Makeup companies are always looking for new ways to get you to spend your money. Lately it seems like applicator gimmicks are all the rage. Just look at all of the various vibrating mascaras out there!  Anyway, L’Oreal has a new foundation with a new roller applicator: L’Oreal True Match Roller Foundation. It has been in Europe for a while and has just recently arrived in the United States.  I saw a TV commercial for it and was curious, so I picked one up at Walgreens to do a review, where it appears to be pretty popular—I got one of the last few left and was lucky that they had my shade.

The L’Oreal Roller Foundation is a pressed cream foundation. The applicator is a foam brush on a roller. The idea is that you roll the brush over the foundation and then onto your face, which L’Oreal claims will create a streak free airbrushed look. However, that wasn’t exactly the case for me.

The first time that I used it, I found that the foundation went on a bit streaky and I had to smooth it out with my fingers.  I also thought that the roller brush was difficult to use under the eyes and around the nose.  The second time that I used it, I put a lot less on the brush and had less streaks, but didn’t get very good coverage that way.  In both instances though, once I smoothed out a few areas and put on some tinted powder over the foundation, things looked OK.  Not spectacular, but OK.  Coverage is on the sheer side.

The upshot is that I am not particularly impressed with the L’Oreal True Match Roller Makeup. You can get a better look using a standard makeup sponge as an applicator and, at $14 for the foundation, I didn’t think the quality was worth the price.  Basically, there are better drugstore foundations for less. For example, I love Sally Hansen Natural Beauty (link is to previous review). However, there is one upside to the product that will keep me using it on occasion. I like the idea of the applicator being included in the case for travel, since I tend to prefer to not have used makeup sponges floating around in my makeup case. So I’ll save it for that.

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About the Author: Carleen Pruess Coulter