Reviews
I really love this foundation. I am dry and 36 years old and this just looks like fabulous skin when applied. My skin is not fabulous. This will forever be in my collection. I even wrote beautylish to get matched because I wasn’t sure of the color and they did an amazing job. It’s really hard for me to find a foundation that is so perfect to my skin tone and Tom ford has done it. It’s really hard to find good peach toned foundation. Not to yellow and not pink… and this brand did an amazing job.
just don't look in a mirror close up.. disappointed 😥
this foundation confuses me. so I've used hundreds of foundations. I apply w/a brush or sponge, depending on the product. when I 1st tried to apply this I used a Sigma face brush and the hourglass serum primer, which is my go to. it looked awful. im not sure how to explain it, but it might have well have painted my pores bright red because every single pore was even more visible than without makeup on. this emphasized every single imperfection and my skin is pretty good. I thought it had to be me or the primer maybe? tried again w/water based primer instead, was worse. no matter what primer I tried, BB or brush, it looked awful up close. patchy and looked like I pinned circles into my whole face that's how obviously it painted my pores. Im so disappointed!!! I had such hope and was so excited to try a Tom Ford product 😔 I saw some other reviews try to explain this same thing. from far away it looks filtered but from anywhere nearby it's unwearable
Hate that I love this foundation so much
I hate that I love this foundation so much. The price kind of makes me sick, however this is the most perfect foundation I have ever worn. I have stopped looking for foundation and will only be spending my mom on this.
All my thoughts regarding this product :)
First thing that can be said about Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate Soft Radiance Foundation is that the bottle has a luxurious quality. It is very aesthetic, solid and heavy. (I guess it would work out for those little dreamers who practice acceptance speeches for some of those Grammy or Oscars :D ).
The product smells like lavender. The consistency is very watery, but extremely pigmented. I would not put it ‘into’ a sponge. What I like to do is to pump it right onto my face and then blend it fast with a brush or beauty blender - not too wet and not to dry.
Right after application it looks good, but it needs a few minutes to dry to really show its effect and it does not oxidize (I had the lightest shade). While looking at my face in the mirror there is a huge difference between looking at it just from a close up and looking from a distance, specifically when a lot of ambient light is around. That distance creates something that gives an effect that is similar to an actual smoothing photo filter. I guess it happens because the foundation reflects the light in all directions. The texture of the skin like pores or fine lines seem blurred and the face looks good from different angles.
It is not a usual foundation and I was testing it in different ways. I don’t really need an under eye concealer with it, and I found out that using different primers, would make application literally impossible for me. I ended up using a rose water based toner. The foundation does not need any setting powder (interesting, since I have oily skin). To be honest using setting/mattifying powder, actually worsened the effect I was writing about. There is one finishing powder though that I found out works really nice with this foundation, Meteorites by Guerlain.
I don’t really want to write about its price. I will only say that while using it I can skip concealer, primer, setting powder, and SPF. Yes the 50 SPF level is very impressive too.
It is not functional to carry around in purse, because it’s quite a heavy bottle, but it stays on face all day so I guess it is not really a problem. It would be perfect if o n the top of this it was waterproof.
Smells Like Sunscreen
First I want to say that the packaging is exactly what I expect from Tom Ford. It is heavy and luxurious and I love that it comes with a pump applicator for convenience and cleanliness. As for the formula, you can definitely smell and feel the SPF that is incorporated into the product. That may not be an issue for some, but for people with sensitive skin like myself, I would just be cautious if considering purchasing this product. I found it to be medium coverage with a soft focus finish and it didn’t feel too heavy on my skin. It was tacky upon application but that was fixed with setting powder. Although it is supposed to be dewy, I didn’t find it to be too greasy and I didn’t find it to accentuate my combination skin or oily t zone. Overall, it’s not the best nor the worst foundation I have ever tried.
Not quite there but still great
Received this foundation complimentary from Influenster for review. This foundation really is a luxurious product that falls in both the cosmetic and skincare categories. I would say this is more of a medium coverage foundation, not very buildable and satin/radiant finish. Works well for combination skin but not so much for someone with very oily skin. I love that theres spf 50 which saves me one step in my morning skincare routine. The color I received was Porcelain, which appeared to be a good match based on the online swatches but it was 3-4 shades lighter than my actual skin tone. I might have liked this foundation more if it matched my skin color but I really couldnt tell due to the total mismatch in tone. I dont mind the hefty price tag, as I use Cle De Peau (my absolute favorite) but I just didnt think this foundation was as good. Again, it could have been just the shade mismatch.
Really good but really EXPENSIVE foundation
I really wanted to love this foundation and I really think I could have loved it.. Unfortunately the color was too dark for my super pale skin that it made it difficult to really see it’s full potential. That being said, shade aside, I did really like this foundation overall. The PROs of this foundation are: SPF 50 without the smell or feel of sunscreen, light and enjoyable scent, full yet buildable coverage, flawless finish, long wearing foundation, and great moisturizing properties. For me, the only really CON for this foundation is it’s price tag.