I walked into Bloomingdales for Sunday Riley, and walked out with Hourglass. Long story. I blame Stephanie Cooper (Most amazing Space NK Esthetician and all around Fabulous Human Being). Stephanie is not a makeup artist, but she takes a lot of time to learn how to use makeup, and how to find the perfect shortcut.
She found such a shortcut with Hourglass.
Now you guys know that I'm head over heels in love with
By Terry Hyaluronic Face Glow... so I was skeptical about what Hourglass could possibly do to impress me. So Stephanie took the most notoriously difficult foundation on Earth (Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer) and sat me down.
Check it out:
If you've never used the Kevyn Aucoin SSE, you should know that it's the thickest, tackiest stuff on the market. It's like Spackle. There's a reason for that (it adheres to the skin for full, flawless coverage), but it's really not consumer friendly. I'd venture to say it should probably be left to professionals who understand how to apply it, warm it, and spread it evenly. It's thicker than your average concealer, tacky like glue, and a general pain for anyone not willing to take the time to learn to use it.
Now that I've established how impossible SSE is, check out what happens when I mixed it with a dot of primer:
It's instantly emulsified. It literally turns into a 'liquid foundation' -- without losing any of its coverage properties. Normally, if you mix a foundation with a primer or a little lotion to thin it out, it'll get kind of 'sheer' and lose its original coverage and performance properties. Sometimes the properties are boosted, but often they are not.
As you can see, when spread out, you still get a VERY FULL coverage. It spreads very easily and sets almost immediately.
The picture says it all. It's as if I used the SSE alone... spread it out (which takes patience and skill)... and set it with powder.
All I did was mix in a dot of the Hourglass Primer and blend it out with my fingers. So my take is, if it can do THAT to SSE, then I'm sold.
Side benefit: It also makes the foundation fairly sweat-proof and generally water resistant. Yeah.
I used it today with Tom Ford's Traceless Foundation (pictures coming), which is typically on the sheer side. It performed extremely well. I also find that when you mix it like that (one quarter pump of primer), you use a lot less foundation. Your skin will be happy about that.
So Sunday Riley's Cashmere Sunscreen stayed at Space NK (I'll be back... plus I have a ton of samples to tide me over), and Hourglass came home with me instead.
You can find out more about Hourglas Veil Mineral Primer
HERE.
