No7 Stay Perfect Foundation in 'Calico' and Foundation Match Made Experience!

Finding the right shade of a new foundation can be a daunting task. As we are all aware, no skin colour is the same, making it sometimes extremely difficult just to simply point at a shade and say: "That's me!". Sometimes you can be surprised at how your foundation matches up - it can seem too light, dark or even have pink or yellow undertones that you hadn't noticed before. Like I said, it can be a challenge (A bit like venturing out to find the right pair of jeans!), so No7 have taken it upon themselves to do the job for you.

I'd wanted to try this service out for sometime, purely because I was fascinated by the little gadget they use to match your skin up with one of their 17 newly developed shades. I didn't manage to get a picture, but it is essentially a small machine that's held up to your skin and with one click takes 27 photographs of your skintone. It then matches you up to one of their foundations - simple! The whole process took less than a minute, and within 5 I had walked away with one of their 8 liquid foundations.

I was matched to Calico, which in the bottle looks quite dark, but when swatched both online and on my hand is pretty much EXACTLY my skin tone. I don't think i've ever had a closer match. I ended up with the Stay Perfect foundation, as I wanted to achieve long-lasting oil-free coverage with minimal shine, and that's definitely what I got with this product. I've always thought of No7 as a drug-store brand, but I now choose this foundation over my designer foundations such as D&G and MAC. I've found that you can build up coverage quite well (I use a pump and a half if I want serious coverage, otherwise one pump is quite enough!) and after 12 hours the foundation hasn't budged. With such a close match i'm no longer worried about it not blending into my neck, the foundation simply looks like a layer of skin - it's so precisely matched. It also has added SPF 15 in it, which is always a bonus for skin protection. I also love the glass bottle, it gives a designer feel so a more inexpensive product (This beauty is just £14 - an absolute BARGAIN!)

It's advised to just be dotted onto the most neccessary areas with either your fingers or a sponge as it could just balance out your blemished areas, so really I use it as a concealer and foundation in one. Such a brilliant, unique service achieving excellent results. I now know my colour, so I can explore their other foundations and if they're anything like this one, my make-up bag's about to get a whole lot bigger.

You can purchase the Stay Perfect Foundation in your local Boots for £14, and be sure to check here whether or not your local Boots has a Match Made Service!