Here are some reviews of foundations I’ve tried from The Ordinary, Lancome and Thin Lizzy. I actually tried them a while ago but never got around to posting about them until now! For reference, my skin is NC20 and combination oily/normal.

The Ordinary Colours: Coverage and Serum

Coverage and Serum are The Ordinary’s foray into make-up, and like the rest of The Ordinary’s products, they’re really affordably priced ($12.90 and $12.70 AUD for 30 mL respectively). I tried out both foundations in 2.0YG. I heard mixed reviews of these so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Shade-wise they’re great – yellow enough for my skin, and the gold highlights (the “G” in the name) are subtle by my standards, but they give a lovely glow and stop my skin from looking flat and dull. I was really glad they picked my shade to have the highlights, since they only have 3 shades with these so far, though they were planning to add more (although expanding their shade range seems to have been put on hiatus).

Coverage is a bit better suited to oily skin and is a bit less sheer (unsurprisingly), while Serum gives lighter coverage and is better suited to dry skin. I’ve heard from some reviews that Coverage doesn’t seem to dry, but on me it was fine once I set it with a starch-based powder.

Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear

Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear ($57 AUD for 30 mL) is a longwear foundation with buildable medium-to-full coverage, and a mostly matte, velvety finish. It applies and blends really easily – I use a damp sponge.

For me this is a pretty close competitor to Estee Lauder Double Wear, my holy grail longwear medium-to-full coverage foundation. There’s a fantastic shade range too, with 40 colours. My colour match is 024 Beige Vanille.

Teint Idole creases slightly more than Double Wear on me, particularly around the mouth, but the rest of it stayed put even after a hot Australian summer day in the sun, with eating, followed by a nap. A big advantage over Double Wear is the handy pump bottle.

Thin Lizzy Flawless Complexion Liquid Foundation

Thin Lizzy Flawless Complexion Liquid Foundation ($44.99 AUD for the kit) is a light to medium coverage foundation that’s buildable to pretty much full coverage. I’d seen this New Zealand brand before in Priceline, but hadn’t tried out any of their products.

The shade that matched me best was Oriental Doll. While I usually view the word “oriental” with massive suspicion, this did actually allow me to pick the right yellow shade, so I guess the name worked as intended?

It applies pretty easily with a sponge or the included brush, and lasts pretty well throughout the day, although there is some shifting towards the end of the day (probably largely due to my oily skin). I’m not a big fan of the sponge since it bleeds orange dye when wet.

(This is meant to be a foundation review post, but I wanted to mention the Concealer Creme here too – it’s one of my absolute favourite concealers! It has great coverage and is easily applied and blended with a finger. Again, my shade is Oriental Doll.)

Thin Lizzy Mineral Powder Foundation

Thin Lizzy also have a Mineral Powder foundation ($39.95 AUD for 10 g), which gave a surprising amount of coverage – I always have trouble believing that powders will actually stick to my face and build!

But the real issue with this foundation and my skin is my oiliness – after a few hours, the powder started shifting around, and it ended up bunching up really unattractively everywhere, even with a setting spray. I think it’s a better option for people with dry or normal skin, or if you’re after lower coverage.

These products were provided for editorial consideration, but this is my honest opinion. This post also contains affiliate links – if you decide to click through and support Lab Muffin financially (at no extra cost to you), thank you! For more information, see Disclosure Policy.