Personally, I think the most important part of makeup is the foundation. A good foundation helps to prepare your skin to have a good base for the makeup. For me, a good base means natural looking and even skin tone. Once you have established that, the rest should be easy for a everyday life, a little bit of lip gloss, a red lipstick, a full faced makeup or just some mascara. You will still look more put together, even you just run out of the door with a lip balm in your pocket.

It sounds so simple, but actually not. Finding the right foundation is quite a tricky business. The color needs to match your skin tone. The texture has to suit your skin type. Coverage should be good enough. The ingredients must not irritate your skin. A good foundation will compliment your skin condition, not emphasize the fine lines, clog the skin or make you look like you have a thick layer of plaster on the face. I have very dry skin and hyper-pigmentation on my cheeks. Most of the time, the liquid foundations are my first choice, but they are not easy to travel with.

I was excited to find out Hourglass launched a foundation stick. I like foundation stick, simple and easy to carry. Most of the foundation sticks suit dry skin. I used to use Bobbi Brown foundation stick a lot. Few swipes on the face and blend with my fingers. I am good to go. Since I am a big fan for Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush and powder, I was keen to try it out.  It’s a cruelty free brand as well. I bought mine from Australia Mecca at$69, and the shade is Nude.

From Hourglass website, it says this foundation is “a revolutionary foundation stick with the coverage of a concealer, the fluidity of a liquid, and the weightlessness of a powder in a long-wearing waterproof formula for undetectable full coverage”. Also, its “innovative formula adjusts to your body temperature to effortlessly blend into the skin”. The shade range is pretty good, 26 shades.

Here is my swatch for shade Nude on my wrist. My impressions:

• It glides on my skin smoothly, very silky feeling.
• I found it blends well with a dense brush, better than makeup sponges.
• Coverage is medium, but buildable to full coverage.
• I don’t need a concealer for my under eye area after this foundation.(ps. I don’t have very dark under eye circle.)
• Definitely not dry at all on my dry skin.
• Probably not 12 hour long lasting, but good enough for 6 hours at least.
• The triangle stick form is very handy to use for contouring.
• Velvet finish on my dry skin. If you have oily skin, it probably would be dewier finish and needs powder on top of it.
• Not sure about the waterproof part as it’s still winter/spring here in Brisbane. I haven’t had a chance to test that yet.

Overall, I like this foundation. I will probably not use it everyday in the dry season. I prefer my liquid foundation for everyday use in winter. I will certainly use it more when the weather gets a little bit warmer. Hopefully, this is helpful. 🙂