Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation Review (SB06)

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation Review (SB06)

I’d heard incredible things about the Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in reviews since December, it’s a foundation which seems to have been around for a good chunk of time, but has avoided being on my radar. I heard someone review it who has a very similar skin type to me, oily combo skin which most foundations struggle to cling to my skin for a whole day.

When I got a voucher for my Birthday from my work for Debenhams, I jumped on straight away are repurchased my all-time fave foundation (Kat Von D Lock It) and took a gamble at this. The Skin Base foundation is pricey, this tiny tube is £32 – whilst it contains 30ml/1 fl oz – the usual amount for most foundations, the packaging itself is slimline thanks to it’s non-bulky plastic or glass, however, in turn, it doesn’t scream high end – I’ve just splashed out 32 big ones on this.

illamasqua-skin-base-foundation-review-sb06-3

I actually don’t like the packaging, I can look past it’s non-luxe feel and look, but the foundation tube is so bloody hard, you have to squeeze really hard to get the product out, at the moment it’s still quite full, but I imagine as the product gets emptier it’s going to be harder and harder to actually finish up the product and I imagine product is going to get all stuck on that square edge and it’s going to need cutting open to actually be able to use the last chunk of product.

In terms of application, I’ve heard mixed reviews about how to apply it, initially I only liked to apply this with my fingers, I found that my beauty blender soaked up too much product, Now I spread the product over my face with a foundation brush, then I go in with a damp beauty blender to make it all blend together nicely. The foundation is supposedly high coverage, but I’d say it’s a buildable medium, I need two layers on the skin to make appear full coverage – this still feels nice and light on the skin even with a second coat on.

The finish is lovely and is almost matte looking without looking or feeling try, this feels invisible on my skin and is very comfortable to wear. If you take a look at the picture below you’ll see that there’s some setting into the pores on my cheeks and towards my nose, it’s not obvious from a distance, but I’d describe myself as someone with medium pores, they’re not super enlarged, but I imagine the effects would be pretty noticeable from a distance on those with larger pores.

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation Review Applied

It’s not a foundation that I’m using every day, because the price is a huge stumbling block for me, and at this point I’m not sure that I would repurchase it – we’ll see how the packaging performance fears pan out. But I’ve found myself reaching for this on days where I want to look and feel really nice, the foundation doesn’t wear all day for me, it flakes out somewhere around the 8 hr mark, however it does seem to stay on the skin well, and also my skin never gets oily at any point, so overall it’s working for me, I just wish the weartime was slightly longer, the packaging was different, preferably with a pump.

One thing I really struggled with was shade selection – I don’t have a Illamasqua counter near me and after lots of cross referencing blogs and forums online and finding multiple results that a 04 shade would be the perfect shade for a MAC NC25 I decided I’d order something darker to give me wiggle room and ordered SB06 – which falls neutral (neither pink or yellow toned) and was slightly darker, annoyingly this is a little to pale and I imagine as soon as I’ve spent one afternoon in the sun (I’m a fast tanner!) this will quickly become too light for me as it’s already verging towards that territory. If you do think about picking this up, I highly recommend getting yourself to a counter to consider which shade would be best for you!

I hope you enjoyed my Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation Review!

What are your favourite foundations?

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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32 Comments

  1. March 31, 2017 / 12:40 pm

    What eyeshadow are you using!? It looks stunning!! x

  2. March 31, 2017 / 12:52 pm

    I’ve always wanted to pick this up in white to help lighten foundations haha. I don’t know if your skin is amazing or it’s just a miracle worker- but your skin looks flawless in that photo haha. Great review x
    my latest post ♡

  3. March 31, 2017 / 1:03 pm

    Hmm i’m not sure about this one, it doesn’t sound like it would work for me and I hate having to squeeze a tube really hard haha! xxx

  4. March 31, 2017 / 1:32 pm

    Great review! 😊👍 The tube totally puts me off this foundation though. My fav foundation is Estee Lauder Double Wear applied with a beauty blender. I stick a MAC pump in it so it’s easy to dispense. 😊 Why do they not supply it with a pump? Gaaah! Lol!

    • March 31, 2017 / 1:56 pm

      I have EL Double wear (with a MAC pump!) and I don’t really like it, but I bought a shade after I’d been in Turkey for two weeks and looked turkish by the time I returned and I could only wear it for a few weeks before it didn’t match me any more haha! I need to get another sample.

      • March 31, 2017 / 2:00 pm

        Lol! I put on a different foundation the other day in the dark…my summer foundation (by mistake)! I have super pale skin and looked like I’d been on holiday for 2 weeks…it was hilarious! I’m mixing my double wear with an Urban Decay Naked foundation at the moment. It’s a nice mix and makes the double wear a bit more natural looking.x

  5. March 31, 2017 / 2:08 pm

    I’m the opposite, I cannot make this work using my fingers – it looks cakey and too heavy. A blending sponge is a must for this foundation for me. But, I prefer a lighter coverage so that’s probably why I prefer the finish with a sponge. This foundation lasts really well on me – I use it when I need long wear (recently I wore it for a formal evening and it was perfect). Try it with the Hydra Veil – when combined with that, I get a flawless look! My favourite foundation right now is probably that W7 HD one! I’m probably going to finish it in April, I’ve been using it so much.

    • March 31, 2017 / 2:11 pm

      The w7 one I bought is way too dark for me at the moment, I really need to go back and get another shade. I could wear this and it look great for an evening, but 7am to 8pm this would have gone. I am actually wearing it for work today and it’s started deteriorating now just after lunch, I’ll need to retouch it completely before I go out this evening! Agh need to get to a counter to feel hydra veil!

  6. March 31, 2017 / 3:50 pm

    It looks gorgeous on you Rach, I’m not sold on the packaging though. I imagine you’d get so much waste product with it. I really wanted to try a base product by Illamasqua but in two minds now. Great review.

    Kara
    http://www.spreadthesparkle.co.uk
    💗

    • March 31, 2017 / 3:55 pm

      The packaging is really disappointing both from a look point of view and practicality! Will let you know when it eventually becomes an empty whether it’s worth it or not!

  7. March 31, 2017 / 7:30 pm

    The finish does look beautiful on you. For that price though I’d want it to be overwhelmingly brilliant – not lasting all day would be a big problem for me. Although, I guess it might be nice if you bought it for a special occasion.

  8. March 31, 2017 / 9:35 pm

    Shame the packaging sucks but the foundation itself looks gorgeous on your skin x

  9. Sophie in Wonderland xo
    March 31, 2017 / 10:03 pm

    This is so expensive for such impractical packaging but it looks pretty flawless on your skin and fab that it keeps you matte xxx

  10. April 1, 2017 / 1:42 pm

    I had really high hopes for this as I have heard really good things, but you raise some really good points. I hadn’t considered the packaging and the difficulties of getting the product out towards the end, and its disappointing to know that the wear time wasn’t as long as you hoped… x

  11. April 1, 2017 / 6:04 pm

    Great post! I agree that the packaging is a let down for a luxury product. For that money i want a great product and fantastic packaging thats practical and looks high end.

  12. April 7, 2017 / 6:43 pm

    I actually love this foundation but completely agree with the packaging! it stresses me out so much! xxx

  13. August 22, 2018 / 8:47 pm

    The packaging sounds like such a bummer.

    My favourite is MAC face and body. Huge 120ml bottle and easy to use 😁 Molly thinks that it does absolutely nothing though wahahaha (I remember her tweet)

    • August 23, 2018 / 9:01 am

      I don’t like Face and Body either! I feel like I’d need to put about 8 layers on to get any kind of coverage from it!

      • August 23, 2018 / 9:15 am

        I thought that you may say that wahahah I have Sahara combination skin. We have different concerns for sure 😂😆 we had different experience with Bourjois as well

  14. January 16, 2019 / 3:40 pm

    Hello,

    I’ve recently switched to using Illamasqua. They do supply small sachets of colours to test for £1 (UK) on their website though there are about 3 or 4 colours they don’t do as samples from the skin base. Which is odd!

    I couldn’t initially get the 02 colour as a sample but I did get the 01; 03 (would have preferred the 03.5 but they don’t do that in the sample); 07 and another colour (I can’t remember which).

    I eventually took a punt on getting a full bottle of the 02. Its actually too light for me (which is amazing! I have VERY light/pale skin with pink undertones). I mix it with 03 (at present) and the 07 which is too dark on its own but has pink undertones. The colour match is almost spot on but eventually I’ll get the 03.5. I probably won’t get a full pot of 07 as the sachets are enough to keep me going for a long time as I’m just adding a bit of colour to the 02.

    Anyway, this is getting rambly. I love this makeup. I do prime before hand with an anti-shine mattifying gel from Peter Thomas Roth and a rose moisturiser from Persian Rose. The Illamasqua stays on all day and well into the evening with no need for any touch ups. I can use the 02 on its own as a highlighter especially around the eyes and the 07 as a contour if I really needed to. I can build up on blemishes so I don’t need a concealer.

    It doesn’t feel tacky or as if I am wearing any makeup once its all set up and doesn’t “come off” with a slight touch either. Am very pleased with it.

    Am fortunate that my overly sensitive skin isn’t reacting to the ingredients. In fact my skin is the best its been in a long time (though that might be more to do with resolving a major health issue in Sept 2018).

    • January 16, 2019 / 4:26 pm

      Firstly, I love long comments so thank you for taking your time to write down, you can ramble here any time 😀

      I’m so glad this is a product that’s working out well for you! This is probably one of my favourite finish I’ve ever had in a foundation but I’ve never repurchased it as it just broke down so easily over my oily complexion – nothing I could find paired well with it. I’d definitely revisit it in future if my skin type ever changed though, I live in hope that one day I’ll have normal skin instead of oily!

  15. Sharon
    September 1, 2019 / 8:13 pm

    Illamsqua skin base samples are available to buy for £1 per 4ml sachet on their site. I bought about 6 different shades to try out.

    • rachael
      Author
      September 9, 2019 / 5:34 pm

      Ooh that’s good to know!

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