A few months back, I purchased Guerlain Terracotta Skin Healthy Glow Foundation (affiliate link) in Brunettes. It was a bit of an impulse buy, at least for me, as I tend to research products for multiple days for the majority of my purchases.This "foundation" originally came in 2 shades, 01 Blondes and 02 Brunettes. Recently, Guerlain relaunched this line with the shade 00 Nude. I purchased Brunettes, and it turns out that it isn't quite the right shade for me. As you can see from the swatch photo above, this shade is a bit dark and has some peachy/pink undertones to it. While I do get an even, bronze glow, it does have more pink undertones than I would prefer for any base product on my face.
To me, this product is more of a primer than a foundation. Coverage is light - nearly non-existent, actually. While the bronzing effect does help to even out the skin tone and does look quite nice for bronze lovers, it does not really do anything to change the appearance of redness or blemishes or even anything to improve the visible texture of my skin. The texture of this is quite silcone-y too, so that may be a negative for those of you who dislike or are irritated by silicone. I also really like that the scent is subtle, yet luxurious - for those of you familiar with Guerlain base products, it is really a very light version of the foundation scent.
I tried this on a few occasions as a primer, and didn't find that it provided any remarkable impact to my skin or the wear of my foundation. I do not experience issues with foundation wear in general, so those with more oily skin types may see more of a difference here. My skin did feel smoother, but sometimes all I could think about was all the silicone. LOL! Anyway, I love the idea of a bronzing base product to give my face nice color in the summers, but this one is just not the shade for me. If I do find that one of the other shades works, I would definitely try this again.
If you love the tanned look and don't have any issue with silicone, I think this is a worthwhile product to try. I recommend trying the shades in person, or at the very least purchasing from somewhere that has a great return policy if you do decide to take the plunge. :) Since this has minimal coverage, if you are looking for a foundation I would definitely skip this unless you have very good skin. In all honesty, I am even a bit confused as to why Guerlain even markets it as a foundation! Bronzing primer, or liquid bronzer, perhaps, but definitely not foundation!
I've returned this one as it is pricy for it to not be a "wow" product in performance and shade, and plan to explore some of the other bronzing base options I own. I suspect that this could be a great liquid bronzer, so I urge you to try it that way if you own it or have been curious about this. As you might suspect, I have a few liquid and cream products I can play with that can serve the same purpose, so I'll be reporting on those in the upcoming months.
Have you tried Guerlain Terracotta Skin Healthy Glow Foundation? What did you think of it?? I'd love to know, especially if you've experienced the other shades!
This post contains affiliate links. This product retails for $51 and was purchased by me from Sephora. It is also available at Guerlain department store counters.