Considering my flighty nature, I used to be surprisingly loyal to my foundation favourites: I mostly wore the beautifully dewy YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat, occasionally switching to Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and Laura Mercier’s classic tinted moisturizer. But there have been so many tempting launches recently that my fortitude crumbled and I decided to see if I could find something better – and possibly more matte – for this autumn. While I did become fond of some satin-finish bases, I still cannot do true matte: you might as well call it true death as far as I’m concerned. And I’m not giving up on my old favourites either, maybe just giving them a break until spring.

I tested high and low and here are the results:

1. Best for a natural finish: Lancome Miracle Cushion (02 Beige Rose). This Korean-inspired liquid foundation is housed in a cushion compact and applied with a sponge. I am not a fan of how the sponge feels, but if you hate visible foundation, do try this one: it looks like skin. Another big plus is the convenience: you can use this one on the go like a powder, despite the product itself being a very thin liquid. It’s sheer, so if you need medium+ coverage, this is probably not for you.

2. Best for ease: Erborian CC Cream HD. I bought this because it’s the favourite CC cream of Sali Hughes and because it’s always useful to have something casual and extra easy to apply. There is only one colour option that comes out of the tube white and turns into something that works for most Caucasian skins. Just put it on with fingers and massage in, it does a very good job evening out the skin tone, gives a decent amount of coverage and provides some hydration, too. Very nice.

3. Best for comfort: Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder (in Fair 2). This is a lovely, soft, creamy foundation that I like to apply with fingers. It’s my number one pick when my skin is aggravated or dry, but I still want to use a proper foundation. Light Wonder feels nice, doesn’t irritate the skin and the soft-focus finish makes it ideal for less-than-perfect days. As it’s so creamy, I don’t recommend it for evenings out or 16-hour work days: it can move around a bit and will not last as well as some of the others here.

4. Best for work: Bobbi Brown Intensive Skin Serum foundation SPF 40 (in Warm Sand). This is my first Bobbi Brown foundation and I’m impressed. I bought this as an alternative to Nars All Day Luminous foundation (much raved about in the blogosphere), as I found that one quite dry and somewhat difficult to blend. While the latest Bobbi Brown is light and pigmented like Nars, it’s much more moisturizing and blends perfectly. It also gives more glow – I personally would still call the finish natural, but I’m not entirely reliable on this subject. I don’t really care about the skincare benefits in make-up and I’m a bit annoyed that this makes the end product unreasonably expensive – almost 50 euros is a significant amount of money for a daily base product.

5. Best for perfection: Tom Ford Traceless Perfecting Foundation (in 02 Ivory). Remember when I said in the previous paragraph that Bobbi Brown is expensive? Well, Tom Ford is 10 euros more expensive than Bobbi. The colour I’ve got is also a tiny bit too warm for me, so to add insult to injury, I might need to buy this in 01 Cream as well, to mix the two colours when I turn deathly pale for winter. The grumbling aside, I use Tom Ford when I want my face to look as perfect as it possibly can. I apply with a Beauty Blender and it leaves a beautiful, luxurious finish that stays put for a long time without any help (I almost never use powder). The consistency is thicker than I normally like and a bit of care is needed when applying, that’s the only reason I don’t use it every single day. Well, that, and the price.

6. Best for the budget: L’Oreal True Match (in 1.5 Linen). If there’s one lesson you should take away from this round-up, it’s this: definitely give reasonably priced foundations a try. I used to believe that if there’s one category where you absolutely need to spend, it’s the base. Nope. I bought THREE bargain foundations and they are all very good. L’Oreal True Match has just been reformulated and I can find no fault with it (on the other hand, I could also not find the new version on the web…). It works for day and night, goes on like silk, dries down to satin and the colour match is ideal, as the name suggests. Excellent.

I also liked the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel foundation (No 52) and Maybelline Dream Wonder (No 20, colours seem to differ by country) very much. The first could be a good alternative to the more expensive Charlotte Tilbury – not as creamy, but very comfortable to wear and actually does leave you looking healthy (beauty companies giving products names that actually reflect reality? what next??). This Maybelline shade is a bit dark for me, but the formula is great if you need a serious amount of coverage, but hate the feeling of a thick layer of foundation. It’s very, very lightweight, quite matte and almost undetectable.

So my foundation “wardrobe” now consists of 10+ products and that’s not even the worst. The most horrible thing is that while I was testing for this post, several new very appealing foundations were launched…

PS There was no light this morning, so all the colours in the picture are darker than in real life, but you get an idea of the relative consistencies of the products.