armani

Giorgio Armani Beauty make some incredible makeup products, and I've tried a fair few of them, but for me the brand excels at base products.  Their Luminous Silk foundation is a bit of a high end hero for many, and their newest foundation, Face Fabric, has quickly earned a reputation.  Which meant I had to buy it, in the name of research and all that.

Face Fabric is a foundation with an ultra natural finish, described as "invisible makeup".  It doesn't try to go for a matte finish - being that skin isn't generally naturally matte anyway - but works to "enhance the natural glow of the skin".

Read on below the cut to see how I got on.



The texture is incredibly silky, smooth and velvety, due to a very silicone heavy formula.  At the same time, it's also very light - a small dab of product is all you need to cover the whole face, as the silicone ensures that the product spreads very easily.  It works best when applied with the fingers; as it's smoothed over the skin, the silky feeling gradually dissipates, leaving a layer of ultra fine, almost powdery foundation.  I'd say that this product feels like a mixture of a perfecting primer - think Smashbox for the texture - with a soft, illuminating powder.

The finish is indeed very natural, and the skin is left looking glowy but not shiny.  I personally run away screaming from anything that promises a glowy finish, as it usually translates into looking oily for me - but this foundation gives that very subtle glow which just makes me look healthy, not oily.  Coverage is, unsurprisingly, very light, and although it is buildable to some extent I think this base is really more of a perfecting product for good skin days.


On the left, I'm wearing no foundation - just a gormless morning face.  On the right, I've applied a small amount of Face Fabric with my fingertips.  The result is smoothed, more even skin, which to my eye still looks very natural.  Set with a little transparent powder, it lasts the whole day without getting shiny, although being silicone based it does melt off a little in very hot weather.

Now - this is an expensive, high end product.  It costs £29 for 40ml, which is rather a lot of money for a foundation.  This is, however, a price that I'll be more than willing to pay again - for the beautiful texture, the lovely natural finish, and the non-oily glow.  I like it so much that I took a friend to an Armani counter to be matched up with a view to using it for her wedding - the Armani SA was generous enough to provide a small sample so she could road test it before her big day.  So if you're a little hesitant about the price, it's worth asking for a colour match and a sample before you spend £29.

If you'd like to try it, you can buy it online at Selfridges or find a local counter through the Armani Beauty website.

Have you tried any Armani foundations?  What do you think?

I recently received a sample of Armani's new mascara, Eyes To Kill, with a foundation purchase (more about that later), and I've found myself rationing it out as I know it's going to run out sooner rather than later!

The brush is a refreshing change from the weird and wonderful brushes that mascaras have been appearing with lately - it's tapered, deeply bristled, and long enough that I can cover all my lashes in two swipes; pretty traditional, all things considered.  The formula is lovely - it thickens and lengthens the lashes, and in combination with the deep bristles on the brush, manages to be completely non clumpy too.

Two coats gets you long, lush looking lashes with decent definition.  Another bonus is that the lashes feel pretty soft once the mascara has dried; there's no crispy crunchy feeling here.  It wears well too - no panda eyes after a full twelve hour day in the office.  While admittedly it's not as inky, sooty black as YSL's latest offering, it's a lot easier to remove, coming off cleanly and easily with an oil cleanser.  I'll definitely be buying a tube of this when I reach the end of my current mascara.

Armani's Eyes To Kill mascara costs £23 for 6.9ml, and you can grab it from Selfridges.com online.

Here's a slightly terrible photo of Armani's latest product - which I for one am very keen to try. Blushing Fabric has the same silky smooth ultra blendable texture as their Face Fabric foundation (which I'll be reviewing soon).  I saw it in use at the Armani counter in House of Fraser, Westfield, although it's not yet available to purchase, and had to have a little swatch.  The texture is almost mousse like, the coverage is light and sheer, and the colours are very pretty.  For me, this is definitely one to pick up when it comes out - either this month or early July, depending on who you talk to!