Hiya everyone, it’s time for my first beauty post of 2022! Charlotte Tilbury’s Beautiful Skin Foundation recently launched and I’ve been testing it for a few weeks. I’ve tried different primers, setting and not setting, powder and cream products on top… The works! After all that I’m finally ready to share my thoughts!
The Beautiful Skin Foundation is the latest complexion product added to her range. I must admit, I find her base products hit and miss for my skin. Her Airbrush Flawless foundation really didn’t do it for me. It looked heavy on my skin, no matter how little I used. However, her Light Wonder is nice, although it’s not long wearing on me.
When I heard that she was releasing the Beautiful Skin Foundation and it was meant to be medium coverage, hydrating and have a healthy radiance, I thought it sounded right up my street.
Spoiler: This is actually my favourite foundation out of all the ones she’s released so far! But, let’s break everything down and get into my full review of this foundation!
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COST
Charlotte Tilbury’s Beautiful Skin Foundation is £34 for 30ml. You can purchase it from Cult Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, Feel Unique and John Lewis.
Cost per ml is £1.13 which is on par with Nars, Estée Lauder and Lancome.
To cover my whole face, I only need one pump, so this will last for ages. It’s weird how the amount of product that comes out per pump varies so much from brand to brand and product to product. This foundation releases a good amount, probably around 2 peas worth.
PACKAGING
The Beautiful Skin Foundation comes in a soft, squeezy tube with a pump. I really am loving the fact more and more foundation are coming out in packaging like this. Of course, a heavy glass bottle feels and looks nice. However, in terms of practicality and travel, squeezy plastic tubes are so much better.
The pump doesn’t splatter, it’s nice and smooth. Although the packaging is plastic and fairly lightweight, it doesn’t feel super cheap.
The tube is recyclable, pump doesn’t appear to be.
SHADE RANGE
Charlotte Tilbury’s Beautiful Skin Foundation comes in 30 shades, with three undertones. Neutral, Cool and Warm. There aren’t any shades labelled olive or red. However, from looking at the swatches, there are definitely some olive and red toned shades. This could make it harder to shade match if, say, you’re looking for an olive tone and are having to guess with shades labelled as just “warm”.
CT does say that the bases are “neutralised” with clear colour pigment so they “stretch” to any skin tone and type. All these claims might sound impressive, but a lot of the time with Charlotte Tilbury, I find it’s a bit like word salad, if you know what I mean?
In terms of balance between light, medium and deep shades… it’s not the best. There are a few shades that look like they would be the same on the skin. I think you could cut some of those shades and add in some more deep shades. There are only five truly deep shades, but lots of light-medium and a few medium-deep.
Also at the light end, 1N is the palest neutral shade, and what I purchased, but it’s a little too dark for me. I would say it’s about a 90% match, but if I built up coverage, you’d start to notice the difference. As happens with so many brands, there are loads of shades in the middle!
This is shade 1N:
CLAIMS
- Skin looks hydrated, plump, smooth and brighter
- Formulated to combine instant glow, buildable coverage and long term skincare benefits
- Minimises appearance of pores, pigmentation and dark spots
- 166% more hydrated, 285% more radiant, 181% plumper and smoother, 210% more even skin
- “Bix’Activ” helps decrease appearance of pores and oiliness
- Rose Complex targets signs of stress
- Hyalurosmooth targets uneven texture, dryness and dullness
- Coconut Extract to help plump the skin
- Defends pollutant particles
- 16hr wear
OK, let’s try and break down these claims. As I mentioned above, there are usually A LOT of claims with Charlotte Tilbury foundations. I get that Charlotte Tilbury likes to be innovative with her products. However, throwing out 166% more hydrated, 285% more radiant etc… it’s a bit much because it says they tested 33 people over four weeks. That’s not a huge amount is it?
When it comes to the improving skin with each wear, it was tested on 312 people over four weeks, which is a decent amount of people. I would accept those figures more than all 166% more hydrated and so on.
I do agree that this foundation is hydrating. It doesn’t cling to any dry patches and it also looks smooth on the skin. This foundation doesn’t pool in pores which is nice. My skin looks smooth and the finish is naturally radiant.
I have been testing the Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation for a good few weeks now, but I wouldn’t say it’s long enough for the “long term skincare benefits”.
This means, I can’t say that my skin appears more radiant or that any dark spots appear brighter after I’ve taken it off. I do wonder how much of the product is applied to work out these claims and percentages? Surely, one thin layer isn’t going to make more difference than a vitamin C serum you’d put on during skincare?
I’ve looked into Bix’Activ and it seems that it is a natural ingredient obtained from “Bixa Orellana” seeds and it helps decrease sebum productivity, pore size and skin imperfections. It’s meant to be hydrating while helping to mattify the skin.
Rose contains antioxidants, minerals and vitamins which can help calm the skin down and improve the appearance of redness. I’m not sure how it makes you look less stressed, but I do like ingredients that can be calming as I do have sensitive skin.
Hyalurosmooth is a botanical alternative to Hyaluronic Acid. It enhances smoothness, softness and radiance of the skin.
Coconut extract improves the skins ability to retain water. Now, let’s talk about whether I notice any of these things in this foundation. It is definitely smoothing and hydrating. Even after wear I don’t find that it has dried my skin out. It also feels fresh on the skin and not drying. With things like helping stave off pollutants, I can’t really tell you yes or no as I can’t see it happening to my skin and won’t notice whether pollution has affected my skin for a good few years. With things like this though, I like the idea that I’m helping protect my skin from outside pollutants.
The final claim is that this wears for 16 hours. As much as I like this foundation and how it looks on my skin, it definitely does not wear for 16 hours. I get 8 hours before it starts to separate and look a little bunched up/cakey in places.
APPLICATION AND WEAR TEST
I have found that this foundation applies best with a brush, it blends in really easily, no streaks. I normally go over my face with a damp sponge after using a brush, just to ensure it has meshed with my face well. However, that’s not necessary with this foundation.
It does look SUPER smooth on the skin, the finish isn’t overly glowy. I would say it’s a natural radiant finish. I think all skin types will like the formula and finish. It’s not matte or glowy, it sits in the middle and looks very skin like.
I’ve tried this foundation with a few different primers. My favourite primer ever is the Estée Lauder Aqua Brilliance, but I’ve also tried it with the Dior Forever and the Revlon Prime Plus Perfecting and Smoothing. It performs better with the Dior than the Estée Lauder for me. However, it’s not that it becomes unwearable with the Estée Lauder. For me, it’s actually more to do with lasting power. It lasts for longer with the Dior for me.
When it comes to adding blush, highlighter etc. on top of it, both creams and powders blend well. I never notice that any patches of foundation come off. Everything looks seamless.
I tested setting the foundation a couple of times. For that, I used the Kosas Cloud Set, which is invisible on the skin and hasn’t ever made my foundation look heavy. I don’t think that it made this foundation last any longer on my skin, the foundation seems to set down itself. Because this foundation has ingredients to both brighten and mattify the skin, I don’t even think you would have to set the foundation if you have oily skin. You may want to, but I have combination skin and even as the day goes on, my natural oils don’t break through.
As I said above, this isn’t particularly long wearing on my skin. I get 8 hours before it starts to look a little heavy on my skin. By hour 10 it’s not looking its best and I’m ready to take it off. Even though it doesn’t wear that long for me, I still find myself wanting to wear the Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation because of the way it looks on the skin. I’ve had lots of dryness and acne recently and this makes my skin look much better than it is. It doesn’t bunch up around my nose or sink into any fine lines.
Here is the foundation straight after application:
And after 8 hours of wear:
I get slightly glowy throughout the day, but my oils don’t properly break through which I love. Some foundations look so shiny at the end of the day and I have to keep checking if I need to blot. With this one, there’s none of that.
On the day that I took the pictures for this wear test, I used the Dior primer. On days where I wore the Estée Lauder, I noticed that the foundation would be broken up a little more by hour 8. The Revlon was comparable to the Dior. They are both smoothing primers, but since the foundation claims it’s smoothing, I wanted to test it with primers that hydrate and ones that smooth the skin.
Interestingly, this foundation looks about the same with the smoothing primers as it does with the hydrating one. The foundation is doing the perfecting of the skin, but it’s the wear time where the smoothing primer beats the hydrating one.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
So, let’s wrap things up. Do I think this is a product that you need to run out and buy? Yes and No. It’s not lifechanging, but it really does look gorgeous on the skin. If you’re looking for a long wearing foundation, this probably isn’t it. However, if you’re on the hunt for a foundation that can work for any skin type and looks like skin, then this is a great option. I think it’s well priced, the coverage is good, it does smooth the skin out and if you’re having a bad skin day, this will make it look great. I can’t say I’ve noticed changes in terms of some of the claims around improving your skin over time, but if you take it for what it is: a natural, skin like, medium coverage foundation, then it’s great.
Out of all the bases Charlotte Tilbury sells, the Beautiful Skin Foundation is by far my favourite. The Light Wonder looks nice for a bit, but seems to slide off my face and the Airbrush Flawless is heavy and cakey on me, even if I use half a pump.
It’s a bit of a difficult one in terms of me saying “yes it’s amazing, buy it!” On the one hand I love the way it looks on my skin, but I do like my base products to last a bit longer. I will definitely be wearing it when I know I only need my makeup to look good for a few hours, but not if I’m needing a 16 hour day from my makeup!
If you can get a sample, I’d get one, so you can see how long it lasts on your skin. I don’t think you’ll have trouble in terms of how it looks as it really is lovely. It’s more if you can get it to last how long you need it!
