Hey gang!
Little bit of a late post this evening and it's a review of Stila's Illuminating Liquid foundation. I'm all about a little illumination lately - glow enhancing primers, dewy foundations, light reflecting concealers, blush, bronzer, powder you name it! So clearly, this foundation was to be a perfect fit in my ever growing wardrobe of dullness obliterating products, right?
Wrong. I have to honestly say I was deeply saddened by almost everything about this product (sigh..) and with such a high price tag, I have to share what I've learned.
Firstly, this foundation's shade range comes in wittily appointed amounts of wattage. Being pretty fair, I was the lightest shade - 10 watts. This is a great colour for me, neutral undertones, no orange overcast and no noticeable pink or yellow. I was initially happy with testing it out, the shades are great, the problem was I didn't test it on my face - but more on that later.
Secondly, the pump is extremely cheap feeling and looking. Why top off a lovely glass bottle with a cheap "plastic-but-painted-a-metallic-silver-to-look-like-metal-and-it's-already-peeling-off-in-certian-places" pump? For $50.00 CAD I expect a LITTLE more...
Anyway, moving on to what really matters, the formulation. I would have completely overlooked the tacky pump if the formula had been amazing or even relatively good for that matter.
The formulation starts out looking promising although it is much thicker than what I've come to know and expect from foundations labelled "liquid". I would class this as more of a cream foundation, especially since it's oil based. You'll see what I mean in the next photo.
Also, when I select a foundation with "sheer to medium" coverage, I don't expect it to be so incredibly pigmented and hard to blend. This is the swatch just spread over my hand. As you can see you can't see any of my skin through it (although it isn't thoroughly blended.) I was surprised at this as I was looking for something sheer, and usually products labelled "illuminating" are just that. Again, this Illuminating foundation is making up rules of its own.
This is the foundation after I blended the begeezus out of it with my fingers. It doesn't melt, sink into or blend with skin at all. The pigment in it is just so heavy it doesn't let it do any of those things. There also isn't much illumination in this product. It just feels thick and heavy on the skin even after I blended it off with a damp sponge to try to sheer it out. Not only that but I actually had someone comment about my "cakey" foundation that day. It had settled into every line and pore on my face (and I'm 23 I didn't think I even had lines!) and made me look old, dull and greasy.
I'm sad to say this product did nothing good for me. I probably won't be trying any more of Stila's foundations either at risk of the same thing happening. For the price I expected more, frankly I would have expected more out of a foundation that cost 1/5th of this.
Summary
Stila's Illuminating Liquid Foundation
10 Watts
$50.00 CAD
Available at Sephora and Shoppers Drug Mart
Have you tried this foundation? Did you have a similar experience or did you love yours? Let me know in the comments section below!
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