My first official foundation review is finally here! I’ve been testing out Charlotte Tillbury’s Magic Foundation for a little over two weeks now and I have a solid opinion on its performance. Let’s start with the price, it’s $44 for the usual 1oz and I bought mine at a local Nordstrom. Surprisingly I don’t think the price is that high for this high end foundation especially since some other well known foundations like Makeup Forever Ultra HD is sold at Sephora for $43 for the same amount of product.
What’s special about this foundation? Well it has SPF 15, hyaluronic acid, mushroom extract, and vitamin c. Hyaluronic acid is usually used for various reasons outside of skincare like treating joints; it is supposed to help add moisture to the skin since it can retain large amounts of water thus preventing aging. However, there are controversies that suggest there may not be sufficient amount of evidence to support the idea that hyaluronic acid actually prevents aging. So take that as you will and do further research if this is a huge selling point for you. Moving on, the exact mushroom extract used in this foundation (interestingly enough they use the trunk root part) is Fomes officinalis which is used to improve skin tone & texture, in addition to “protective properties.” Mushroom extracts can provide anti-aging benefits, can hydrate the skin, and conversely, reduce oiliness. Lastly, vitamin c has well known benefits including acting as an antioxidant to help prevent “photoaging,” aging caused by the sun, and can treat hyperpigmentation.
Now the packaging is stunning in my opinion starting from the box all the way to the bottle. It’s captivating how they use a sunburst effect on the box to really make you focus right on the center where the name is printed in its simple signature font. The bottle is made out of glass with a frosted look to it. It is slightly tapered which makes it fit nicely into the palm of your hand. The best part to some people is the fact that this foundation has a pump, makes for easier application, less mess, and overall it’s more hygienic.
The lady at the counter matched me to shade 6 (medium) which I thought was a perfect match, if not pretty darn close to it. This foundation is not really runny as you’d expect from let’s say L’oreal’s Infalliable Pro Glow or Pro Matte foundations but it isn’t as thick and moussey as Maybelline’s Dream Velvet Soft-Matte Hydrating Foundation. As you can see in the swatch picture above, the foundation does dry a bit darker than first applied but it isn’t a huge difference when applied to the skin, at least it wasn’t for me, and honestly I didn’t even notice that it dried darker until I did that swatch. When I would look in the mirror the foundation looked basically the same as applied oddly enough.
As you can see in my before pictures (which are all completely raw and unedited) I do not have many problems areas, just a couple small dark spots left behind from minor breakouts. I do have dry skin and at the time I had a small dry patch on my chin due to a small breakout. When I applied the foundation you can see that the spots are mostly covered, the one on the right side of my face is still poking through so I would say this gives a medium coverage. I first went in with a light even layer and then did some spot concealing in those areas that required just a tad bit more coverage. The finish is extremely natural, my skin looked like skin and was rather matte. The foundation didn’t cling to my dry patch at all and I absolutely loved how the foundation looked every day I wore it. The coverage achieved was the same with a sponge and with my F80 flat top kabuki brush, and no streaks too! Also, sometimes certain foundations will accentuate the texture on my nose a lot but this one didn’t do that. The rest of my makeup products like blush and highlighter blended in seamlessly.
Okay, so the foundation sounds great so far Alejandra but how did it wear and for how long? I wore this foundation for various lengths of time. The longest I wore it for was a little over 12 hours and I did not see any difference until I hit around 8 hours. At this point I saw the sides of my nose start to look slightly shiny, which I’ve never noticed before with any other foundation, but it did not look at all greasy. At 12 hours, there really was no noticeable difference from when I looked in the mirror at the 8 hour point. There was no separation, no flaking, and by the end of the night I still had a good 90% of foundation on my face. The only areas that had less coverage were places that I had touched throughout the day like my cheek since sometimes I rest my face in my palm.
There were two days when I wore this foundation and had a small breakout occur afterwards. I’m not sure if the foundation was the cause of the breakout because it didn’t happen every single time I wore it. Overall, I love this foundation from the packaging, to the color match, and to the way it wore. I do recommend this but if you have sensitive skin just double check all the ingredients to make sure there isn’t anything that may irritate your skin. I think this foundation would do great on oily skin since it is a matte finish and I didn’t have any noticeable oiliness until very late in the day.
Have you tried this foundation? Did you have a different experience? If so, let us know in the comments down below! Until next time, peace out!
-I bought this foundation with my own money-
