Product Review: Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation by Avon

In its 125th anniversary year Avon announced the launch of the new Ideal Flawless foundation range last November, whilst simultaneously announcing that Alesha Dixon would be the brand’s Beauty and Empowerment Ambassador.

She's got Talent! Alesha Dixon for Avon UK

According to Avon, Ideal Flawless boasts “an exclusive patent-pending formula, with skin matching pigments – that lets the light pass through” , thus trumping normal foundations in producing “an invisible veil of coverage to enhance and not hide the skin”.

The foundation comes in 16 shades and Avon has produced samples of all of the shades, which are what I tested and which are available from your local Avon Representative.

I have to admit that from the colour swatches that I saw in print prior to trying the range, I was convinced that there would not be a shade suitable for me…

….so how did I fare?

(Just a reminder that I am reviewing the product based on the following criteria: Colour Match, Coverage and Wear and Marketing Support).

Colour Match

 Despite being 125 years old, Avon has adapted with the times and is very much a 21st century business, with a massive social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Yet the Avon brochure is still very much central to the direct sellers’ business model and it was in one of the brochure that I first saw the colour swatches of the two darkest shades; Sable and Earth and came to the conclusion that there was not a shade suitable for my skin tone as they both looked rather light…..

….well how wrong I was!  Earth has a very orange undertone and upon application it seemed that it was the wrong shade because of this tonality, but as it dried,  the foundation oxidised and became quite dark – in fact too dark for my skin tone.

I am assuming that this was due to the colour matching technology.  I was not impressed by this dramatic alteration, I would have expected the adaption to have been far more subtle, given the boast of the advanced formulation.  As a result, Earth is woefully misrepresented in the brochure and thus it really is essential to try a sample prior to purchasing.  

Sable has a more yellow undertone, far too yellow for me upon the initial application.   Once again the product ‘adapted’ as it dried  and the colour contrast was minimised, but still it was by no means perfect….

…and perfection ladies is really what we need to strive for.  Watch this video created by a US Avon Representative.

Personally, I think that the foundation used on the black model is not a good match – the contrast between her face and her neck and chest is far too evident.  The foundation is too dark.   This is just one of the challenges we face as dark skinned women when selecting a shade of foundation.  The colour of your foundation needs to match your neck and chest area as well as blend into the skin of your face.

Colour Match: 5.5/10

Coverage and Wear

I did wear both of the foundations to test the coverage and wearability (I stayed in all day mind you!).   I found that the coverage was light to medium, and did not sufficiently conceal my darker blemishes…although to be fair to Avon, the amount of product that you get in the samples is only enough to just about cover the face once…I am sure that if I were to have more product and was able to apply a second coat I may have achieved better results….but I could only work with what I had!

The foundation did blend well, but I found that as it dried it felt tight on my skin, not as malleable and flexible as I would have expected..   The finish was matte and it did stay but the tight sensation remained throughout the day.

I was quite disappointed with the performance of the product on the whole – the oxidisation and the overly dry finish reminded me of the foundations of the early 90s, before much of the technologies and scientific breakthroughs we are accustomed to today had been discovered and incorporated into the latest range of foundations on the market.  Avon is one of the the largest cosmetic company in the world and spends millions of dollars on R&D, yet this product for me just felt a bit…well…old school.

Coverage and Wear: 4/10

Marketing Support

Avon can redeem itself with the marketing support that accompanied the launch of Ideal Flawless...to an extent….

As fore mentioned, central to the high profile campaign is the Avon brochure.

Avon launched the product with additional supporting material such as Facebook and Twitter campaigns, YouTube videos and press ads – something which I haven’t seen Avon invest in for some time.

Alesha is stunning and her appointment as Avon’s beauty ambassador garnered a vast number of PR mentions – which is a boon to any brand!

I wanted to love this campaign…I really did…but I have to admit that it just seemed a little ‘light’…if you get what I mean….

I think that it would have been wonderful to have seen an Asian and dark skinned black model accompany Alesha, to truly demonstrate the breadth of the colour range to the end consumer.

Ah well…never mind!

Marketing Support: 6/10

So for me Avon’s Ideal Flawless is, unfortunately, a no – but if you have tried it do let me know what you think!