Armani Luminous Silk Foundation $58 Review & Swatches

"As seen in the press, capture the glow of perfect skin with this award-winning foundation. Luminous Silk foundation is an oil-free fluid with exclusive Micro-fil technology. So weightless, it redefines foundation. Its hydrating fluid glides on seamlessly with a silky texture and all-day, buildable coverage. For all skin types.

•weightless and luminous oil-free fluid
•natural finish
•all-day sheer to moderate coverage

application techniques:
Apply with the unique blender brush for a radiant, air-brushed finish." ~from the Armani Beauty website.

The sample foundation I received is shade #4.5 in Sand which is a match for MAC NC25.

Swatches

Here's some of the foundation right out of the tube.

The Verdict: A
This foundation is really light weight and goes on beautifully. You can build coverage from light to heavy and it doesn't cake either. I did not have any issues with this foundation oxidizing and I found it easy to apply by stippling or blending it in with a sponge.

It wears for a good 6 hours and although I haven't tried it out myself, I've heard it doesn't give you a "ghost-face" in photos taken with flash.

Sample Product Packaging
As alway's Armani's packaging is simple and tre chic. Even the sample has it's own outter packaging that seems to be made from heavy black construction paper.

The sample itself is a small squeezy tube. No complaints here. It's easy and tidy to dispense the foundation.

Shu Uemura Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation $42 Review & Swatch

"Shu Uemura's Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation refines skin texture to ultimate smoothness with a watery fresh application.

This foundation spreads with a watery sensation wearing comfortably on the skin. Imperfections such as uneven skin texture and skin tone are smoothed out with each application for a beautifully unified look. With adjustable coverage, the skin looks flowaless yet natural, resulting in a transparent complextion soft and smooth to the touch.

High concentrations of Depsea water allow for an exceptionally fluid application leaving skin with a fresh watery texture." ~from the pamphlet included with the foundation.

Swatch

The foundation appears more yellow in this pic than it does in person. I got this in shade #764 which matches MAC NC25. If you're trying to determine your shade, check out my previous post here.



Product Packaging
The product is housed in a glass container with a plastic lid and pump. I really like the heavy feel of the glass in my hand. I dunno why.


And of course I love the pump dispenser as it's both sanitary and easy to dispense just the right amount. I do not understand why this isn't an industry standard. If you don't use the pump, it's always easier to unscrew it than to find a pump that actually fits the container.

The Verdict: A-
I've put this foundation on a variety of ways and there's just NO WAY to mess it up. I've used only my fingers to dab & smooth it on when I'm in a rush, I've used a sponge applicator to smooth it on, I've stippled it on with the MAC 187, and I've even used the Shu Natural 18 Foundation brush to apply it. However you choose to apply this, it goes on beautifully. It gives medium to medium-full coverage and has a bit of a powdery finish.

What I love is that this foundation never cakes and it lasts through an 8 hour day. I don't recall ever needing to touch-up my face with this foundation. I've seem some forums where people say this foundation has oxidized on them and turned orangey. I tested it out and I didn't have a problem with oxidization but I also disagreed with the original shade the SAs picked out for me. They chose #754 for me but it was a bit off - so I self-corrected afterwards.

The only real complaint I have is I can "feel" the foundation sitting on my skin as it's drying. Even though it dries fairly quickly, every now and then during the day I get that feeling of The Foundation is ON again.

Shu Uemura Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation Color Chart (kinda sorta)

I've been intrigued about Shu Uemura's Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation for a super l-o-n-g time. I've even gone to get my shade matched at the Shu counter but that's a story for another post. Lately I've been staring at the foundation shades offered online (again) but I've never been able to make any sense of it. I'm sure there are also Asia-only shades not shown online which annoys me to no end.

With all that said - Please don't be alarmed by what you are about to see next. I just had to do it to ease my troubled mind and to finally make some sense of those cryptic shade numbers! You can click on the pics to expand the diagrams and get a closer look.


Color Chart from Shu's USA website. Mine got flipped(sorry) - as the rows go from top to bottom they simultaneously progress from
dark
medium-dark
medium
light-medium
light


Color Chart modifed by yours truly. I ignored the number assigned to the shades, kept all the colors in their respective row but moved them around by the color I perceived.

Here's what I could sort out of the 3-digit numbers XYZ from the color charts:

Left digit X indicates how warm/pink or cool/yellow the shade is.
1 = warmest shade (most pink)
9 = coolest shade (most yellow)

Middle digit Y indicates how light or dark the shade is.
0 = darkest shade
8 = lightest shade

Right digit Z - I can't figure out. If you figure it out please let me know! There's only 4 or 5 and that's the extent of the range. Shade #164 and #165 are the only two shades that have the same XY digits and only the Z digit differs. They do appear to be different but I can't describe the distinction.

***** Update ***** Thanks to Anonymous for this extra confirmation! *****

"I have been to Shu counter,
It is correct that left digit X indicates how warm or cool the shade is. But the higher the number the warmer it will be. So no.9 is the warmest, most yellow of all. I have not seen no.1-3 but no. 5 is pinkish (in my opinion). No. 7 is equivalent to NC range in MAC. No. 9 is very yellow. 754 is a bit darker than NC35(I tried in the shop's light)."

***** 2nd Update *****

A fellow reader that is MAC NC20 was matched to shade #564 by an SA at the Shu Counter.

SK-II Air Touch Foundation $165

Tada! I finally got it! After all the months of wondering it will work, second guessing the product and just plain not knowing if it would be for me - I took the plunge and it was well worth it! I don't know why I didn't just go to the SK-II counter and have the SA apply it on me. As soon as the SA sprayed this on me and I saw myself in the mirror, I needn't need any more convincing cause I was already handing over the cash. Thankgoodness for the Saks F&F or else I'd be nursing my wallet wounds. O also you can now buy SK-II products online through their website!

The SK-II Airtouch Foundation is basically a portable airbrush foundation compact. As with all SK-II products, this foundation contains Pitera (I think it's exclusively patented by SK-II) which hydrates the skin and leaves it smooth and radiant. It was discovered when a scientist noticed the hands of sake brewers were unusually soft and smooth compared to the skin of their face. So after much research and hundreds of experiments with fermented yeast, scientists were able to extract Pitera!!


What's in the Package?

I know the Airtouch used to come with an instructional CD and when I opened the outter red box there was a gap that looked suspiciously CD-shaped. Unfortunately nomore CD anymore. The Airtouch comes with it's own user's manual (very informational and lots of pictures!), a Panasonic CR2 3V Lithuim battery, a refill packet and the Airtouch compact itself.


Shot of where the Lithium battery goes. The SA said the battery should last 1.5 - 2 years with daily use and that the battery can be bought at any electronic store. I've not seen or looked for this type of battery before so I don't know if it's easily found or what the price would be. Online I found it for around $3-5 depending on what site you get it from.


Close-up of the compact's button and the 3 different settings:
On - Used to apply the foundation.
Off - Turns off the appliance (I thought this was weird but then again - it is electronically powered)
Droplet - Used to "decompress" the foundation packet (gets rid of the air in the packet). The instruction manual suggests using this everytime before applying the foundation so that you get an even application, but the SA said to just use this about once a week. You hold the unit with the nozzle pointing down and hold down the silver button until a small droplet of the foundation appears. Once you see the droplet, release the button, wipe the foundation off the nozzle and turn to the "On" setting for application.

Product Assembly


This is the back of the unit where the foundation refill packet slides in. Below are some pics of how all the parts of the compact unit are assembled together.


All taken apart. From top to bottom: The Compact Cover, the Refill Cover, the Refill Packet and the Compact itself.


The Refill Packet inserted into the Compact.


The Refill Cover placed on the Compact. This is how the compact will normally look.


And the Compact Cover to complete the Unit!

The Verdict: A+
I LOVE this foundation!! I was matched with the BP-4 color for Rosy Toned Medium skin. It's totally my HG (and I hate using that reference). The foundation goes on super even and natural. It does not look like I'm wearing any makeup - just makes me look better. My pores are minimized and my skin looks evened out. It's not strong enough to cover acne scars, so I've got to use a concealer underneath. It lasts all day and does not melt off. Even my boyfriend thought I had no makeup on and he commented that my skin looked dewy but not greasy. It's easily layered and you can have anywhere from sheer to medium-full coverage.

Another cool factor about this foundation is that it is only attracted to moisture. It has something to do with positive and negative ions mumbo-jumbo. So basically, it will only adhere to your skin and not your hair or clothing. The SA placed a tissue over her hand, spread out her fingers and sprayed the foundation across her hand. When she lifted the tissue, the foundation was on the tissue in the shape of her hand (remember making turkeys with your hand in kindergarten?).

On the first day I used this, my face got itchy after about an hour after application. It wasn't overbearingly itchy but I was concerned for about 5 min while it lasted. I did not remove the foundation and the itchy feeling went away. The 2nd day I used this, I never felt any itchy-ness so maybe it was a combination of other things causing it.

Also I thought I would find it to be much bulkier, but it's really not that huge. I wouldn't want to have to carry it around with me, but if I had to it's not gona weigh me down. Since it lasts all day, there really isn't a need to take it along.