Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation - £33

When Estee Lauder made the oh so silly decision to discontinue the lightest shade of their Double Wear foundation I felt a bit stuck. I've tried lots of foundations and theres still only a few select brands out there that make a shade light enough for me in a formula I like. As much as I sometimes complained about the matte finish & flash photography induced 'ghost face' that Double Wear delivered, it really was my favourite foundation. Nothing could compare to the shade, the coverage and the staying power of Double Wear. That was until I tried Laura Mercier's Silk Creme foundation. I'm a huge Laura Mercier fan and I used to love their Tinted Moisturiser when I was at school. Nowadays I like a bit more coverage due to my horrid freckles (nothing against freckles, I just don't like them on me!) so I was intrigued to try one of their proper foundations. I noticed Kate raving about Silk Creme and it looked lovely on her so I figured I would give it a go. I've been using this for a few months now and it has fast become a brilliant replacement for my beloved Double Wear.

Silk Creme is a medium to full coverage foundation with a luminous finish. As the name suggests it is a cream formula which means it blends out really nicely. It feels so soft and silky on the skin. It contains several silicones which add to that flawless polished look so it would be great for anyone with enlarged pores. Much like with a silicone based primer, it will help to fill in those areas and airbrush over them. It is highly pigmented so a tiny blob will cover your whole face. My favourite thing about this foundation is how radiant it makes my skin look. It boasts light-reflecting properties which add natural glowing highlights to your face without making it look greasy. Perfection.

I use the shade Soft Ivory which is the lightest available & a perfect match for me. First of all I love how well this colour balances out my skintone. My face was looking quite red and spotty before I applied my makeup this morning and now look at it! This is one of the areas in which Silk Creme is superior to Estee Lauder Double Wear as their old lightest shade Shell was fairly pink toned so it didn't completely eliminate my redness despite being a full coverage foundation. Soft Ivory is just as light coloured but its slightly more yellow toned. It matches up just as well but the extra yellowness really helps to even out my skin properly. I'm happy to report that it doesn't oxidise at all either so the colour in the tube will be the colour on your face. I've not concealed any of my blemishes other than with the foundation. I only used concealer & powder under my eyes so you can get a better idea of the glowing finish this gives to your skin.

When I first tried this foundation I used waaaay too much of it and it looked really streaky even after buffing it in for ages. I think the secret to this foundation is to use a really small amount and then build it up as you go. Lots of the reviews I read about this product suggested using the Real Techniques Buffing Brush to apply it. But I actually prefer to apply Silk Creme in the same way I used to apply Double Wear - with a damp Beautyblender sponge. It even suggests applying it with a sponge on the back of the tube. Silk Creme was designed to give a luminous finish but the Beautyblender actually adds to that effect further and really smooths it out to give a truly flawless glowing look to your skin. Another advantage of this foundation is that it doesn't contain any SPF so it photographs beautifully. Then its just up to you whether you apply a moisturiser with SPF or not. As Silk Creme is a medium to full coverage foundation it is possible to build it up or wear it a bit sheerer. I find that it covers my blemishes, redness and scarring perfectly but no matter how much I layer it I can't seem to completely eliminate my freckles which is where Double Wear really excelled.

I'm so pleased with how long this lasts on my skin and I can go a whole day without having to top up at all. Thats pretty much a dealbreaker for me when it comes to foundations, I want to be able to apply something once in the morning & be done with it. This just stays looking really fresh all day long. However its not entirely transfer resistant so for that reason I would suggest you make sure you set it properly, either with powder or something like Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray. I prefer to use a spray as I don't want to lose that lovely luminous quality. I can't recommend trying out this foundation enough. It offers brilliant coverage but with a natural looking flawless finish. Isn't that what most of us want from a foundation? Don't let the price put you off because this really is a wonderful product and as you only need a tiny pea sized blob each time it will last for ages. Its well worth a cheeky trip to Space.NK!

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