Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation Review, Swatches and Photos

My preferred foundation up until recently was either Revlon Colorstay, Estee Lauder Double Wear, or Prestige Mineral Foundation. The common denominator? Coverage, and lots of it.

Lately though, these foundations aren’t looking as good on my skin. Creeping ever nearer to 30 (I’m 27 next month, eep!) my skin is (finally) becoming less oily and fine lines are becoming apparent. Colorstay, Doublewear and Prestige Mineral are settling into my pores and causing fine lines to look like crevices. Not a good look.

I’d had Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in my stash for a few months, but on first try I hated it. I was going through a flaky skin stage thanks to a retinol treatment, and Illamasqua Skin Base did not play well with dry patches at all. Charlotte of Lipglossiping found this too. It also didn’t play well with oil breakthrough, splitting on contact with sebum. Those things combined with its lesser coverage, meant it was relegated to the makeup graveyard. Until now. Since my skin has settled down a lot lately, I decided to give it another go.

The Illamasqua blurb proclaims, “Inspired by the cult Asian market Beauty Balm creams, Skin Base Foundation by Illamasqua is a brand new, refined formula unlike anything on the UK market. Easily blendable, it effortlessly creates a perfect complexion.”  Big claims.  Let’s check it out IRL.

Here’s Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in 03 (blobbed below and blended above. This is pale with a yellow undertone, so perfect to neutralise any redness. Apparently this shade is equivalent to MAC NC20. Illamasqua have drawn up a useful shade comparison chart to MAC shades which you can find here.  Having never been colour matched in MAC, I can’t attest to its accuracy unfortunately. The formula is thickish, and affords medium-buildable coverage.

Here it is on my mug. I normally have quite high colour in my cheeks, redness around my nose and post-acne pigmentation. Not anymore!  The picture on the right shows where I swiped a cotton pad with makeup remover down my cheek. See the redness and acne marks which it covered up? This foundation also floats over any fine lines and pores which other foundations have been sinking into.  This is likely something to do with its “water in silicone based formula” which would help it act as both primer and foundation in one. I used to use a primer daily, so this has removed a step from my routine. And in the morning every minute counts!

I’ve gone from not being able to abide this foundation to absolutely loving it. My skin looks so much better not being weighed down by heavy foundation. Illamasqua Skin Base smooths over imperfections and offers good coverage alone. It’s not too dewy and it’s not too matte. It’s just right. If I’m craving more coverage, a touch of concealer in the right spots and setting with powder does the trick nicely. If I really want a high coverage finish (for a night out etc.), I mix it with Revlon Colorstay to get the best of both worlds. Magic.

I got mine from Debenhams.ie, priced at €30. I wouldn’t recommend this for very dry skin (it accentuates flakies) or for very oily skin (just doesn’t hold up when confronted with sebum) but for anyone inbetween, Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation is awesome. I nearly daren’t say it, but this might just be Holy Grail material…