I am really familiar with L'Oreal as a brand I have used many of their products over the years ranging from hair styling products to shampoos and conditioners and I have always been very satisfied with each and every product I have used. L'Oreal is definitely a brand that I trust. I had never used L'Oreal cosmetics before and actually I wasn't even aware that they produced cosmetics - you might wonder how that is possible with the amount of advertising campaigns and celebrities that endorse their products, I think the same myself in retrospect. In my defence, I take absolutely no notice of adverts and often think that the advertising of all cosmetics is biased and often makes false claims. I certainly don't buy items because a celebrity advertises it.

I originally stumbled across L'Oreal Paris Infallible Foundation when I was fed up with the inadequacies of my previous foundation. L'Oreal Paris Infallible Foundation was a little more costly than the foundation I usually bought but I concluded that might have been where I was going wrong with foundations - low prices, low quality. I was also quite seduced and intrigued by the claim that this foundation lasts for up to 16 hours as I have always struggled to find a foundation that lasts.

If I am honest I was probably also seduced a little by the appearance of the foundation bottle itself. I think it is quite an attractive glass bottle unlike the cheap looking, plastic bottles I used to buy. It has a pump action rather than a removable lid which is a fantastic feature and whichever the brand I use in the future, I will now try to look for a foundation with a pump action. The pump action really allows you control the amount of the liquid you use and prevents wastage.

I have very pale skin and this is always a key consideration for me when choosing a foundation. Therefore, I always opt for the lightest shade of any foundation as anything darker makes me look orange and too made up. In this case I bought the Porcelain shade which after testing it on my hand in the shop seemed quite a good match. I liked the shade of the Porcelain - it blended nicely in to my skin matching my natural skin tone very well.

In all honestly I am quite fortunate with my skin - I very rarely get spots, my skin has never been oily or greasy and I don't need to use a lot of foundation. I mainly use foundation to even out my skin tone particularly on my cheeks where my skin can sometimes be a little blotchy. On the whole I found this a very nice product to use. The consistency of the foundation is good; it isn't too thin or too thick which I think is important for a foundation. At times this product worked very well on my skin. It sometimes worked so well that I didn't need to use any additional products such as concealer or powder. The one problem I do have with my skin is that it can get very dry which causes so many problems when applying make-up. On a good day, I loved the Matte look this foundation produced but on a bad day it would highlight every bit of dry skin on my face even dry skin that hadn't been visible to the eye before applying the liquid. I always apply moisturiser before using foundation and allow for plenty of time for it to absorb into my skin, this product just seems to really emphasise my skins dryness. This product is just not one I would recommend for dry skin - there were times I had to remove my make-up and start again because my skin looked so horrendous. I used L'Oreal Paris Infallible Foundation over quite a long period of time until only recently when I changed to another foundation due to the problems it caused with my dry skin. If my dry skin became less of a problem I might reconsider using this product.

There are many claims that L'Oreal make about this product such as it hides blemishes, dark circles and redness, prevents rub-off and combats signs of fatigue. I would agree with all of these claims. It certainly worked wonders on my dark circles and I never found that the foundation rubbed off once applied. My skin could often look a bit tired in the morning and after using this product my skin always looked fresh. L'Oreal also claims this product provides an anti-shine action. I cannot confirm or deny this claim as I have never found this a problem with my skin type.

Prior to buying this product I was very interested to discover whether the claim that the foundation lasts for up to 16 hours was true or not. I can honestly say it is not true. As much as I like this foundation, it does not last 16 hours and did not last even as long as a working day. I did find this disappointing as this was one of the reasons I was attracted to this foundation. This foundation seems to require touching up during the day which is something that I don't like to do. Once I have applied my make-up I don't want to have to keep reapplying, my skin doesn't respond well to applying layer upon layer of foundation - it seems to dry my skin out even more. I also found that on a really busy day where I moved about a lot or was under a lot of stress, the foundation would last less and less time. I don't think that this product fights the signs of make-up melt down very well.

As I mentioned, I bought L'Oreal Paris Infallible Foundation a few times and I always found that the bottle lasted a very long time which I was quite pleased about due to the price of the product. I think I paid around £9.99 but I have seen it in shops priced higher and lower than this, so it pays to shop around for this item. This seems to be available is most shops that sell cosmetics.

Overall, this product has many positives but doesn't quite achieve all the claims that L'Oreal make. It didn't quite suit my dry skin but could be a very good foundation for other skin types. I would recommend this product but not to anyone with dry skin and would reconsider using this product if my dry skin cleared up.