I decided to pass the oversized bronzer powder from Chanel's Summer 2022 Les Beiges Collection but did pick up a few things that interested me. I purchased the much-anticipated Les Beiges Water-Fresh Complexion Touch as well as the original Water-Fresh Tint for comparison. My SA kindly sent me a sample of Water-Fresh Blush so I could see the consistency and the color. I also purchased some pastel shades of Le Vernis and the new shade of Healthy Glow Bronzing Cream, which are reviewed in my recent video.
Les Beiges Water-Fresh Complexion Touch B10 ($65, Chanel)
Les Beiges Water-Fresh Tint Light ($65, Chanel)
Water-Fresh Complexion Touch is the pigmented sister of the original Water-Fresh Tint and indeed, I can see there are more pigment droplets suspended in the bottle. Chanel claims that this contains 3 times more pigment compared to the Tint and it can be also used as a concealer. I personally disagree that more pigmented stuff should be more expensive but Chanel gives only 20ml of the product based on that logic. It also comes with good quality yet tiny brush which can be handy for small areas but inefficient for the whole face.
My Chanel foundation shade is BD01 but Water-Fresh Complexion Touch does not offer that. My next matches would be B10 or BR12 but I opted for B10 since anything with a pink/rose base tends to oxidize quite dramatically on me. On the other hand, the Light shade of the original Water-Fresh Tint is a lovely, near-perfect match for me.
The arm swatch of the B10 shade kind of scared me initially because look at how dark it appears on my skin! But I quickly learned that this is a very interesting and weird animal since the shade match was pretty good once I applied it to my face. My face has a bit more pink than my arm but pretty much the same shade if you're wondering.
The color inconsistency across the Chanel foundation range is just mind-boggling. As you see in the swatch photo above, B10 in Vitalumiere Aqua looks lighter when swatched but it oxidizes as soon as I put it on my face. The Complexion Touch may look darker swatched but it doesn't oxidize much on the face. Truly interesting stuff. And because of this, I'd recommend testing it on your face (not just on your arm) before you buy.
The wear and the finish are quite excellent. I have no complaints. Upon application, it doesn't look like a medium coverage as it claims but a few minutes later and after set lightly with a loose powder, it is exactly the medium coverage I would want from my foundation. Calling this a concealer is a bit farfetched but I guess that depends on your definition of a concealer.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but if I have to choose between the Tint and the Complexion Touch, I'd still go for the original Tint. A better shade match is for one, but the Tint really has this my-skin-but-better finish that is so beautiful. I have many other foundations that give me a radiant finish with medium coverage. In fact, The OG Vitalumiere Foundation is still unmatched for a fresh dewy finish. I find the droplet thing interesting but a bit gimmicky. I mean, it is a chore to break them up for even application.
Les Beiges Water-Fresh Blush ($50, Chanel)
It took more than a year for this one to arrive in the U.S. If you know me, I am not very keen on liquid/cream blushes and the shade range did not appeal to me at all (they are all on the warm/muted side). My SA sent a generous sample of the Light Pink shade with my purchase so I could at least experience it. I suspected the application would be fussy and it would lift up the base but it didn't do any of that. Application is actually the best part of this blush since it is so easy and requires minimal blending on the skin (yes, you still have to break up the pigment before you apply).
The Light Pink shade is still too warm for me to love but when I wore this on top of Water-Fresh Tint, the finish and color were so gorgeous and fresh that I almost went ahead and bought a full bottle. However, the color completely disappeared after a few hours. I tried it again over a powder-set complexion and this time the color lasted for many more hours. However, the finish is nothing special and probably similar to what I normally get from powder blushes.
In sum, both are lovely products but I am not in love. I actually LOVE the original Water-Fresh Tint and will probably repurchase it once I run out. This satisfies my need to have a good-quality tint for an uber-natural look. The other two, the merits of having the pigment droplets are kind of lost with me.
Thanks for being here. I hope you find my reviews helpful. Have you tried these two new products from Chanel? What are your thoughts?
*The makeup products mentioned here were purchased by me. This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for choosing to use them.
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