Chanel - Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation

I'd read lots of good things about Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua liquid foundation. Being the somewhat-obsessive foundation junkie that I am, I had to give a whirl for myself. I bought the palest yellow-toned shade - 10 Beige.

The first thing I noticed was the packaging: I love the bottle! It's smaller than most foundation bottles, yet it still houses 30ml of product. It's a tough plastic, so carrying it around for touch-ups is easy; it doesn't take up much room or weigh you down. Then there's the nozzle - no open bottles here, so you won't waste loads.

As it's water-based, you need to shake this baby to get it properly mixed. Once you do, it doesn't come out as runny as you may expect.

Application is very easy - I've used several brushes & a Beauty Blender & all have yielded good results. It blends effortlessly into the skin.
Once on, it melds into your skin and doesn't look cakey or heavy. It's a light medium coverage, but I've managed to build it up without sacrificing the light look. It feels incredibly lightweight, I wore it alone for a couple of days & could not feel it on my skin at all. I do usually use a primer under it, though.
The finish is beautiful, it has a light glow without looking at all oily (or feeling it!). In fact, it dries to a semi-matte. I use a light touch of powder on my t-zone, but the rest of my face doesn't need it.

Wear-time isn't the best of any foundation I've tried, 6 hours and it starts looking a tiny bit faded. I'm not complaining, it's not touted as a long-wear foundation & it's far from the worst I've tried in this respect. With my primer & a touch of setting spray (I alternate between Skindinavia's Stay Matte & Urban Decay's All Nighter), I can stretch the wear-time out by a little.

I find I only need to blot once a day whilst wearing Vitalumiere Aqua, no mean feat when your t-zone is problematic. If I use the Skindinavia Stay Matte spray, I can go about four hours or so before having to whip out the blotting sheets. It doesn't transfer too hideously, either.

So, it all sounds very close to perfection, right? I have found one flaw with Vitalumiere Aqua... and potentially, it's a biggie; the colour match. Beige 10 is the palest yellow-toned shade and it's still too dark. Without primer, it's more obvious, but even with, it's still not a dead-on match.
I happened to have the Illamasqua powder foundation in white (I used it on a shoot recently), so decided to experiment a little. A very light touch of this over the Vitalumiere Aqua soon sorted out my colour-match woes, and I can easily get away with wearing it in public.

without flash

with flash

As to whether I'd repurchse, well, I'm divided. I really like Vitalumiere Aqua, nearly everything about it ticks all the right boxes, but the colour-match is a big issue. Whilst I have found a solution that works for me, there's other foundations that I'd like to try before committing to another bottle. I may possibly repurchase at some point in the future, even if it means having to keep the Illamasqua powder foundation in my make-up box just for the sake of colour correction. I'll be exploring other options first, though.