooping motion. It melted into my skin, and I stared at my cheeks, my jawline, my forehead closely in the bathroom mirror. Almond seemed to be the right choice! I could see no makeup line in the mirror delineated foundation from normal skin. The mousse left my skin looking almost as elegant refined as the beauty chicks in the brochure. I added a splash of bright red lipstick and some blush and went about my Avon day.

Eight hours later, some of the makeup rubbed off, but I felt no irritation or oil slicks in the areas where it still remained. It didn't run or change color like other foundations I have tried in the past. It didn't feel heavy or constricting.

I like this foundation, and on special occasions and on those days when the PMS gets the better of me, I'll use it! Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

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