Hourglass Immaculate Foundation Review

I've been looking forward to doing this review on my blog for a while now, but I knew that I wanted to take my time and collect all my thoughts on it carefully before writing them down. But basically the Hourglass Immaculate Liquid to Powder Foundation has been an enormous game changer for me. I had never even heard of this foundation but as I explained in my recent haul a lady working on the Hourglass counter introduced me to it and I sort of haven't looked back since.

Immaculate is a liquid foundation but as the name suggests it does turn to powder making it a matte foundation. I've never owned a matte foundation but I was willing to give this a go as its supposedly great for acne prone skin because it absorbs your skin's natural oils which as a result gives you this fantastically long wearing foundation, two big ticks already. When you apply this foundation it feels lovely and silky, not what I expected from something claiming to be matte - however because it does turn to powder you don't want to hang around buffing this into the skin as it sort of sets relatively quickly.

Once buffed into the skin (recommended with a brush) this foundation becomes what I can only describe as weightless, it literally feels like I'm not wearing a scrap of makeup which for a medium to full coverage foundation is amazing. This tackles redness, covers blemishes well and gives my skin an effortlessly flawless finish. I was expecting the finish to be somewhat flat because it is a matte foundation however it makes your skin look so vibrant and healthy.

One thing that I would say is that properly moisturizing your face and neck ahead of using this is essential because of its matte tendencies or it will highlight any dryness. But as long as you apply a moisturizer beforehand you should be fine. My skin type is normal so I can get away with wearing this however if you are dry then I'm not sure how well this foundation would work, however for all the oily skinned girls out there this would be fabulous.

I was matched to the shade porcelain which is an absolutely perfect match to my skin tone. Since using this my skin has seemed a lot calmer, I haven't had any crazy out of control breakouts. My skin just seems to agree with this foundation, I can wear it on a daily basis and it doesn't cause any breakouts which is another bonus as I find so many foundations upset my skin.

I cannot even begin to explain what this foundation has done for me in terms of confidence and for that alone it has been worth every penny for me.  Which brings me on to the price tag, yes this is probably one of the heftiest priced foundations on the market at a steep £50 but the quality is 100% reflected in the price. To me it has no downfalls at all which makes it worth the money, it honestly lasts on your face all day so you don't need to make touch ups meaning what you apply in the morning will still be looking as good by the time you go to take it off. It comes in a glass bottle with a pump which feels quite luxurious but I suppose you would expect that from such a high end product.

Before Immaculate I had lost a bit of love and trust in my foundations as none of them were cutting it either the shades weren't right or the coverage wasn't there. Basically I wasn't very satisfied but now I actually look forward to putting on my makeup each morning as I know I am going to get gorgeous results every time. Definitely the best makeup purchase I've made this year.

Wearing Hourglass Immaculate Foundation

QOTD: Have you tried Immaculate? What's your favourite high end foundation?

Clinique Even Better Foundation

Clinique Even Better Makeup | Boots | £24.50 | Link

If you caught my recent haul you will have seen that I picked up this absolute gem of a foundation from Clinique with promises that I would write a full review on it so sit tight as I have a lot of things to say about this product!

So I guess I should briefly point out in case you didn't catch my haul post where I already explained this, that I've been having problem skin and Clinique Even Better Makeup with SPF 15 was the foundation that was recommended to me by the sales assistant. According to Clinique this is made with an oil free formula that helps your skin tone appear more even both short term and in the long term - the website also calls this a moderate to full coverage foundation. I had this applied to me at the counter in Boots, and my first impressions of it were pretty decent to be honest. The lady had put this foundation on so flawlessly but without making my skin look like it was caked in makeup. It corrected the redness around my nose, covered blemishes with ease and just generally made my skin look naturally glowy and beautiful - something it hasn't done for a long while now.

My slight concern was that I would buy the foundation and struggle to replicate the awesome results that the Clinique MUA did for me. One thing that I am glad I paid good attention to was the type of brush she applied it with, now she used a flat foundation brush - a type of brush that I have never braved to use before. But while I was in Boots I decided to pick one up to use with the makeup as what she had done was a good job, so I got one from EcoTools. The next morning when it came to reapplying my makeup I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to recreate a good a job. I used the EcoTools flat foundation brush and it didn't really take too much getting used to, using more of swipe/pat motion. 

The foundation feels very light when you apply it, and its consistency is pretty liquid based - when you shake it it sounds quite watery in the bottle, I love how this feels on the skin it is almost like a moisturizer - it feels so breathable and almost as if you don't really have any makeup on your face which I think is lovely particularly as this will probably be more of a daytime option for me. Another perk of the foundation is naturally the SPF as I will be wearing this during the daytime so it never hurts to get some added protection in there does it?

The wear time of this foundation is the only real let down for me, I think that because of its watery consistency it seems to wipe away from the face within a few hours. I don't apply powder to set it so I'm not sure if adding some powder would help the duration of this foundation last a bit longer but without powder it does slip away from your face by the middle of the day which is unfortunate.  

You could definitely go medium to full coverage with this depending on how you prefer it - I really like how this can achieve quite a high coverage while still looking very dewy and skin-like.You also don't need to pile loads on to achieve a nice finish, although one thing that I would say about this foundation is that I definitely prefer it with a flat foundation brush as it gives such a better coverage and looks really beautiful. I tried this with my RT Expert Face brush for experiments sake and the coverage just wasn't there and it didn't have that lovely finish to it that you can achieve with a foundation brush.

I'm really surprised that this foundation doesn't pop up a bit more often on the beauty blogging scene because it really is a nice foundation for day time wear that gives a beautiful dewy finish with moderate coverage. However I wouldn't recommend this foundation for someone looking for a long lasting foundation as sadly I don't think that this would cut it. You wouldn't get a days wear out of this without needing to reapply or touch up, and so in terms of price I think that isn't the best value for money as I can imagine a bottle will run out fairly quickly. This isn't exactly a drugstore price foundation at nearing the £25 mark but in comparison to some high end foundations that isn't too alarmingly priced. Thankfully the bottle isn't glass so its super travel friendly meaning you can chuck it in your makeup bag on the go no problem for those necessary touch ups.

Wearing Clinique Even Better Makeup

QOTD: Have you tried Clinique Even Better Foundation?