As a long-term sufferer of blotchy red patches on my skin, particularly in weather extremes, I have been searching everywhere for a very long time for a solution to this that doesn’t have to involve plastering my face in thick layers of concealer, foundation and powder. I know that we should always use makeup with undertones that complement our natural colours, but the raspberry ripple look is just not flattering on me, so I often look at ways of trying to hide my pink undertones under something a bit more neutral.

This is where Bourgeois 1,2,3 Perfect comes in. It contains three colour-correcting pigments:
Yellow – to counteract dark under-eye circles
Mauve – to correct dullness and give a radiant look
Green – to neutralise redness and even out complexion

I originally bought this foundation a year ago, just before my 20th birthday, as something to blend with my MAC foundation to lighten it up a bit for the cooler seasons. I was heartbroken when it ran out, and when I went back in store to replace it, Boots were out of stock. Which is how I ended up buying the disaster that is L’Oreal Lumi Magique. The interim period since then has been filled with a few mediocre trials of various foundations, but nothing that soothed my pain quite like the 123 Perfect did.

So here I am, a year later, with a new bottle proudly at hand. And here I shall show you my new and improved thoughts on this old (and perhaps not so much improved) foundation.

As you can see, this provides excellent coverage for a drugstore foundation, hiding all of my remaining chickenpox scars, under-eye circles and general blemishes. I do feel like the colour correction that it aims for really does work, and it really neutralises the pink tones in my skin. It also has a really nice finish, although not as nice as I remember. Perhaps my taste has changed, or the formula has changed slightly, but this leaves skin a lot more matte than I remember, almost to a powdery finish. It’s great if it means I don’t have to use as much (or any) powder on my skin, but not so great if I’m trying to go for a dewy look.

In terms of skin tones, I will admit that even for me (a fair-skinned person who will always have a lot of options when it comes to foundation shades), the handful of shades available don’t really cater to a huge group of people. Light vanilla is the lightest shade I could find in my local Boots, and it is just slightly off, appearing a little orange against my skin. I really don’t recall having this issue before with this foundation, so again, maybe my preferences have altered slightly or there may be a difference in formula. Either way, it seems to me that 1,2,3 Perfect isn’t quite reaching the pinnacle that its name suggests.