I’ve had a few days to play around with the new Hourglass Vanish Foundation* and I’m still a bit undecided about it. One the one hand, it’s a concentrate so you only need to use half a pump for a whole face which makes the £51 price tag perhaps a little more bearable. On the other, you do need to do quite a bit of skin prep for it to work at its best.
It’s full coverage – or nearly – and requires precision application. You pop tiny dots over your face and blend from there – if you have buffing style brush, use that, otherwise use a damp sponge. Close inspection (in the magnifying mirror of doom) saw it cling to minute dry patches but nobody sees your face at magnified level so I’m not sure it matters so much but it’s why I say prep your skin well first, and absolutely do moisturise, although the brand says you do not need a primer. The finish is not quite matte and not quite satin but it does feel almost weightless. I can’t say I saw a marked ‘soft focus finish’ although my skin did look nicely even and smooth.
I’d strongly suggest you go and get colour-matched for this foundation – the shades I have above are (bottom to top) Warm Ivory, Ivory and Buff and even though I was colour matched at counter, none are perfect. I think I will have to mix a couple of them but I find they veer a bit yellow although the colour does stay true – I didn’t detect any oxidisation. So, exfoliate if necessary and moisturise before using and it’s a very decent full cover foundation (I don’t think I would recommend for dry skin) – the all day stay is certainly a draw. You can find it HERE*** Non Affiliate Link is HERE.
*sample **gift ***affiliate link
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5 comments
I tried this out for the first time this morning. It’s definitely true that a little goes a long way! My skin looked really nice when I left the house this morning and I needed barely any concealer. I keep having a look and I’m not sure if it looks a bit cakey/orange. I got shade matched to Porcelain the other day (wrong shade) and it started off okay and oxidised SO orange. I’m hoping Alabaster will see me right!
I do find the shades rather yellow toned – on me it didn’t noticeably oxidise but I agree you do need to skin prep very well to ensure it doesn’t go cakey and dry. I wouldn’t recommend it for drier skin types.
I wanted to love this, as I do most of hourglass, but it did not work for me. I tried several shades and they all oxidized.
I got a sample made up for me in SpaceNK. Tried for the first time today. Yes, thick texture and very little covers the whole face. I did have a mini of the Hourglass primer so used it under it. Not sure how it would work with just moisturiser or another brand of primer?
I was matched to Shell which I also found a little yellow, but did not oxidize on me, the new Laura Mercier did like mad.
Undecided.
Well, they say that no primer is necessary but I needed to put a lot of moisture into my face before I put the foundation on. There wasn’t any oxidisation but my skin is happier in a lighter coverage foundation anyway.