The first time I roadtested Illuminare Cosmetics, I had trouble blending their foundations. I skipped, and just went on trying other brands. But with alot of satisfied customers, I began to think, was it something I did wrong? After a year or so, I decided to get trial sizes again to see how it’d fare on me. Yes, I don’t really give up!

From Illuminare Cosmetics‘ website, their liquid mineral foundation has 3 formulas,

* With our Fantastic Finish formula, it helps to moisturize and smooth the driest of skin
* With our Ultimate formula, no extra powder is necessary for an ultra-matte look with added natural oil-absorbers
* With our Extra Coverage formula, no added concealer is necessary to achieve great coverage with a no-makeup look

Okay, the first thing I’ve learned while I’ve been roadtesting this a good silicone-based primer will make your life easier. I used Colorescience Wild to Mild Bronzer to prep my skin, fill in pores, and smoothen out fine lines. I use my foundation brush to apply the liquid mineral foundation on my skin, and realize that it is best applied with a foundation brush, not a sponge. I’ve previously used sponge and had issues in making it even, and now, I can actually make Illuminare Liquid Mineral Foundation work for me!

My skin is light to medium, so I mixed Portofino Porcelain and Florentine Fair. I mixed Fantastic Finish and Extra Coverage, since I thought I needed both. The mixture was immaculate. The coverage was really amazing as it smoothened and evened out my problematic complexion, and even without the need of a concealer, covered my undereye circles, as if my undereyes never had problems! That was the job of Extra Coverage. I also saw my skin look really flawless, and I loved the very dewy finish - and I am guessing it’s the Fantastic Finish’s effect on my skin.

I love, love the way the liquid mineral foundation looked on my skin - I haven’t seen my skin this flawless for a very long time. But then, it oiled up after a few hours, and I felt really uncomfortable. I think it’s because Fantastic Finish is geared for dry skin, and I didn’t want to have a matte finish. I think this calls for a good , ultra mattefying primer underneath that would make sure that oil production would be controlled to be able to make this work.

Bottomline - this is worth a try - just get a good primer, and for oily skinned gals, prepare a mattifying base, plus a good finishing powder to control oil. The finish is too good to resist!