The Brits already know about this, but starting this Summer, savvy women in the United States no longer have to suffer with dreadful doubt about what foundation will be the right one. Neutral? Cool? Warm? Ivory vs. Fair? It’s enough to drive you a bit crazy. Now you can find a foundation that does match your skin easily and quickly, with a new Boots No7 Foundation Match Made Service that is being launched in select Walgreens drug stores in the Greater New York City area (and you can bet they’ll be expanding the service to other places). 
With products that work well but are under $25.00, what can you expect from this kind of service which usually is reserved for high end products? I had to try it, and I did, at a Walgreens at 40 Wall street in Manhattan.
While I waited for makeup artist Courtney (the woman who was going to help me with the Color Match service) to finish up with another customer (and she was very attentive), I perused the Boots beauty booty. There is quite a lot of it and I’ll be reviewing some of it later on. For now, here are just a few photos of what you might find on the shelves if you visit your local drugstore carrying Boots products.
This particular Walgreens on Wall Street had a lot of fabulous brands, but Boots is one of those brands that has really good products at great prices. I longed to test out a few, but Courtney was ready for me.
the most painful part of the Color Match is simply removing a bit of your makeup on both sides of yur jawline. As I’m doing here.
using the Boots No7 Color Match sensor is quick and easy
the results are in and I had a perfect match! Courtney shows me the color on one side of my face, and (at my request) tries the warm version on the other so I can see the difference
So here’s how my Color Match session went: I insisted that I had warm skin and usually selected a warm ivory, sand or beige foundation. Courtney just smiled, and asked if I’d mind removing a bit of my foundation on both sides of my jawline. Then, she turned on the Boots Match made device and held it up to my jawline (it takes 27 photos of the skin to precisely measure the skin color) if the light turns green you’ve found a perfect match. If the light is yellow it is a close match. Courtney explained that Boots tested the exact skin tone of more than 2,500 women around the world of all different ages and ethnicities and then created the Match made device, and a new shade palette of skin-true foundation shades unique to No7. When you are matched, there are 17 different shades that might work best for you.
But that’s not all:
There are also four different foundation lines from which to choose, based on your skin’s needs. So Courtney also asked me what my skin concerns were. I mentioned anti-aging, SPF, some dryness but also sensitivity. No matter what my perfect match turned out to be, she suggested Boots No7 Lift & Luminate Foundation which provides medium coverage that blends easily to target advanced signs of aging. The other three foundation choices in the collection are: Boots No7 Protect & Perfect Foundation that targets the early signs of aging, helping to reduce fine lines and wrinkles with medium coverage; Boots No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation that absorbs excess oil to create a flawless look. and; Boots No7 True Identity Foundation that is perfect for providing sheer coverage, giving skin a light and natural look.
This sounds so easy, and so great….because how many of us (myself included) have been convinced that a foundation was the right one, only to take it home and try it in the daylight, and realize it is too yellow, too pale, too dark, too …too..too….well, another foundation chucked into the dresser drawer, mocking us and a waste of money. To my surprise, actually shock, Courtney said that I had a perfect match and it was Cool Beige. I really couldn’t believe it. I think I actually shouted “what. that can’t be!” out loud. She put some of the Cool Beige Protect & Perfect Foundation on one side of my face. It matched perfectly with my neck, although I thought it might be slightly darker than my normal skin tone. So she put the warm beige on the other side but it didn’t look quite right. At home, I tried another sample I received, which was warm ivory. When I tried all three, I realized that in fact, that Cool Beige was definitely the best. You could have fooled me…I never would have picked it on my own. But the Match device did!! Had I selected a foundation my own, it would not have been a really great match. Yes, I was definitely impressed and surprised. And I liked the Protect & Perfect Foundation formula she suggested as well, which looked luminous, not greasy or shiny. My skin looked fabulous! I tried the other foundations and liked them too. In fact, I’ve worn a Boots Brand No7 foundation for years — just not the color matched one.
*Keep in mind that this service works with Boots No7 foundations. The colors selected with this device may not be the same for other brands. The Match Made Service by Boots is free of charge, but it’s just at a few locations right now. For more information about the Match Made Service or to see a full list of Boots products, please visit the Walgreens Boots Information page For more information on Boots visit the Boots No7 Web Site
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