If you've read my other blog post, you'll know I've been desperately trying to fall in love with a foundation recently. I had a list of foundations to try, and I was gradually working my way through them, hoping not to get to the bottom without finding my holy grail. (If you want a short overview scroll to the end for a tl;dr).
Firstly I tried the Estee Lauder Double Wear, which I found too thick on my skin and it felt like it was melting off in the sun. After crossing that one off the list I tried the Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Satin makeup, which I felt wasn't full enough coverage with one layer, and with multiple layers it started to crumb (gross!) off my face, something I had never experienced before and found really disgusting.
My most recent try was the new NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation. I'd heard really good things about this product, and was super excited to try it. I even skipped the cheaper NARS foundation (Sheer Glow), to try this one. I was sure this would be the end of my search. It wasn't.
I went into Mecca and asked one of the makeup artists to colour match me and then try the foundation on my whole face. We eventually decided on my colour (Santa Fe) and she then gave me a little run down on the product. She said to only use my fingers to apply it, as it needs to be warmed up. She said one pump of foundation would give me full coverage of my entire face, meaning far less product needs to be used and therefore you go through the bottle a lot slower. She also said once you pump the foundation onto your hand you need to work extremely quickly in applying it to your face.
So she began to quickly rub the foundation all over my face with her hands (I've never experienced this before at a makeup counter), and then told me to look in the mirror. There were a few demarkation lines here and there, which I promptly blended in, and the coverage was not full. The name of the foundation was right in that it was weightless, which was great, but I definitely needed more product.
I took a sample home with me and tried it out for myself with my hands, and it definitely was a stressful experience. You have to work SO quickly with the product because it dries so quickly and once it's dry there's no blending it with anything. If you decide to add another layer to some sections, don't count on it being a seamless blend, and if you're wanting to put other products on top, like contour, its not that pleasant to work with. The finish is really nice (I set mine with Stay Matte powder), and the weightless feel was great, but the unpleasant application overruled those positives for me.
Overall I was really quite disappointed with the product and won't be buying it. Next up on my list to try is the NARS Sheer Glow.
tl;dr
Pros:
- Definitely weightless, I couldn't feel it on my skin at all
- Really nice natural finish
- Covers redness with one layer, still letting your freckles,etc. show through
Cons:
- You have to work really really fast with it or it'll dry before you've finished blending
- Really hard to work with other products over the top
- I wouldn't say one pump is full coverage, as the product says
- Not buildable; once it's dried if you put more layers on they won't blend seamlessly
- Apparently it works better when you warm it in your hands and apply with your fingers (I haven't tried it with a brush so can't confirm- but I hate using my fingers so this was a turn off for me)
xx Bec
