illamasqua skin base review

this has been such a hyped foundation, and i was intrigued as soon as i heard about it. i don't live near an illamasqua counter unfortunately, and so i ordered this online. i decided using swatches and recommendations from others. according to illamasquas chart comparing between mac colours, i should be sb7. while looking at swatches i thought this was too light, and so settled on sb11. so glad i did this, sb11 is around the correct tone yet a bit light still. it comes in this little plastic tube, which for some reason i was expecting to be bigger. it contains around 30ml of product, and in all honesty i find it a right faff. it has a little nib which you squeeze the foundation out of, and being the wimp i am i sometimes struggle to get an adequate amount out and resort to using both hands to squeeze it out. god knows how this will work when you're nearing the end of the tube!

the texture of this foundation is like a thick cream, as you can see in the picture below. i find it fairly hard to blend, yet when it is blended the result is lovely. it looks like actual skin, with a slight glow to it but without making me think 'oh my god look at my shiny nose'. it has a diffused, soft glow effect and does make you look perfect. it wears impeccably too, i can wear it to work and oilies don't show through it either, it just goes slightly glowier without looking greasy which is what i'm most impressed about. they come in a range of colours, from 01 to 18 and are available in pink, yellow, pink/yellow, olive, red and neutral undertones. there's also a white for mixing. sb11 is described as a pink/yellow undertone which is about right. i personally think the colours come up too light, i wear nw30 in mac yet i'm sb11 which is sometimes still too light.

i do like this foundation, but it's not HG material for me. it might be that i have the wrong shade, but i think sometimes it makes me look washed out. the packaging isn't ideal and the thick consistency is nice yet hard to blend and i find myself just smearing it around in the hope it'll settle. however, i am amazed at how well it controls oil and lasts on the skin. it retails at £25 for 30ml, and is available from illamasqua.