little white truths

I received four samples of this Hourglass tint last year - two in the shade Nude and two in Ivory - and since I've used the product for two weeks total so far and am about to use it again as I write this review, I felt it was high time for a first impressions post.

Indeed, I've managed to get four uses from each 1ml sachet and I've tested the product in varying weather conditions and with different primers, so you could almost call this a review proper - but I won't do that because I prefer using products for a while and then coming back to them before writing final reviews, just because I think that really helps cement an opinion and I can't do that with sachets since they'd dry up in that time.

Anyhoo. Let's have a look.

Above I've done heavy and blended swatches of Ivory (left) and Nude (right), photographed in direct sunlight (outdoors).

Ivory is described as 'fair/very fair with neutral undertones' and Nude as 'light/medium with yellow to neutral undertones'.

Both shades are too pale for me and I suspect that my shade would be Warm Ivory or Golden. Next time I'm in Mecca, I'll be sure to grab a sample of those two shades so I can see if I've got a good colour match in the range.

There we are again above, indirect sunlight (indoors). I did photograph the product in a variety of different lights but the two shots I've chosen show the colours the best.

You can see above that the blended patches look more satin/matte, although on my face the product looks more dewy.

Note that I put both colours into a pot and then added a drop of Becca's Topaz to get my colour match. This didn't change the formula and I didn't add enough to make the foundation glowy (Becca Topaz is concentrated in colour) - all it did was adapt the colour.

Verdict

I really like this product, so much so that it may well be my next foundation purchase.

It's thicker than other bases I own and it has a mousse-like texture that I don't like. I can live with it however because the product sheers out beautifully with very little effort: this is a reformulated version of the old classic and I remember that I couldn't sheer out the old version as well so I didn't like it because the coverage was too thick for me. This one's different.

The texture and finish remind me a little of the Nars Velvet Matte Skin Tint, but the difference between them is that the Nars one reeks of alcohol and the stench is so bad that I can't tolerate having it on my face. This one has a slight sunscreen/alcohol smell but I'm only aware of it if I hold the product right up to my nose so it's not something I'd have noticed if I wasn't reviewing it and checking for things like that.

I apply this with my fingers and half a pea gives me a solid medium coverage. I don't always want that much coverage so I'll often apply less over a hydrating primer to get a lighter coverage that I'm more comfortable with. 

What I love about this product is that it takes very little effort to blend (much less than other bases) and it looks so natural on the skin. Best of all, it doesn't sit in pores around the hairline and I can't remember the last time I used a foundation that didn't do that. Yes this is called a 'tint' but it's more of a foundation in texture and coverage, so I'm calling it a foundation!

On me the finish is slightly dewy but not so much that people with oily skin or who don't like dew would necessarily hate this, and I've seen that some people get more of a satin finish than I do so perhaps the finish depends on skin type and also what you wear underneath it.

Another thing to note is that I wore this to a wedding recently in 43 degree heat (plus I wore it on the journey up and back in a hot car) and the product didn't budge. It didn't separate and I also didn't have sweat coming through and breaking it up, so it performs beautifully in tough conditions.

That said, the longevity on the product isn't fantastic and here's where it's more like a tinted moisturiser: I get a good five to six hours (even when set with a powder), so if longevity is something you're after, I would definitely test this before buying it because it mightn't last as long as you would like.

All in all, this is a fantastic product and you may well see a full review later on if I do pick up the full size. Yes it's expensive at $81 AUD a pop, but I use far less of this product per application than I do any other product I own, so it could well work out cheaper than anything else I have on a price-per-use basis.

Just beautiful.