Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

People will probably be expecting a rave review of this foundation, but I'm afraid I'm just not a fan.  I bought it because I had read so many good reviews though but honestly for me it just doesn't live up to the hype.  I bought it ages ago but because I got a pale one, or rather a shade that's my natural skintone I haven't used it consistently for a period of time until recently. And because I hadn't properly given this foundation a go bar the odd use between tanning, I really wanted to use it consistently so I could finally make a decision on what I think about it.

[L: no makeup/R: Illamasqua Skin Base only]

This foundation tends to be the illamasqua base of choice for oily skin, and having used on my own oily/combination skin I can't for the life of me think why. Lets start at the beginning with this foundation. I use pretty good skincare for my skin type which means I can pretty much get away with any foundation, but after using my skincare (current choices being my effaclar duo and effaclar k for final skin bits before foundation) this foundation just does not want to blend into my skin. I did give it a fair trial and used it with skin products that didn't even soak up the oils in my skin as much as those two beauties but the result was worse. I don't know about you, but I don't want hard to work with products that, will look flawless if you work it a LOT, I want to be able to get it on my face with minimal effort. I get repetitive strain injury when I'm blending this bad boy in. You can just constantly see smear lines and the bit I hate the most is that it doesn't settle properly, it sits on the skin and looks very obvious up close. I've tried traditional foundation brushes, buffing brushes, stippling brushes and even my hands but nothing can get this to work for me. So with extreme effort I look like I'm obviously wearing makeup up close and from a bit of a distance I look flawless - I can see why you'd like the finish for photographs for models etc if you're a photographer because from far away I do look airbrushed, but sadly seeing as I'm not a model and I tend to deal with people in quite a close capacity it just doesn't do it for me. And I'm not talking awkwardly close but if you were standing at a socially accepted personal space distance for conversation, all you'd be thinking is 'why hasn't she blended her foundation properly?'.

[Close up you can see that it has settled on the skin strangely, it has clung to dry patches and has done nothing for my pores and you can't usually even see them!  I had to go this close for the camera to pick it up, but it is more obvious in person]

On to the next - it breaks me out. So obviously that's a major fail for me. Although I'm not talking horrid pustules like I've had before from trying products, just lots of little white bumps. It works slightly better with a primer (both in terms if blending and protecting my skin from breakouts) but, on a daily basis I do not want to be using a primer. It's a total waste for me because I'd rather use it for when I want my skin to be extra amazing, not just because I need to try and improve a foundation that I want to use daily.

[Illamasqua Skin Base over whole skin]

This does also work better and looks a lot better once my skin is powdered. I do tend to powder my tzone daily but I'd rather not have to do my whole face just to get a foundation to look decent. I am not a fan of the chalky powdered look!

Lastly this foundation clings like a mother to my dry patches, and if I'm having a particularly oily day it gathers and sits on top of the oil and slides around having a rare old time to itself. I look like my face is melting. I was so disappointed with this foundation because I expected it to be amazing but for me it definitely isn't. I'm the type of person that likes my skin makeup to look as natural as possible most of the time because I don't have good skin. Rather than caking the makeup on to hide the flaws, thin layers of good products work so much better at achieving a base that looks like it could be real flawless skin. I'm planning on doing a video soon of how I do my base, one with only high street products and then another with higher end products (ie my day and my night base). Illamasqua skin base is going into the back of my drawer until I can find the courage to throw it out without sobbing about the wasted money!

[Looking markedly better with concealer and powder applied - but still to obvious for my liking!]

Are there any foundations you've ever tried that came highly recommended only to be really disappointed? Or have you tried this foundation, I'd really love to know your thoughts on it if you have!  Also, such a shame Illamasqua because a lot of your other products are to die for!