Clarins Skin Illusion Loose Powder Foundation Review & Swatches
My review on Clarins Skin Illusion Loose Powder Foundation is a long time coming. It’s something I’ve used almost religiously for the past several months and something that really excites me since I can’t wear powder foundation products well due to my drier skin.
This is a silky, loose powder foundation with light-reflecting pigments, minerals and plant extracts that creates a radiant matte finish and a natural, bare skin effect. There’s the keywords, “bare skin effect”…! Who doesn’t want coverage that’s flawless and natural?
That’s one of the key benefits of Clarins Skin Illusion Loose Powder Foundation, the bare skin effect and the reason I LOVE it.
This is a light to medium coverage foundation. I wouldn’t personally recommend using it as a setting powder or a finishing one. You’ll want to use this as it was intended, as a foundation powder. I’ve tried it in a variety of ways but I come out of each experience believing that the best possible use is by itself over a moisturizing primer. This provides long wear, excellent coverage, and a bare skin effect without overdoing it. Used in conjunction with a BB Cream or even a liquid or cream foundation takes away from that bare skin effect and makes you appear like you visibly have on makeup. The key here is getting the powder to look natural, displaying a bare skin finish.
This comes in a gold jar with a brush that clicks in and out of the jar. You can actually push the brush into the powder when the lid is loose to capture it. The harder you push the more powder will transfer to the brush. After you’ll want to simply dab away access and buff gently onto freshly primed skin. If you have dry skin like me I highly suggest a rich moisturizer followed up with a hydrating primer for the smoothest finish.
I personally like to use the powder sheer as I don’t have a ton to cover and simply want to ease dullness and even out skin tone. The brush has a flat head which allows me to buff gently into my skin. Over do it your buffing, buff, buff, and buff some more..this is a sure way to get the best possibly finish from the product. Start sheer and if you want medium coverage slowly build it up so the coverage continues to look natural. I do small, yet hard circles, so the brush is pressed firmly to my skin as I slowly buff it into place.
The results?
Perfection. A flawless, softer complexion. The silky finish doesn’t accentuate my flaky areas nor does it settle around my drier areas. I admit it feels hecka nicer in warmer weather but even on a cold day this still manages to look very fresh, very natural, and has an incredible wear time of at least six hours before showing signs of wear. I recommend, I don’t typically say this, setting it with a mist of your choice if you have drier skin. This lightens the matte finish and creates a more ethereal dewiness to the finish of the powder and in fact makes skin look Photoshopped and positively amazing.
Far be it for me to rave powder anything being a dry skin girl but I must admit, when applied correctly, Clarins Skin Illusion Loose Powder Foundation is a terribly impressive foundation product that creates surreal, gorgeous skin in a few simple steps.
Muse Approved.
Available at Clarins counters or online at www.clarinsusa.com