| Review | Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Medium Coverage Liquid Foundation with Hyaluronic Acid

 | Review | Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Medium Coverage Liquid Foundation with Hyaluronic Acid

Besides having the longest name in the history of foundations, I think a formula like this has been a long time coming for the brand. The last "glowy" foundation they released was back when Charlotte Tilbury first launched and hadn't sold off her brand yet, the Light Wonder Foundation. I own this foundation but I wasn't that crazy about it. I think it's a decent foundation but it was never one that considered worth the hype. I'm excited to see the trend of dewy complexions making a comeback this year and I was intrigued by this promising new formula. As always, there is a ton of media and social media hype around this latest launch but we'll see if it is really worthy of all the notoriety. 

PACKAGING & PRICE

The Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Medium Coverage Liquid Foundation with Hyaluronic Acid retails for $44.00 USD and is available at Sephora and other retailers. 

Can we just talk briefly about the ridiculously long name? What's up with that? It's like the brand is trying to keyword-stuff the name of the product in order to entice its audience. It's honestly a strange tactic but I can kind of see what they're going for. These buzzwords are designed to entice consumers. Honestly, it feels like they're trying to fit in a whole detailed description of the foundation in one sentence. It's a bit much. Also, if you look at the exterior box packaging, it is covered with a ton of text stating the miraculous statistics of this foundation. It honestly feels like I'm reading some kind of medication packaging. It's a lot of text and all this information just seems like they're sensationalizing this foundation. They have certainly built up my expectations very high with all this over-the-top advertising.

The foundation is packaged in a very travel-friendly and practical plastic tube with a pump dispenser. This isn't exactly the luxury packaging I expect from the brand considering the price but it does have its benefits. The packaging is easy to store and travel with. Also, being that it is a soft tube, you can get every last drop of product out and you can easily see how much product you have in the packaging. While I'd like the packaging to be more luxurious, I appreciate the practicality of this packaging and I always love a pump for easy and sanitary dispensing. 

SHADES 

This foundation has a pretty extensive shade range of 30 shades. I would say that is really good for a luxury brand that offers so many different formulas. You rarely see luxury brands bring out an extensive shade range, especially, when they offer so many different formulas. The shade range includes warm, cool, and neutral undertones. Again, I really appreciate this, as a neutral skin tone, I often find it difficult to find a match in many brands. 

Since all their foundations vary in the number of shades offered, this makes it difficult to find a shade match based off of previous foundation matches. You will have to select your shade based on testing or looking at swatches of this foundation to determine your match. The brand offers its own swatch pictures, as well as, models that suit that skin tone. From those resources, I chose the shade 6N or 6 Neutral. 

6 Neutral - This shade is described as a "fair medium with neutral undertones". Since I haven't been getting much sun lately, I am probably around an NC30 and this shade suits me pretty spot on. It is a warm neutral shade, which is flattering on my medium skin tone.  

Straight from tube

Heavily Swatched

Blended Swatch

FORMULA 

This formula is lightweight with a medium buildable coverage. You can easily get almost full coverage with this foundation. This formula is much more richly pigmented than I expected, which isn't a bad thing, just surprising. One layer will cover most redness and pigmentation and a second layer will make it practically full coverage. The texture is very similar to a traditional liquid foundation, it doesn't feel like it is any different from any other liquid foundation. 

Despite all the crazy claims written all over the box in bold, this foundation doesn't apply or feel like a foundation that contains skincare. As I wear it, it doesn't feel any more comfortable or hydrating than my other liquid foundations. In fact, I feel that on my dry skin, if I don't prime my skin really well with an emollient moisturizer, oil, or hydrating primer, the foundation looks really heavy and slightly unnatural on my skin. It will emphasize texture and look heavy on the skin when it isn't applied on a very emollient surface. This is a real shame considering this formula is supposed to contain hyaluronic acid. 

Hyaluronic acid typically deeply hydrates and plumps the skin, which is something we can all use. I am especially attracted to the ingredient because of my dry skin. However, when you look at the ingredients list for this foundation, hyaluronic acid is listed so low on the ingredients list, it is more of a vanity ingredient than an active ingredient. What I mean by this is that it doesn't do anything for the skin but it is used as a marketing ploy to deceive people into believing this is an innovative formula when it is no different from any other liquid foundation formula. 

You can see hyaluronic acid is listed very low on the ingredients list and seems to be one of the very few "skincare" ingredients in this formula.

The formula claims it was tested in clinical trials and these were the supposed results: 

Clinical Results: In a daily test held over 4 weeks, 312 people reported:

- 181% increase in visible plumpness and smoothness

- 166% increase in hydration

- 285% increase in radiance 

I think this "clinical trial" is bogus and the results are just made up for marketing purposes! I noticed no plumpness, smoothness, hydration, or additional radiance in my skin! When I applied it over my usual prep routine, it looked heavy, dry, and sank into my lines! Keep in mind, I didn't apply much of the foundation either. I had to develop a much more emollient skincare routine to make this foundation flattering on my skin. This includes prepping with face oil or a really rich moisturizer. The issue with this is that it affects the wear time and texture of the foundation. Applying this foundation over a face oil will cause it to transfer significantly. Keep in mind that at the moment, I don't have much texture or lines on my skin. Still, this foundation manages to emphasize the few imperfections I have on my skin. I would not recommend this formula for those with a lot of texture, dry skin, or mature skin types. 

The finish is radiant but no more so than many other liquid foundations I have tried. to say 285% increase in radiance is such an absurd stretch. I don't have to wear this foundation for a long time to know that there's not enough of any kind of skincare in it to actually improve my skin. If these people who trialed this foundation truly say these miraculous results I think it is due to the placebo effect. I was expecting all these amazing results that were touted on the box and online but I didn't get any of it. With so many brands in 2022 bringing out foundations with skincare infusions, I'm just horribly unimpressed by this formula! Especially, since the brand has raised expectations with such high claims and hype. 

This formula claims to wear for 16-hours, which is way beyond how long I'd like to wear foundation. To me, since I am not a fan of this formula, I don't care how long it wears because it doesn't look good on my skin no matter how long it wears. I have found that it wears beyond eight hours, which is good enough for me most days. Personally, I would have preferred if they actually sacrificed some of the longevity for comfort. I don't find this formula comfortable to wear long-term, which is the whole point of infusing skincare into foundation. Unfortunately, this formula has such a minuscule amount of hyaluronic acid, it doesn't do anything for me throughout the day. 

THE LOOK 

If you take a close look at my skin around my nose bridge and the tops of my cheeks near my nose, you can really see the texture there. While I have some texture there, the foundation really amplifies it and makes it look so much worse than it actually is. It also looks worse in person than in photos. However, you can see the coverage is very full and flawless. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

This foundation is called "beautiful skin" but it doesn't make my skin feel very beautiful. The formula is quite drying and emphasizes texture unless applied over a very emollient base. However, apply the foundation over a very emollient base defeats the purpose of the low-wearing formula. Personally, I think that they should have sacrificed some wear time for a more comfortable and flattering formula. There's no reason to have a 16-hour wear foundation that you can barely stand to have on the skin because of the way it feels and looks. I think this foundation and all its absurd marketing is a HUGE HOAX! When you actually look at the foundation ingredients, hyaluronic acid is very low on the list. The amount of hyaluronic acid in this formula will barely make a difference. Consider this foundation as just another foundation. There is so significant skincare content in the formula to make a difference in your skin. If you do see something, it is most likely the placebo effect. While I applaud them for offering a wide shade range, the formula isn't worth the price to me. I can't recommend a foundation that is all talk and has no substance. Many brands are coming out with skincare-makeup hybrids and some brands have already made foundations like this that I find superior to this one. This foundation is all about marketing and I'm ashamed I fell for it! 

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