After hearing people sing its praises for the longest time, I went into Sephora last week and picked up the Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation . . . among a giant slew of other things, whoops!

I’ve been wearing it pretty consistently since I got it and I figured now that I have a good feel for how it functions it’s time for a review.

The official description of the foundation is that it has “Natural but build-able” coverage and “Natural” finish. I’m going to have to disagree with that at least in part.

I would say the coverage is medium, which I guess can be interpreted as natural. Without building it up I can still see some of my freckles through it. I don’t think the finish is natural though, to me it seems more like a dewy finish. Don’t get me wrong, the finish is beautiful but it is a bit more shiny than what I would describe as natural.

The packaging is a funky shaped tube, consistent with the packaging from the rest of the brand, and it functions pretty well. It sorta looks like a starfruit, but in a very un-fruity shade, hahaha.

I like that the tube is heavy plastic so it still feels high quality, but I wont worry as much throwing it in a bag to travel with it like I might if it were glass.

The one thing I don’t love is that it doesn’t have a pump which is usually what I prefer in foundation packaging, however the spout at the end is easy to use and dispenses product well, and seems fairly sanitary. So as far as non pump packaging goes, this one isn’t so bad.

As far as how it wore… like I said it is dewy, so if you have even the tiniest bit of oily skin I would suggest setting it with a translucent powder. But it wore all day on me even in the really humid warm weather we’ve been having.

I did touch up with a little powder on the more humid days, but only because I was getting a tiny bit shiny, not because it was beginning to wear off or anything crazy, there’s just a fine line between dewy and sweaty, ya know?

I also have to add that it photographs beautifully. It really diffuses light and gives a healthy looking glow. With a little strategic powdering I think this could give most people some really flawless photos.

Pictured above is approximately the amount I use to get a medium coverage on my entire face. So a little goes a long way. Which is nice because you get more for your money that way…or it can help you justify buying a more expensive foundation than you really need, potato potahto.

Another huge plus to this product is the shade range. They have 25 shades plus a gold shimmer color that you can mix in to give a sun-kissed effect.

The color range also has a lot of very pale shades, so it’s great for those ladies who have a hard time finding foundations that are light enough for them. They even have a completely white shade which you can mix to get your exact match. This is also great for MUAs because you can buy a few for your kit and then mix and match etc.

Right now on my fake tanned summer skin (which is NW20 in mac foundation) the shade 5.5 is a nearly perfect match.

Overall, this foundation is really nice, and I’m glad that I finally tried it. I might not use it if I am going to be baking in the hot sun all day, but I will certainly get some use out of it when I’m going for that healthy glowing look. . .and let’s be real, how often am I out baking in the sun?

For people with dry skin I bet it would be pretty glorious. I’ll have to find someone with dry skin to be my guinea pig, mawahahaha!

If you want to try it out yourself you can find it HERE.