Welcome back to another Foundation Friday! I have to thank everyone who responded to my poll last Friday regarding negative reviews. If you didn’t catch the poll, I asked everyone to let me know if they prefer only positive makeup reviews or do they prefer to see the good and the bad. It was overwhelmingly 100% for seeing the good and the bad. So, I shall continue as normal and share everything, whether I love it or not!
This week’s foundation is the Becca Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation. I have purchased it in the color Porcelain. This costs $44 for a standard 1 oz. bottle. The formula is liquid, and the applicator is a dropper.
CLAIMS
According to the Becca website, this foundation is a light, buildable liquid foundation that imparts subtle luminosity with a weightless feel. I completely agree that it has a luminous glow. My skin has a healthy glow when I’m wearing this, which is a really pretty look for summer. With dewy foundations, my major concern is the lasting power.
A glow is gorgeous but not when it’s melting off your face. Right? This foundation definitely needs a primer. This simply doesn’t stay on my combination/oily skin. The best primer I’ve used with this foundation is the E.L.F. Aqua Mist Primer.
SHADE RANGE
I was super disappointed in the shade range. They have a grand total of 8 on the website. Granted, the lightest and darkest shades are quite far apart; however, the lightest is slightly too dark for me and I can imagine the darker shade could be even darker.
Even though porcelain is too dark, it is okay when applied in a light layer.
For shade comparisons, here are other foundations that also match me:
Anastasia Beverly Hills Stick Foundation in Porcelain
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Foundation in 100 (first impressions video here)
rms beauty Un Cover-Up Foundation/Concealer in 000 (review here)
Wet n Wild MegaCushion Foundation in 106A (review here)
Wet n Wild PhotoFocus Foundation in Soft Ivory (review here)
APPLICATION
I had to fiddle around with different ways of applying this. I’m testing out a lot of beauty sponges at the moment, and my absolutely favorite has been the EcoTools wet beauty sponge. They have a few sponges, one of which is to be used to dry. Who knew?! I used both the dry sponge and the wet sponge, and they both performed beautifully. The wet sponge smoothed out the foundation a little better, though.
I am impressed with how little I need to use. Two drops cover my entire face. The claims say it’s buildable, but I beg to differ. I built this up a few times, and it obviously looked like makeup (and not in a good way). It also accentuated my pores when I used more than one layer. I’m not complaining about it not being buildable, I simply don’t think it is.
MY REVIEW
This foundation definitely has more pros than cons, although I’m currently angry at it because I dropped some of it on my favorite cactus shirt.
I’m not over it yet.
If this foundation had more shades, I would definitely recommend it to absolutely everyone. That being said, I do recommend it with reservations. You simply might not find a perfect match. The price is a bit steep to not offer a wider range of shades, in my opinion. $44 is a hefty price tag, but it does deliver on the luminosity and perfecting qualities. My skin looks dewy all day, although I have to powder mid-day. It also settles into a few fine lines on my face, but powder is a quick fix for that.
I like that a little goes along way, because it only takes two drops to cover my entire face. I would like a fuller coverage, so this is a ‘good skin day’ foundation. If you already have amazing skin, this foundation would make you look absolutely flawless!
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More foundation reviews that might interest you:
rms beauty Un Cover-Up Foundation/Concealer
Wet n Wild MegaCushion Foundation
Marc Jacobs Beauty re(marc)able Full Cover Foundation
Milani Conceal + Perfect Foundation + Concealer
Wet n Wild PhotoFocus Foundation
NYX Total Control Drop Foundation
Flower Beauty Light Illusion Foundation
Physicians Formula Touch of Glow Foundation