i waited for you sooooooooo long, man! from some blog reviews of this little beauty, it got onto my "to buy"-list since early last year - but 50£ were too steep to buy sight unseen, and loooong time the shade i opted was out of stock. so when official stockist
hqhair.com had a 20% off campaign in october 2010, i had to take the chance as the shade "Cream" was available again. and then the waiting started.
usually hqhair would ship foundations faster than powder products, via FedEx, and it would arrive within a week. but no shipping confirmation. nothing.
after two weeks, i got an email about them not having my shade in stock, but maybe in 7-10 days.
two weeks later: still nothing. no shipping confirmation email.
i contacted them to ask about my order, they still hadn't got new delivery from Chantecaille. maybe in 7-10 days. and they would send out immediately after getting new stock.
nothing - except in the beginning of december, i got an email about payment failure. that my order had been cancelled. no sorry, nothing. i thought it shouldn't be with us, Chantecaille and me.
but as they had 30% off just before christmas - i grabbed the chance again, 15£ off of 50£? great!
but again, no FedEx for me once more. i waited over
3 weeks! in the meantime, rumours about hqhair closing its doors came up and i was really worrying. luckily the order still came in, no texture damage because of cold weather (one thing i was afraid of with the normal mail).
it's fate, isn't it ;) and now i can review it for you.
fortunately internet shopping brought many great products to me while waiting for hqhair, so it wasn't that bad.
long story short, here it is.
that's what the box says:
"Future Skin
Oil Free Gel Foundation
An innovative, oil free gel foundation containing 60% charged water and seaweed. Skin looks totally perfected and dewy; sebum is balanced. Aloe, Chamomille and Arnica calm irritation. Rosemary, Green Tea and Rice Bran help prevent oxidation. Adjustable coverage from medium to full."
and so it is, a gel cream (which you should use a spatula to take out!!!) with a bit silicony but light texture (not too wet) that gives a superduper natural finish - not too dewy, but beautiful silky sheen. i would say the coverage is between light-medium, but it evens out the complexion beautifully. lucky me "Cream" is a dead match to my nc20-25ish skin. my pores seem smaller with this, too. i apply it with the BeautyBlender.
it comes in a plastic pot, the packaging is not the most hygienical or travel friendly, but i like it.
the staying power is ok, not as good as the definite long lasting ones, but good 8 hours on my oily skin.
it moisturises very well, my skin feels soft, fine and cool to the touch.
sadly this seems to give me few break-out zits everytime i wear it - but i like it so much, that i'm still going on using it, just not everyday but maybe once/twice every week.
for 35£ i would totally recommend it - but 50£ are still quite high. but sadly, hqhair doesn't seem to stock on Chanecaille anymore - let's see if it reappears after the relaunch of the site.
look yourself - here i wear it with nothing than under eye concealer.
