little white truths

There's an unblended and also a blended swatch, weak sunlight:

Verdict

This is a nice product, but just so someone's said it, there's no way it's worth the price-tag and I can't see any justification for why it's so damn expensive.

It's a standard tinted moisturiser that's lightweight and it spreads and applies well. While it does have SPF 15, I personally don't think that's enough sun protection for a product like this: I'd much prefer it to be higher. I mean, if you're going to include sunscreen, then make it count - otherwise don't bother. That's just what I think.

The good news is that this product doesn't have a super greasy finish like some tinted moisturisers do. Yes you'll get a radiant finish, but not an oily one. It also sets a little bit (rare for a tinted moisturiser, in my experience), and although I still prefer to set it with a powder, it does dry down a touch and adhere well so you could certainly skip the powder if you wanted to.

In terms of coverage, I get a light-medium coverage at best from this if I build it, which is fine for my preferences but I don't like how much product I need to apply to achieve that. By way of comparison, I need around two pea-sized amounts of this to get a light-medium coverage, whereas I only need about half a pea of the Hourglass product mentioned above. That tells you something in terms of value. At least this tube is 50g in size, which is more than the standard 30g.

'Nude' is a light-medium colour that's far too orange in my opinion. I did check the available shades and I'm halfway between Nude and Tan, but I went for this because I already have a foundation in my summer colour so I preferred to go for the lighter one, and I normally add a drop of darkener to it to get the right colour. Still, it's too orange for me - but at least it's wearable because tinted moisturisers do tend to be more forgiving when they don't quite match your skintone.

While I like the natural, skin-like finish I get from this, I get the same thing from my HG BareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream (reviewed here), which costs $42 and has a higher SPF, plus I use less of it each time. So why, then, would I choose the Chantecaille? 

Another good option is the Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser (reviewed here), which also has a higher SPF (and again I use less of it per application) and it retails for $66 AUD. So again, why the hell would I go for the Chantecaille?

I also think the Nars and BareMinerals products feel a lot more hydrating on the skin, and while the Chantecaille lasts an hour or so longer because there's some powder to the finish and it also sets down a touch, that's really the only thing that's different about it - and because I have dry skin, I'll go for the more hydrating options every time.

Indeed, my skin gets bloody thirsty throughout the day when I'm wearing the Chantecaille, so I'm burning through my hydrating mists while I'm panning it - making it an even more expensive exercise in my case.

Overall I do think this is a nice product but there's nothing about it that warrants the exorbitant price-tag in my opinion, and there's no way I would ever buy it again.

Overpriced.