Lancome Maqui Blanc Miracle

Yesterday, Lancome held an intimate party for beauty bloggers at Cafe Fables in Haji Lane to introduce their new Maqui Blanc Miracle Brightening Creator Compact Foundation. The foundation incorporates the same Aura-Bright technology as Lancome's Teint Miracle liquid foundation to recreate skin's inner radiance through the use of patented pink and blue bioptic pigments.

Scheduled to debut in Singapore on 1 March, Maqui Blanc Miracle boasts much higher UV protection of SPF35 and PA+++ (versus SPF16 PA++ for Teint Miracle) and a mineral-rich formula that is suitable for sensitive skin. It contains ultra-fine powders that adhere to the skin for a poreless finish and provides a light, airy finish that is supposed to last 12 hours. Hydrophobic, lipophobic powders help to prevent the foundation from oxidising and changing colour after application while the "hybrid bowl filler" helps to absorb sebum. I was impressed by the extremely smooth and velvety finish of the foundation when swatched. The liquid version of Blanc Miracle will be released later this year in May.

Maqui Blanc Miracle, which is manufactured in Japan, will be available in 8 shades that are specially designed for Asians. Do note that the shade numbers do not necessarily correspond to those for Teint Miracle. For example, I was matched to O-01 for Maqui Blanc Miracle while for Teint Miracle, I am using O-03 (you can read my earlier review here).

The photo above shows the three lightest shades (from left to right) in O-01, BO-01 and PO-01. "O" stands for Ochre, which is neutral-toned, while BO is Beige Ochre (yellow-toned) and PO is Pink Ochre (pink-toned). The other 5 shades are O-02, PO-02, BO-02, O-03 and O-04. I liked the elegant lightweight case with Lancome's trademark rose motif.

One unusual feature of the case is that it actually has a hole for the refill pan to snap into place.

This unusual feature actually makes a lot of sense as the clasp holding the refill pan in place is much easier to operate when you need to switch out the pan. No need to eject the pans by poking through a tiny hole in the bottom of the case! It is also much less messy compared to some Japanese foundation brands which use a glob of glue to hold the pan in place.

What made less sense was the lack of a catch to secure the cover, which means that the only mechanism keeping the case close is the hinge. Many prestige brands pay a lot of attention to ensuring that their beauty product cases close with an expensive sounding "click" but the Maqui Blanc Miracle case closes with a blunt "clack" instead.

For Maqui Blanc Miracle, Lancome has introduced a dual sponge. The more velvety side is to be used first to apply the foundation all over the face.

The silky side (which feels like your normal foundation sponge) is for blending and polishing the foundation for an immaculate finish.

Lancome also generously provided each of us with a selection of products to try out. I'll review these after I've given them a good test run!

Here are some more shots from the party. Had great fun catching up with the usual gang (Mag, Kas, Sophia) and also meeting some new faces finally like musicalhouses and Lynn!