So I finally tracked down this foundation on the weekend after trekking to a bunch of different Aldi stores!!
As predicted, there are only 3 shades – light (pink undertone), medium (yellow undertone) and dark (orange?! undertone), I tried the tester (yay, they actually had a tester!) and medium was the closest match for me. It is a little bit darker than my skin tone (NC20-25) but I wanted to try it anyways.
The foundation is quite thick but blends easily with fingers or a brush. It gives a medium buildable coverage with one layer and has a demi-matte finish. It looks smooth on my skin and does not sit in pores or emphasise my dry spots (around pimples). It lasted all day on my oily/combo skin with minimal oil breakthrough and only creased slightly in my laugh lines. The accompanying concealer is creamy and works well under my eyes. My only problem with the foundation was that it oxidised throughout the day to turn slightly orange!
Briefly comparing the ingredients for the Lacura vs. La Prairie, both foundations have water and cyclopentasiloxane as the top two ingredients which means both are hydrating and smoothing. The La Prairie foundation has a lot more beneficial ingredients and caviar extract is relatively high up in the list. Caviar extract is towards the bottom of the list in the Lacura one. In fact, it is behind fragrance which means there probably isn’t much of it in there at all. However, I can’t comment on the actual quantity of caviar extract in each foundation since the list merely shows the ingredients in order of highest to lowest concentration.
Other differences I have noticed are:
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La Prairie includes spf15 (AU standards) whereas Lacura does not contain any spf.
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La Prairie claims a dewy and hydrated finish whereas Lacura dries down demi-matte.
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La Prairie comes with a little concealer brush and the Lacura doesn’t.
There may be other differences that are apparent when you apply the product but I’ve never tried the La Prairie one.
I think it’s a pretty good foundation for $20 if you can still find it in-store and if you can find a shade to match you. The fragrance is a little strong but not unbearable and the oxidisation is not great but I think I will keep playing around with it to see if I can see any skincare benefits from long term use.
