Everyone’s always on the lookout for the next big budget hype; especially when they resemble well loved high end products. Same goes for L’Oréal’s Nude Magique Eau De Teint foundation, a light-weight silicone based foundation. It resembles Armani’s Maestro foundation a whole lot (looking at the ingredient lists, they’re almost alike), and comes at a much lower price. As you know I’m smitten/obsessed with creating a perfect base (thanks for that, acne!), so I had to try this one out to see what the fuss is all about.

As far as the shade range goes, Nude Magique Eau De Teint is much more limited with just 7 shades in Belgium (12 worldwide), while Armani’s Maestro foundation carries a whopping 14 different ones (18 worldwide). Overseas, this foundation is called Magic Nude Liquid Powder & also has a completely different colour numbering system, so I apologise if this makes this review a bit confusing for you depending on where you live. I have the second lightest available shade, 110 Warm Ivory, which is very warm in my opinion.. I suspect it matches up to an NC30 in MAC terminology, it’s definitely darker than an NC25 foundation.

Luckily there’s another lighter shade available: 100 Porcelain, which would probably be my best match. As you can see in the swatch picture, I should actually be using a shade along the likes of Armani’s Maestro foundation in shade number 3.. Which is a whole lot lighter indeed! However I have worn the Eau De Teint a few times to see if my experience does the claims justice. The pigmentation seems to be quite concentrated: it turns out just slightly too dark for my skin, while I expected it to be unwearably dark. This opens up possibilities with the limited shade range; when in doubt about the right shade I’d definitely suggest to get a small sample in store and see how it adapts to your skin. You might have a match when initially thinking you don’t!



The coverage is light to medium and is indeed almost untraceable on your skin in terms of finish. It’s too light for me since I have some acne scars to take into account which aren’t covered with this foundation, but as you can see on the before & after it smoothes out my complexion nicely and takes some care of larger pores, but still leaving a natural look. On oily skin the foundation tends to wear off quite quickly (touch ups in the afternoon needed), though wear can be extended with a silicone based primer. Dry patches can be a emphasized, although I find Eau De Teint to perform better in this area than Maestro, which clings onto dry patches around my nose and on my forehead I never even thought existed. This is not as visible with Eau De Teint, although due to the formulation it’s still bound to do so slightly. The feel of the foundation is identical to how Maestro feels: it’s kinda like not wearing any foundation at all, which is very odd when starting out with this product.. Especially when you’re using to full coverage foundations like I am! The finish is semi-matte, but I still like to powder it off slightly. Personal preference, but it also adds some extra wear time.

To sum it up, this is a great budget version of Giorgio Armani’s Maestro foundation costing just €13.99 (20ml) next to the high priced Maestro at €65.00 (30ml). It’s a good option if you have almost perfect skin with some redness and the occasional blemish, but will definitely be too light if you have some other skin issues to tackle. It pairs best with silicone based products, so keep that in mind when shopping for a primer or concealer to use along with it. I find this foundation to be best suited for normal/combination skins, it’ll have the best wear & finish with those skin types! Dry skin types should probably look out for a creamier foundation, while oily skin types should definitely add a primer and powder, and touch up during the day.

If you have dry or very oily skin & have tried this foundation (or Armani’s Maestro), do let me know how it treats you and how you try to tackle the dry or oily patches!