There is one powder foundation that I love – its by Albion, but aside from that, they all crust up on me. Nice start to the review, eh?
But if anyone can make a nice base, Shiseido can! This Smoothing Compact Foundation is powder based and can ONLY be used Dry. No spritzing your sponge with Evian!
Now, this powder foundation is supposed to work even on dry and rough skin (like mine is at the moment):
The finish is matte, which I quite like (as long as its moist-matte. If that makes sense). Remember – this powdery foundation is supposed to work even on the driest skin!
They say:
Formulated with moisturizing ingredients: Royal Jelly Extract, Hydro-Wrap Vitalizing DE
Contains Micro-Smoothing Complex, a Shiseido-exclusive ingredient that protects against the harmful substance that accelerates decline in barrier function, which can cause skin roughening.
Here is the compact:
I love this compact. Its perfect packaging to me – I love (ok, I am going to sound nuts) it when a compact is not too big and allows you to stack the sponge on top of the base rather than to the side of it.
Yes…I’m a secret sponge stacker.
Shiseido’s colour palette is really quite good considering it is Japanese born and bred. They have clearly opened up to making base products for girls with darker skin (although not black skin just yet).
This base is split into the B’s = Beige, O’s = Ochre and I’s = Ivory.
Then it tends to have a number that follows it. For example -
O20 = Natural Light Ochre
O40 = Natural Fair Ochre
O60 = Natural Deep Ochre
The higher the number the darker the base.
I can wear Ochre (yellow based) or the Beige based shades without much problem.
In this case I picked the B60 which is quite dark. I am a NC35 and its a TAD, just a TAD dark on me.
The powder is lovely quality – of course it is, its Shiseido!
Its creamy to apply and is very blendable even though its a powder. I would feel fine carrying this around for base top ups.
However – I would concur that this is not quite as suitable for dry skin as they say. It didn’t cling badly considering how flaky my skin is, but as the day wore on, there was some crusty skin. If only I could apply this wet, it would probably have a smoother finish, but the instructions say
NO!
On my skin:
Coverage is light, buildable to a medium but I really wouldn’t layer this too much unless you are more of a oily disposition (in which case you will ADORE this product).
Oh dear, oh dear when will I learn? Powdery bases aren’t for me – my skin is too dry for it but in humid Asian climates and oily skinned women its a great choice.
Ingredients:
See the product here .
I got mine from Cheapsmells.com, (a UK site) it was reduced to about £16 (half the retail price).
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hey Row,
I love the idea of powder foundations because I’m ferociously lazy and love anything that’s easy and convenient to use. But in my (limited) experience of them, I find that they just slide off my oily skin. Do you think this would last the day on my oil-rig-of-a-face?
Cheers
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