Every now and then, a product takes over social media, with every influencer, editor and beauty-lover sharing their opinion of the star beauty buy. This time around, it’s Laura Mercier’s real flawless weightless perfecting foundation, and, as someone who is incredibly finicky when it comes to foundations, I’ve shared my honest review below.

Most famous for its caviar stick eyeshadow, transluscent loose setting powder and honey bath body wash, the near-30-year-old beauty brand is much-loved by many a make-up fan. So, it wasn’t all too surprising to see the real flawless foundation shoot to fame on social media.

Claiming to work with every skin type, while lasting for 12 hours, with a waterproof, smudge-proof finish, the foundation is said to help hydrate and nourish the skin, with camelia seed, vitamin E and cacao extract. Laura Mercier dubs it a “long-wearing foundation that blurs the line between make-up and skin”.

There are 32 shades in the range, with a handy ‘match my shade’ tool on the brand’s website, to help you work out which one best suits your skin tone. So, hopefully almost everyone will be able to find one that complements their complexion.

But the real question is: does it live up to the hype? Keep scrolling for my full tried-and-tested review.

How I tested the Laura Mercier real flawless weightless perfecting foundation

Laura Mercier recommends starting off with just one pump and using a foundation brush to apply the product onto the skin, post your usual skincare routine. Following exactly what it said on the tin, I opted for the Morphe 2 best face foundation brush (£9, Superdrug.com) and started blending. The look, feel and how long it lasted were all taken into consideration when writing this review.

Laura Mercier real flawless weightless perfecting foundation

Size: 30ml

Number of shades available: 32

Shade tested: 2N1 cashew

Key ingredients: Camelia seed, vitamin E and cacao extract

Why we love it

Long-wearing

Looks very natural

Take note

Drying on dehydrated skin

The application

If you’ve seen the reviews of this foundation on social media, you’re sure to have viewed many an exaggerated shocked face at the initial application of this product. Although most things on social media are all for show, I have to say I was incredibly impressed, too.

Choosing shade ‘2N1 cashew’ and using just one pump with a foundation brush, as per the instructions, it instantly blended into my skin, almost effortlessly. The colour match was near perfect, which is always a hard task as someone who fake tans, and the consistency was strikingly skin-like. In fact, it’s probably the most natural-looking foundation I’ve ever tried.

To cover the entire face, I needed around six pumps. You can build up the foundation as much as you like, to increase the level of coverage, too.

The formula

The ingredients list of the Laura Mercier real flawless foundation are pretty impressive. Key antioxidants, including camelia seed, vitamin E and cacao extract help boost the skin barrier, reducing inflammation and redness, while helping to reduce water loss.

Bamboo silk powder is included, to help stamp out shine, along with a hydro-lipid matrix that’s said to balance the skin’s moisture levels and help the foundation last all day.

The look and feel

The look of this foundation is, as the name suggests, flawless. It’s your skin but better in a real ‘no-make-up make-up’ way, which, as a fan of minimalist foundations, suited me just perfectly.

Although you may want to use concealer underneath this product, to brighten up the under-eye area and conceal any blemishes or dark spots, the Laura Mercier foundation will leave your face with an even shade all over. It instantly neutralised my redness and uneven fake tan patches without being heavy or cakey, completely validating its weightless title, too.

Read more: The best tinted moisturisers

However, I was less impressed when it came to the hydrating claims. As someone who currently has dehydrated skin, moisture-boosting products are much needed in my everyday routine, and this foundation just didn’t seem to deliver.

One of the brand’s key marketing claims is it stamps out shine immediately, which it definitely did, although dry or dehydrated skin often needs this oil to keep it soft and supple. So, this foundation did feel a little drying and tight, especially after wearing it for a full 11 hours, although it looked nearly as perfect as when it was first applied.

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The verdict: Laura Mercier real flawless weightless perfecting foundation

In terms of appearance, the real flawless foundation gets full marks for its skin-like finish, blending effortlessly into the face. However, as someone with dehydrated skin, for me, it lacked a lot of much-needed moisture, compared with dewy-finish foundations such as Glossier’s stretch fluid foundation (£34, Glossier.com) or a tinted moisturiser, such as IndyBest favourite Nars Cosmetics pure radiant tinted moisturiser (£34, Lookfantastic.com). With this in mind, I’ll be putting the real flawless foundation to the back of my bathroom cabinet until the warmer weather comes around and my skin is a little less parched. However, beauty buffs with combination, ‘normal’ or oily skin should certainly take a look at Laura Mercier’s much-loved foundation, for a flawless, minimalist make-up base.

Want more recommendations? Take a look at our guide to the best foundations