REVIEW: Too Faced Born This Way Foundation

ITEM: Too Faced Born This Way Foundation (U.S. link and price HERE) 
PRICE: $58AUD (Price at Mecca)

You knew I had to review this next.

The hype around this foundation was insane. Absolutely everybody not only tested the foundation, but LOVED it. This quickly became holy grail status for so many people, and all the Youtubers were putting this into their favourites. So when they launched this in Australia, I woke up at 6.30am and snagged two shades. (Yes, I got two because I did not know what shade I was in and I did not want to miss out on finding my perfect match).

I have now tested this out and am bringing you my opinions on the product!
I will kick start the review talking about the packaging of the product. As you can see from the picture, it's gorgeous. A frosted glass finish with a gold rim and black plastic lid. As everyone says, it is very similar in look to the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. However, the difference lies in the cap (the Too Faced is a light plastic whilst the Luminous Silk is a heavy thick plastic). Nonetheless both have beautiful packaging.

Also, another point that has been raved about on Youtube is the fact that this has a pump. Now, I don't find this to be something that should be raved about (because in my opinion, all foundations should have a pump. The one's that don't are annoying, and to me, the norm should be that they all have it). Nonetheless, I think this is something worthy of pointing out.

So moving onto the actual product inside.

For those that don't know the following is a quick summary of my skin type, I am about NC25-30 in MAC foundations. I have extremely strong yellow undertones in my skin (I always say, I should star on the Simpsons). I have normal to dry skin and it is very sensitive. I will occasionally get dry patches. I have redness here and there (sometimes getting raised red bumps) and I have spider veins on my cheek area.

Shade
So after doing a lot of research on the colour range, I picked Warm Beige & Light Beige. Getting two colours is normal for me because I tend to change drastically in skin colour as the seasons change. So, typically I have two shades of a lot of foundations. The shade range for this foundation is very very wide - there are 18 shades in the range with 6 new ones to be released this year. Obviously, this was very exciting because I thought that surely, one of the colours would be a perfect match.

So, these two shades were supposed to be the "neutral to warm" undertone shades. Now, I understand that the shade description has the word "neutral" so it might lean less yellow than most, but I have to say that this colour did not really work with the true yellow-ness of my skin. I can make it work by using powders and bronzers, but on it's own, it is not very yellow. So for those with quite warm undertones in their skin, despite the vast colour selection, the "warm" shades are not as "warm" as many of us need it to be.

This isn't a deal breaker for me because it was workable. However, it did disappoint me. The following is a comparison of the shades with some other foundations that I own, and as you will see, it is warm but it is not as warm as other foundations:

From top to bottom:
NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Punjab - MakeUp Forever HD Foundation in 123 - Too Faced Born This Way Foundation in Warm Beige - Too Faced Born This Way Foundation in Light Beige - Chanel Vitalumiere foundation in 30 - Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 5.5

For more information on the other foundations my TOP 5 Foundations (which include most of the other foundations) is HERE. 

Formula
So onto the formula itself. This is a thin formula. It isn't runny like the Chanel Vitalumiere but it is most definitely not thick like the NAR Sheer Glow. It is a happy middle ground consistency. It is super light weight on the skin. Like, SUPER light weight - you could forget that you're wearing it.

But don't let the lightweight and thin formula fool you. The coverage on this baby is great! I was genuinely surprised when I was putting it on. Not many foundations have the capacity of making my spider veins completely hidden, but this did! I was very surprised. It is advertised as a "medium-to-full undetectable coverage". This is something I completely agree with. Not only was the coverage there, but when I first applied the foundation, it was flawless and did not look like I had 20 layers of make up on. It was great.

The other selling point on the products are the ingredients that they use:

• Coconut Water helps delicately replenish skin's moisture levels without overhydrating - for the look of radiant skin

• Infused with resilient Alpine Rose to brighten the skin's appearance and promote elasticity

• Hyaluronic Acid helps balance skin for a smoother more youthful appearance

The finish however was not "radiant". Because it is an oil-free formula and I have normal to dry skin, the finish was matte. When I first used the foundation, my skin was SUPER dry and I was having many many issues with my skin. So when I applied the foundation, it emphasised my dryness and the matte finish was making my face look rather gaunt. But when applied on a good skin day, it was not bad. It was still a matte finish but it most definitely did not make me look worse than I did without makeup.

However, I don't think that the foundation "brightened" my skin or gave it a more "youthful appearance". Now, I want to reiterate that I have normal to dry skin. And currently, I am leaning more dry than normal. So this would simply be my experience because of my skin type. I have been told multiple times by people with oily skin that this is a holy grail product, and that the finish is glowing, beautiful, flawless, radiant, brighter etc. So for you oily skin girls, this experience may be a little bit different.

This is me with the foundation in Light Beige on

The other issue I had was the fact that after about 6-8 hours of wear, the formula made my skin feel dry and like it was being pulled(?) I don't know if that makes sense to other people, but that was the sensation that I was experiencing. However, when I looked in the mirror, it did not look dry at all. It was the strangest thing. That's where I thought the Coconut Water was helping. This is a key ingredient in the Too Faced Hangover RX Primer (review link HERE), and if you know, I do really enjoy using that primer. So it was an odd experience - feeling dry, but not looking dry.

So this was my experience with the product - quite mixed. I do like it. I don't love it though. I will continue to be wearing it, but I wouldn't rave about it and encourage you to go out and buy it RIGHT NOW. However, one thing is that my experiences were all directly linked with dryness (and skin colour). But I really think that if you can find your perfect shade, and you're normal, combination or oily, then you will love the foundation. It has excellent wear time (like it lasts a very very long time on the face!), it does not feel uncomfortable, gives you a flawless finish, a little goes a long way with this product (seriously, one pump gives you full coverage on your entire face), and I presume that it won't be drying for those without dry skin. So read this review with that in mind!

Overall: This gives an amazing coverage with such little product. It is so thin and lightweight that it is comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. However being a dry skin girl, it feels a bit dry after a couple of hours of wear - after the aforementioned 6-8 hours of wear. The colour range also disappoints me - I really need the yellow to come through! I do like the product, but I wouldn't put it in my holy grail pile.

Rating: 7/10