little white truths

I received this sample card in a Sephora order a while ago and I've spent the last three days testing the formula so I'm ready to give you my first impressions and also some swatches.

It's described as a medium coverage, buildable foundation with 24-hour wear and flashback-free SPF 25 for a youthful look. It retails for $70 AUD for 32ml and I'm seeing 29 shades available on Sephora Australia's website, which is a decent number.

Below I've done light and heavy swatches of the three shades I received, indirect sunlight:

* L-R: Light Y210, Medium Y320, Tan Y420

Weaker indirect sunlight:

Direct sunlight:

Verdict

Just so we're clear, this is a first impressions post and not a full review because I've only worn the product three times so I haven't tested it in a variety of different conditions or seen how I feel about it after many months of wear. Still, I have some comments that may be useful.

First, this is thicker than I expected and it smells like a mix of sunscreen and paint, which isn't a pleasant smell so that's something to be aware of.

Second, it has quite a sticky, paint-like texture and I think this is why it's difficult to blend. I use my fingers and it's one of the hardest foundations I've used for a while in terms of blendability. It looks streaky until I've put a lot of effort in, and it can also look like paint until I've really worked it into the skin - plus I've had to dab at it with a piece of kitchen paper to pull back the coverage/paint look. 

Indeed, I was quite surprised about the coverage on this because it's been marketed as more of a lightweight foundation and I was under the impression that it was analogous to a tinted moisturiser (this is the impression I got when the original ad campaign was released). While this impression may have been wrong, I think it's worth mentioning because I'm sure I'm not the only person who saw this advertised and thought 'this will be for me'. It's not for me, because I prefer lightweight, natural-looking products that are easy to work with and this isn't one of those.

Once I've worked it in (and dabbed at it if needed), it does look reasonably natural on the skin - but I don't like the effort it took me to get there. I can also feel it on my skin and I wonder if that's an effect that the stickiness of the product is causing.

It does however last well so maybe that stickiness has some benefit. On me, it lasts longer than many of the lighter coverage foundations and tinted moisturisers that I've tried - therefore I do think the long-wearing claim is true. So if you don't care about putting in some extra work with a product but you want something that really lasts, this might be worth trying.

Overall I don't think this is a terrible product and I can get it to look good, but I wouldn't buy it for the reasons I've mentioned.

Not for me.