MAC vs L'Oreal

I am a MAC girl.  A very loyal MAC girl until today.  I strayed. 

I am on a cost cutting mission and one area I thought I could cut costs on was makeup.  My decision was to try a drugstore brand to replace my MAC foundation.  I used to use Maybelline, Cover Girl, etc. and never could understand why anyone would pay high costs for makeup until 8 years ago I discovered the beauty and awesomeness of MAC while at a friend's house.  I was hooked!

I normally use MAC's foundation:

Studio Tech - $29.50 

Studio Fix -    $26.00

As you can see that's a little pricey but I love it and have never cared about the cost until now.

CVS has L'Oreal makeup products 40% off this week and I had a $2 off coupon.  Hmm, so what does that mean for me?  It means a $12.99 product is $7.79 coupled with the $2 coupon I end up paying $5.79 for foundation.  Woohoo!!  That's almost a $24 savings.

I ended up buying L'Oreals's True Match Super-Blendable Compact Makeup for $5.79. 

It seemed to have a similar texture as the Studio Tech.  I matched it to my skin color and matched it to the color I use from MAC.  It was pretty close........






Then I tried it on.  Oh my. Now I remember WHY I stopped using that type of makeup.  Horrible horrible horrible.

First, when I put the product on my face it was much much lighter than it looked.  The color was way off.

Second, the makeup sunk into my pores rather than glide on and provide coverage.  It also left flakes which I thought was due to lack of moisturizer on my face.  Nope, even with moisturizer it was flakey.

I couldn't even bare to use it on my whole face.  The three spots I tried it on, which are the main areas I need coverage on, was enough for me to know that that L'Oreals's True Match is NOT for me.

This round of cost saving make up was a huge FAIL.

The winner:  MAC

I may continue my search but it won't be with any of the cheaper end brands.

Sephora maybe?

**UPDATE**

CVS has a great return policy on makeup.  They have a 100% satisfied guarantee, no questions asked.  I was able to return it with no problem.  In fact I got more back than what I paid.  They didn't take into account the $2 coupon I had used.