A Short Note About Rimmel Foundation Shades (Clean Finish vs. Lasting Finish)

Hey everyone :)

Who likes reasonably priced foundations? I do! (Actually, I like reasonably priced ANYTHING!)

Recently I realized that I needed more foundation, so I decided to try Rimmel's Clean Finish Foundation, which was on sale for only $4.99 at Shopper's Drug Mart last week!
Now the real reason for this post, is not necessarily a review, but just something I learned (that most of you probably already know...but for some reason this problem didn't even occur to me!).

Normally I use Rimmel's Lasting Finish Foundation. It's got pretty good coverage, blends easily and also lasts quite while, AND it only costs about $9, maybe $7 or $8 if there's a sale.

Okay, now to the point of this blog post! The Lasting Finish shade I use is called True Nude (#303). There's also a Clean Finish shade in True Nude (#320). So thinking that since they are the same brand, the same shade names should equal the same colour, right? Wrong.

When I got home and used the new Clean Finish foundation on my face, it was too dark! Even though it looks quite light in the bottle. What I realized when I went back to the store was that apparently ALL the Clean Finish shades look pretty much the same if you just look at the bottle. BUT, when exposed to the air/allowed to dry, they take on their real colour.

After doing MANY swatches in the store, I eventually found my shade in Soft Beige (#240). Even though it's slightly lighter than the Lasting Finish shade, it was the best match to my skin.

Check out these pictures of the foundations as they dry:

Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation - wet
Left to right: Soft Beige, True Nude

Rimmel Clean Finish and Lasting Finish Foundation - wet
Left to right: Clean Finish Soft Beige, Clean Finish True Nude, Lasting Finish True Nude
Note that the two True Nude shades look the same at this point.

Rimmel Clean Finish and Lasting Finish Foundation - almost dry, slightly blended
Left to right: Clean Finish Soft Beige, Clean Finish True Nude, Lasting Finish True Nude

Rimmel Clean Finish and Lasting Finish Foundation - dry (picture taken with flash)
Left to right: Clean Finish Soft Beige, Clean Finish True Nude, Lasting Finish True Nude
Note that the Clean Finish True Nude is darker than Lasting Finish True Nude.

Rimmel Clean Finish and Lasting Finish Foundation - dry (picture taken without flash)
Left to right: Clean Finish Soft Beige, Clean Finish True Nude, Lasting Finish True Nude

What I learned: Test foundations and allow them to dry fully before buying! Perhaps this is only a problem that happens with cheaper foundations, but that's what I'm in to, so I'm glad I know now :)

If you're interested in the Clean Finish foundation, I think for the price, it's not bad. It's slightly thicker than Lasting Finish, but it has a paddle applicator built into the cap, which is convenient. The one thing I don't like about it is that because you have to wait for it to "turn" to its real colour, you have to wait to see if it's blended properly, but if you wait too long it won't actually blend very well anymore!

Has this happened with any other foundations you've tried? What foundations do you recommend? Comment and let me know! Also let me know what kind of posts you want to see from me :) Reviews? Hauls? Random?

Thanks for reading!

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