Review- Illamasqua skin base foundation.

"Inspired by the cult Asian market Beauty Balm creams, Skin Base Foundation is a brand new, refined formula unlike anything on the UK market. Easily blendable, it effortlessly creates a perfect complexion, and like the entire Illamasqua foundation range, is undetectable in a professional HD environment. Suitable for all skin types, it smoothes, softens and conditions your skin whilst providing natural, buildable coverage.

The Ultimate 'Skin Realism' Foundation."- Illamasqua website.

About my skin:

I would call my skin normal, it does get slightly oily just on the nose area but it is minimal, and my main skin concern would be open pores on my cheek and nose area.

Packaging:

The packaging looks really nice, but it totally isnt practical, its very hard plastic so it takes rather a lot of effort to squeeze the product out of the very small opening, especially if it has been lying on its side and not upright. I can imagine you would waste a lot of product just by not being able to squeeze it out.
The writing also rubs off after a couple of weeks use. the lid it nice and secure though.

Colour:

Colour is always hard for me as im very pale (the lightest foundations in rimmel etc are far to dark for me) illamasqua has done a very good job in supplying foundations for pale ladies and gents :) I got shade 2, which is perfect for my middle of winter foundation colour, the colour is described as 'pink undertone with yellow' I would say its more on the pink tone then the yellow tone.
They have 26 colours including a white.

Texture:

The texture of this foundation is rather thick (similar to revlon colorstay) but it feels creamier. It dries very fast! Too fast in fact so you have to apply it quickly!

How it applies:

I really cant get the hang of applying this foundation, you need the exact right amount of product, I have tried:
-Beauty blender, it dries before you can get it blended out fully, so you end up with patchy skin.
-187 stippling brush, this is ok, you really have to work very fast! else you end up with streaks, and it ends up looking cakey and uneven.
-Real techniques buffing brush, this was the worst of all of them, it was just a hot mess, it had dried before you could blend it in, and it ended up looking very patch, dry, cakey and uneven.
-fingers, I found this was the best, I could work the fastest with my fingers to get it blended evenly all over, but i found you could see finger marks in it, so I quickly pat over everything with my beauty blender, to smooth it over, and it gave quite an even finish.

This is just after I applied it, no concealer etc,
no flash.

Look:

Im not a fan unfortunately, the colours really nice but when i first apply it, it looks really dry, then an hour later it looks really oily.
I also find it sticks to any flacky areas, fine hair on your face, rough areas such as black heads, any spots, and it seems to settle into open pores and makes them more obvious. It is medium to full coverage.

and this is a couple of hours later,
with flash.

Staying power:

I find this slips and slides around my skin, and looks very oily, it transfers very easily and the smallest touch will make it come off your skin, even with setting powder.



Final thoughts:

I personally, for my skin do not like this foundation, if you are struggling to find a foundation thats light enough give it ago, but it really didnt work for me.
Pros:
Variety of colours, very pale shade, available in a white colour, smells lovely.
cons:bottle in annoying, hard to apply, makes my skin look dryer at first, makes my skin look oily after a few hours, transfers easily, slides around my skin, makes imperfections look worse, not good for open pores, does not photograph well, especially with flash.
Sorry skin base, I really wanted to like you!