little white truths

You may remember that this foundation was in one of my sachet city posts back in April, and I wound up with two of these 1.5ml vials so I finished one and kept the other one aside so I could write a first impressions post.

It's taken me a while, but here I am!

I've photographed the vial in natural light above and in direct sunlight below.

So, there's a direct sunlight swatch, unblended on the left and blended out on the right (and excuse my goosebumps, it's cold these days ; )):

There we are again, indirect sunlight (it looks warmer here):

This one's in artificial light:

And this is in natural light (outdoors):

Verdict

This is a beautiful foundation and I can see why people love it. You would certainly have to love it to buy it though, given the $149 AUD price-tag. Yikes.

It's described as a multitasking serum-foundation hybrid that delivers anti-ageing benefits and a full coverage, matte finish.

The texture is gorgeous: it's thin and spreads well so I do think it fits with the 'serum foundation' description, and while it looks a bit like paint on me when I first apply it, I can sheer it out to get a light or medium coverage if I want.

Indeed, that's one of the things I like about the product: it's buildable. Not all full-coverage foundations can be sheered out to look more natural, but this can so it gains points on that front.

Worth noting is that you do need a reasonable amount of product to get even a medium coverage (about a pea) so if you want to build it to full coverage, you'll likely be using quite a lot each time - which makes it even worse value on a price-per-use basis.

What's been good about this product for me is that it's unusual to receive free foundation samples that are in your shade, but this one happily is: it's just that the undertone isn't yellow enough so it makes me look ashy, but not so much that a good bronzer and blush don't make it wearable.

Other than the price, I have two main issues with this product:

First, it reeks of perfume (it smells like Ralph Lauren's Safari to me) so it's not something I want to put on my face. I can still smell the stuff even though I applied it half an hour ago, so I'd steer clear of this if you're sensitive to fragrance because this one's borderline unbearable.

Second, the finish is matte and I'm yet to find a matte foundation that looks like skin on me. Yes this product is on the more natural side, but as soon as I step into any kind of light - whether sunlight or artificial - I look seriously powdered (and I haven't powdered). It may look more natural on you if you have oily/combination skin, but on my dry skin, this looks like foundation and that's not the look I'm going for.

So in sum, this is a good product but I personally don't think it's worth the price-tag and it's too matte for my tastes, plus I'd avoid it for the fragrance alone.

Let me know if you've tried this and what you think of it if so.