I have about NC15 skin tone in the winter and in the summer I can be around NC25. My skin tone is warm yellow light, but it also has very obvious olive undertone that gets even more noticeable in summer, if I catch some tan. Finding light foundation shades that have enough yellow undertone is hard enough, but then finding those that have olive undertone is even harder. I've heard that EX1 foundations have olive undertone and I wanted to try it out.
EX1 Invisiwear Liquid Foundation comes in a plastic transparent packaging with metallic copper pump and top. I like the packaging, because I love the metallic copper details and the fact that it's a pump. You can also see through the packaging and you see how much product is left in it as the pump moves up.
In it is 30 ml of foundation and it costs around 12€ on Lookfantastic.
The pump is precise and you can actually control how much product you want to come out.
I chose the shade 2.0 based on EX1 shade guide that they have on their site. It said that 2.0 is the closest shade to MAC NC15, but if I compare it to MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15, 2.0 looks darker and a lot more yellow.
2.0 comes out as a light very yellow based shade. As it dries down on your face, it becomes slightly darker with darker yellow undertone.
It has a slightly greasy feel to it, but is thicker in consistency and spreads with ease.
Here is the comparison with most of my foundations. I didn't include every foundation, just the ones that I wear the most.
Max Factor Healthy Skin Harmony Miracle Foundation in 45 Warm Almond is obviously a lot darker and dries down very orange toned. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 51 Light Vanilla is light warm shade that has just a bit more of a peach undertone to it. It's also a shade darker. L.O.V. EXTRAordinary Perfecting Fluid Foundation in 025 Sand Sophistication is again one of those a lot darker shades with orange warm base. Catrice HD Liquid Coverage Foundation in 010 Light Beige is light warm to neutral shade. It actually looks more neutral compared to EX1 and even almost olive toned. Revlon Colorstay Foundation Combination/Oily in 150 Buff is light yellow warm neutral shade, which is again a bit more neutral compared and even lighter. The Ordinary Colours Coverage Foundation in 1.1N is also a light warm yellow shade and it's the most similar to EX1. I find it to be a bit lighter and more white based looking. It also doesn't dry down as dark as EX1.
It has what I would say lighter medium to medium coverage. I need at least two pumps to build it up to a proper medium coverage. It covers redness and evens out skin tone. Because I need a lot of it to get my desired medium coverage, I used it up very quickly. You won't get a lot of applications from this one bottle, if you're looking for a medium coverage.
I wouldn't say it's natural looking, because it has that powdery finish to it which makes it look a bit obvious. It's a semi matte finish, because it still leaves some natural sheen on my skin.
It will emphasize and catch on dry patches, so you need to exfoliate your skin well, if you'll be using this foundation. It looks ok over pores and doesn't sit in them. It gets a bit into my fine lines under the eyes and accentuates smile lines as well as frown lines on the forehead.
After application it stays a bit sticky, but it's not too bad. I would still always set it with a bit of powder. Because of the powdery finish, it may not be ideal for dry skin. It's enough moisturizing, but just doesn't sit nice over dry patches.
I didn't notice it becoming shiny any quicker than most of my foundations and it lasts well. After a few hours it starts to fade a bit. I still notice it on my face at the end of the day though. But as the day goes on, it can look cakey, a bit unnatural and weird around my textured parts - like around the nose.
On the bottom photos you can see what the coverage looks like and how it makes my skin look.
I also wanted to show you that this shade is by far the closest I have ever come to my natural skin tone. It's like a half shade too dark for me, but has enough of that yellow undertone in it to match my natural skin tone. It only lacks a bit of that olive tone to it.
I was very excited about the shade and the fact that it had such a strong yellow undertone. It actually seems to really work with my warm undertone. If it had a hint of olive to it and didn't dry down darker, it would be perfect. But the formula didn't impress me at all. It's just not refined enough. To me it feels a bit old school formulated and looks just too obvious with no proper coverage or skin like properties. It's rough around the edges and can look weird on textured or dry skin. That's why I can't say I like it. If they changed the formula and I would get a shade 1.0, I'd probably like it more. But if you're someone with a light skin tone and very yellow undertone you can buy it an mix with your other foundations like I do. But then again, there is so many good foundations on the market that you shouldn't settle for anything but the best.
Škoda, da ni boljša formula. Ampak mika me pa še vseeno, da bi jo poskusila, samo zaradi podtona.
ReplyDeleteMeni je tudi žal. Sem kupila bolj na blef, ravno zaradi odtenka, ki pa se je izkazal za dokaj dober match :).
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