Illamasqua Skin base Foundation

A couple of weeks ago Illamasqua had a little event to celebrate the launch of their new foundation and I was invited. Sadly at the moment I'm just not up to going to any kind of event  or leaving the house in general :( But the lovely Alex was very understanding when I explained and popped a few samples in the post for me to try.

If you've not heard of it before, Skin Base is Illamasqua's take on a BB cream. BB creams are a product started in Asia that act as a moisturiser, foundation and skincare balm all in one. Usually they contain SPF and whitening ingredients but Illamasqua has removed those.

Illamasqua claims it's Skin Base is '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.'

It comes in 18 shades from pure ghost white to a deep chocolate so hopefully there's something to suit everyone :) 

My skintone is very pale and very pink (i don't really know if thats my undertone or overtone or whatever and i think i might have very mild rosacea on the lower part of my cheeks) and it's very hard to find a foundation that really matches me. Usually they're either too dark or too yellow for me. I was sent the shades 02 which is the palest pink toned foundation, 04 which has both pink and yellow undertones (somehow :P) and 05 which is the second lightest pink toned shade.

Here are swatches of them:

02, 04 and 05 swatches heavilly

 

And blended out.

You can see that 04 and 05 just aren't right for me at all. Claire is quite pale and has more yellow toned skin than me so I've given 04 to her, if it suits her i'll get her to tell me what she thinks. 02 seemed a pretty close match so I have been trying that one. When I first applied it I feared it still wouldn't work for me but once I blended it out it matched me perfectly. Wahey! I've only been using this a few days but I absolutely adore it. 

It blends really easily. In fact while Illamasqua claim this is a medium/heavy coverage foundation, I've found that if I only use a tiny dot of product I can blend it out to give a light, sheer look. However it's really buildable, I can layer a bit more over my facial redness or any blemishes and it disguises them beautifully. The finish is beautiful, it's neither super matte nor dewy or shimmery, it looks just like natural skin. I love this because I have quite nice skin in general and the buildability means I can use a very thin layer over my whole face, letting my freckles and naturally good parts of my skin shine through, and then build it up on places that need more coverage and because of the finish it looks just like I have naturally flawless skin!  It's really easy to apply, I just spread it on with my fingers and it feels really light, I can't really notice it at all once I've put it on.

The longest I've worn this so far is about 8 hours (this is about as long as I ever wear makeup) and it lasted really well. I got a tiny bit of shine on my nose (the only place my face has any oil) but other than that it looked basically the same as when I'd first applied it. Maybe if your skin is naturally a little oily you'll need to powder over the top. The only negative I can think of is that if I have any flaky patches of skin then the foundation does tend to gather there and emphasize it. However after the actual flaky bits of skin had gone away it never emphasized any dry patches of skin. Oh and while it works brilliantly over spots and my redness I can't quite make it cover the blueish circles under my eyes.

Here are some photos of my face au naturale

 

And now with the Skin Base foundation:

As I've been using it for less than a week I can't really review it for it's skincare benefits. However I swear I've already noticed my skin feeling smoother, softer and with less dry flaky patches. This might of course be coincidental but I haven't changed anything else in my skincare routine (and at the moment my skincare routine consists of removing my makeup with wipes, cleansing and exfoliating about twice a week and moisturising when I remember to. I really need to treat my face better!).

Personally I would love to have some SPF in this product because I am terrible and always forget to put on sunblock (I burn ridiculously easily so I really need a high SPF everyday but I just never remember :( I suck) but I understand why they've removed it. SPF often causes light to act oddly in photoshoots and as Illamasqua like to cater for theatrical use they wanted to get rid of that problem.

They also removed the whitening ingredients so that the formula would be suitable for all skin tones, which I think is great. Most BB creams only seem to come in a few shades, Illamasqua is the first company I've seen that has shades that would cater to dark skinned people (though of course there may well be other companies that do and I just haven't seen them). Also I don't really know if I'd like to use a whitening product myself, I have some discolouration and redness on my face that I'd like to be rid of, but I also have freckles and I love them and don't want them to go anywhere so I don't think I'd better chance them!

So basically I'm in love with this foundation, it's probably the best I've ever tried. I'll definately be buying a full size bottle once I've used up a few other products. When I do end up getting a full bottle I'll do another review!

*I was sent samples for review but all thoughts and opinions are my own. I'm well aware that this review is so incredibly gushing it might as well be another 'Lillian Loves' but honestly this is how I feel about this foundation. I don't want to desperately rack my brain for more negative things to say just for the sake of it. It's a holy-of-holies!*