My Skin Base U-Turn

If you regularly catch up with my blog, you'll know how much I love Illamasqua products. From their cream pigments to their gel eyeliner, Illamasqua feature heavily in the So Coco Rouge kit box. 

Well, that is except our foundation box. 

When Illamasqua first launched in Manchester, I purchased their original foundations- Light Liquid and Rich Liquid- and I can hand on heart, honestly say, I was not a fan. In fact, they lay dormat at the bottom of my kit bag, squashed by my staples of MAC Face and Body, MUFE HD and Smashbox Studio Skin, until I finally threw them into the bin a few years later. 

When Skin Base launched in June 2011, I was unindated with squeals of declaration of love for it from my fellow MUA's. So, I half heartily popped into the Liverpool store, grumbling that I would certainly not like it, and deciding after around 30 seconds of blending the lightest shade into the back of hand, that Illamasqua foundations just 'weren't for me'. 

But, this Spring I have come to my senses and realised how wrong I was. 

Being dragged back to the Liverpool store after around 6 weeks of nagging from Robyn that we should give it one more chance, we were greeted by the absolutely lovely store manager, Rachel Murray, who told us a little more about this MUA favourite.

Illamasqua say- " Inspired by the cult Asian market Beauty Balm creams, Skin Base Foundation is a brand new, refined formula unlike anything on the UK market. Easily bendable, it effortlessly creates a perfect complexion, and like the entire Illamasqua foundation range, is undetectable in a professional HD environment. Suitable for all skin types, it smoothes, softens and conditions your skin whilst providing natural, buildable coverage."

So, I let Rachel suggest a shade to suit my skintone (and luckily Robyns too- we are both practically transparent naturally) and headed back to the salon to try it out once again.

Grabbing my two favourite foundation brushes- a Crown Brush Dual Fibre and a Sephora Precision Brush, I swiftly buffed skin base into my combination complexion. Looking into the mirror 2 minutes later, I expected to be met with a cakey, dry looking finish. Instead, I found myself in awe of my flawless complexion, with a natural glow. 

Crown Dual Fibre

Sephora Pro Precision Brush

Three weeks on, and I am seriously obsessed with Skin Base. So much so, that we are planning on purchasing another 5 shades of Skin Base, Hydra Veil Primer (which we've heard makes skin base glide onto drier skin types) and hopefully the Skin Base Mixers which British Beauty Blogger featured on her site recently!

The moral of my story? Don't give up on a product. Especially when the hype is still buzzing three years on. Keep persisting, because you never know when your going to fall head over heels in love!