The Rodial powder was sent to me by the brand, in a previous collaboration. I only ever feature brands that I use and love. Thank you for supporting brands that support this blog!
Welcome back to another Foundation Friday! If you’re new to this series on my blog, this is where I review a new cruelty free foundation. I share the claims, coverage, shades, application, and my final thoughts after wearing it. Typically, I wear a foundation for two weeks before I review it here on the blog. It actually took me an entire week to warm up to this foundation, and I’ll explain why in a bit.
This foundation costs $14.99 for 1 ounce, and you also get a small foundation brush. The packaging is very pretty and girly. The bottle is glass with a rose gold cap and bow detail. The brush coordinates with the bottle. If you enjoy product packaging, these might be added benefits for you. I think the packaging is beautiful and worthy of sitting out on my vanity, but plain packaging is just as fine with me.
THE CLAIMS
The claims are weightless fluid foundation, illuminating radiance, just the right amount of coverage (that is quite vague, in my opinion), virtually undetectable on the skin, nude perfection, and luminous glow.
Just going off the claims, I would assume this is a foundation for someone who has barely any skin concerns. It doesn’t mention the actual level of coverage you can expect from it, and it emphasizes nude glow and being virtually undetectable. Being someone who has suffered from acne in the past (now I get the occasional hormonal break out), I ere on the side of more coverage when it comes to foundation. I do have some good skin days in between hormonal break outs and find myself wanting less foundation coverage at those times.
I was hoping this foundation would be a “good skin day” foundation, and I was right. If you scroll down to the bottom, I had two break outs while wearing this. My skin did not react to the foundation, and it did not break me out at all. Those are simply hormonal spots. I did not apply any concealer or powder over them and, as you see, the foundation offers minimal coverage.
The glow was definitely there. If you are a combination/oily gal like me, you might avoid glow-y foundations for fear of looking greasy. Rest assured, this one needs powder. I left it unpowdered on the first day. By lunch, my face was practically reflective. A quick powder fixed it, and I’ve been setting it in the morning ever since. To not mess with the glow, I use a smoothing, radiant powder from Rodial (this was sent to me by the brand).
Ahh.. the shade range. I was very surprised to see only five shades offered in this range, four of which are on Ulta’s website. I went with the color Fair, even though it did not look very fair on the screen. As you can see in the bottle, it’s quite dark for being called fair. Immediately, I knew it would be too dark. I didn’t even try to put this on my face without tanning first. So, the next time that I did my fake tan, I used this. It is the perfect shade if I’ve used self tanner. Otherwise, it’s way too dark.
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)
THE APPLICATION
This foundation came with a brush, and I immediately thought it was too small. However, after I used it a few times, it was actually relaxing to apply my foundation with such a soft, tiny brush. The bristles are incredibly smooth and apply the foundation beautifully. Of course, I have also applied this with a damp beauty blender and my favorite buffing brush. I would not use a damp beauty blender again, because it made it so fully coverage and shiny. It was a full-on glow with the damp beauty blender. This applies much better with a brush, either the one that comes with or a thick buffing brush.
MY REVIEW
I’ve had a hard time with this review, mostly because I love the finish of this foundation. I tried to capture the glow in these pictures and mostly succeeded in the third picture of my face. Of course, the shade issue is a major downer for me. I simply can’t wear this unless I’ve self tanned. And even at that, the beginning of the week is when I’m the darkest before it wears off. I don’t think the $14.99 is worth it, if I only have 2-3 days a week (during the summer) that I can wear it.
Of course, the texture is just beautiful. If you are darker than me (but not too dark, because the shades they offer are very, very limited), you would probably have success. I do feel like this can be recommended based on the coverage, texture, and lasting power alone. It would be amazing if this actually matched my natural color.
What do you think? Have you tried this foundation?
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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