When I went to write this comparison post I realised that the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation didn’t have its own page here on the website. A travesty! It’s such a good little base – it behaves exactly how I want a foundation to behave, with a light and comfortable texture and a fresh, glowy finish. I recently pulled it back out of my stored makeup collection so that it can live in the house (rather than the cosmetics quagmire of my office) where it will be loved and well-used and perhaps even have the opportunity to travel the world. It’s a fine old life for the chosen foundations, I tell you! (Currently the chosen ones in the en suite cabinet are: Armani Maestro Glow, Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, Chanel Les Beiges, Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet (I’m working on a comparison post), Max Factor Miracle Match and Laura Mercier’s Silk Creme Foundation, which I think I prefer to the new Candleglow, but the jury’s still out.)

Anyway, I wanted to compare the new Bourjois City Radiance foundation to the older favourite, Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation. City Radiance is in a tube, calls itself a “skin protecting foundation” with “brightening effect” and has an SPF30. Healthy Mix says “instant blending gel, flawless complexion, undetectable coverage” on the back of the pump-action bottle and “16h radiance-boosting” on the front – the two foundations are after pretty much the same thing. Glowing skin. Though it does seem that the City Radiance leans more towards the idea of protection – protecting the skin from the ravages of city life perhaps? With the sun protection and the “anti-pollution screen” that I’ve just spotted on the front of the tube, that sounds about right. In all honestly, protection against environmental factors is something I look for in my skincare, if anything, so I can’t say I’m really going to dwell on that at all. I just want to compare them as cosmetics – coverage, finish, feel.

Things didn’t get off to a great start for little new-tube City Radiance, because though I have my perfect colour match in the Healthy Mix (52, Vanille) I really couldn’t find my ideal partner in City Radiance. I swatched 1, 2 and 3 and decided that 2 was the best match, but you can see in the (absolutely gorgeous, not) photo above that at first glance the match didn’t look too great. (Bottom stripe is 1, top is 2.) However, shade 2 did blend out really well – behold:

I only have it on the right-hand side of my face, in the picture – you can see that not only is the shade more than okay, there’s a real glow going on. The City Radiance is definitely brightening and I’d say that the coverage is very good, though I didn’t find it the most pleasant foundation to apply. It was ever so slightly too thick for my liking. But let’s come back to that and skip on over to the juicy, fresh-feel Healthy Mix Serum and its lightweight gel formula – I’ve applied this to the left-hand side, as you look at the photograph:

Now is it me, or does the Healthy Mix just look a bit more real? Less flat? I’ve stared at my face for so many hours, now, that I’m struggling to uncross my eyes, so I would love to know what you think. I’ve done some close-ups of my skin, too. (God, you must really want to know about these foundations if you’ve read this far! It’s like a GCSE science project!)

First, the City Radiance:

and then the Healthy Mix Serum:

(Sorry – that’s a pillow crease you can faintly see down the side of my face. Ha.) You might not be able to see any difference at all, but zooming in on the computer I can tell you that the Healthy Mix does look just a bit more natural whereas the City Radiance is slightly flat – the skin has less of its natural variation and character left, probably because the coverage is slightly heavier.

City Radiance reminds me a bit of a CC Cream, though I realise that CC Creams come in many textures and variations; it has a slight something that I want to call chalky, or claggy, but is neither. It’s a creamy texture that settles to almost exactly the same finish as the Healthy Mix, I just don’t think it has the same beautiful high-end feel.

For me, the older classic beats the new launch. City Radiance has a different lean, as I noted before – highly portable in its little tube and with the added “anti-pollution screen” and SPF 30, though I can’t imagine you’d ever apply enough of it to provide adequate protection, if you were relying solely on that. It’s still a good base, and if you want mega-glow and a more uniform look to the skin then certainly opt for this one (or the amazing Effaclar BB Blur for oilier skin). But if you think you’ll be bothered by a thicker feel (I’ve just thought – it’s very much like the feel of a suncream, which makes sense!) and you’re pining for that dewy, juicy, moisturised look that we all so loved before all of the more velvety finish foundations came along, plump for Healthy Mix Serum.

Bourjois City Radiance is £9.99 at Boots.com here and the Healthy Mix Serum is £10.99 here.