Over the next 9 months, I’ll be wearing a foundation a month and testing it out with various primers, application techniques and post my review here. I’ll also mention any issues when the foundation is used with cream-based products such as blusher or highlighter. Before we continue, I have oily skin, a few fine lines and the occasional issues with breakouts. I don’t have an issue with dry skin so if you do you might find we have very different results from the same foundation.
The four primers I’ll be using are, Illamasqua – Hydra Veil, this one is a water-based gel primer. Evelyn Ion Cosmetics – Green Tea Primer, this one is a water-based dream primer. The Body Shop – Instablur Primer, this one is a silicone-based primer. Revolution Pro – Prime Oil, this one is an oil-based primer. I’ll also go without a primer to see how it performs without any help.
Other variables include using fingers, sponges or brushes to apply the foundation to see if it makes any difference in the finish or performance with these methods. I’ll also use cream, powder and liquid blushers and highlighters to see if there are any issues too.
The Body Shop Matte Clay Skin Foundation costs £10 from the Body Shop. It has 30mls of product. It is vegan and cruelty-free. It has a 12-month shelf life once opened.
I’m going to say right now I both love and loathe this foundation. Due to the many issues with product interactions I end up more in the loathe category. This is not a low maintenance foundation even on the days it looked so good for 8 hours. One those days it still needed a little powdering, which is fine. On other days it looked awful.
And I mean awful.
So why?
Well for starters this is a silicone-based foundation and it reacts really badly with silicone primers. It looked awful over Body Shops own primer. It also does not apply well with anything but a damp sponge. I had issue blending it out with finger and brushes. Most would leave streaks and since this one sets you could shift it and make it look worse. I found without a primer it emphasised my pores and fine lines. It looked so much like the high coverage foundation it is, rather than a skin-like finish.
I also found using a thicker moisturiser underneath caused issues too. If your moisturiser is not fully absorbed it moved and wouldn’t settle.
Once you got the coverage and it set, if it broke up it was nearly impossible to recover.
When it worked it was beautiful but that was a rarity.
It worked best with a water-based primer, that had some pore filling abilities, using only a damp sponge and blended in immediately. It needed to be done in thin layers for full coverage and powdered using a powder puff rather than a brush.
Using this method it lasted hours on my face even with the amount of touching of my face I tend to do. It did need powdering around the 5-hour mark but the coverage was still very good.
I would still use this foundation, although I won’t repurchase it, for places where I am only going to be 4-5 hours and need a flawless finish. Also with plenty of time beforehand to get it right.
The Body Shop Matte Clay Skin Foundation costs £10 from the Body Shop if you’d like one.
INGREDIENTS: Aqua/Water/Eau, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Nylon-12, Acrylates/Polytrimethylsiloxymethacrylate Copolymer, Butylene Glycol, Silica, Isohexadecane, Isononyl Isononanoate, Pentylene Glycol, Bis-Peg/Ppg-14/14 Dimethicone, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Cetyl Peg/Ppg-10/1 Dimethicone, Magnesium Sulfate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Acrylonitrile/Methyl Methacrylate/Vinylidene Chloridecopolymer, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Glycerin, Calcium Gluconate, Silica Silylate, Perlite, Magnesium Gluconate, Moroccan Lava Clay, Tocopherol, Aluminum Hydroxide, Isobutane, Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil / Tea Tree Leaf Oil, Spiraea Ulmaria Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Buddleja Davidii Extract, Thymus Vulgaris Flower/Leaf Extract – Thyme Flower Leaf Extract, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, [+/- Ci 77891/Titanium Dioxide, Ci 77491/Iron Oxides, Ci 77492/Iron Oxides].