Oh yes! Essence has done it again: come out with a K-beauty inspired product that is. In recent years I have felt that the affordable EU-based brand has been copying K-beauty trends and it couldn’t be more obvious than their newest Essence Brighten Up Cushion Foundation. But is it any good? That is what we are here to test out. So let’s review it.
The shade range is a bit lacking to be quite fair. I picked up shade 02 Ivory which actually looks lighter in the swatches I can find online than shade 01. There are no real deep shades available and from the 7 shades out there the naming is weird. There are shades 01, 02 and 03 and then shade 10. Please make it make sense! And make more deep shades, because the deepest option isn’t going to be dark enough for many folks.
Review: Essence Brighten Up! cushion foundation 02 Ivory
We all know Essence keeps it cheap and like many of the Catrice products I am in the midst of reviewing you can say this is affordable. At only €5.69 this is a very sharply priced product that comes in a nice sturdy compact with a little pad to apply the product. There is only 12 grams of product here though, which is less than most foundations. Needless to say, I ran out of this within 3 weeks of daily use.
What does this product have to offer?
This foundation is lightweight and easy to use. The shade is a touch too yellow for me as you can see below, but I really enjoyed the formula. This has a lightweight formula with medium buildable coverage. It blends in easily, but unfortunately the little pad you apply it with soaks up a lot of the product. The pad was also quite stiff which made it difficult to blend the product in my delicate areas such as around the nose. Beautiful foundation? Yes, but a bit of a faff to use.
What is the shade match like?
While I enjoyed the formula of the product, I really didn’t love the shade match. It was alright in a pinch, but it wasn’t a very pink toned option while the brand claims that 02 Ivory is a rosy tones foundation. Maybe on someone with warm skin, because on my cool to neutral undertone it really didn’t work. You can see the clash here in this image.
What is the coverage like?
As you can see here, the foundation makes light work of covering up my redness. I would say that this is a light to medium buildable coverage that covers what you need to cover while still having a natural finish. Blending this can be a challenge so make sure you bring it down your neck and are careful with how you apply it around your nose for the best results.
Should you buy the Essence cushion foundation?
I really want to recommend this foundation, but I just can’t. Yes it is very affordable and beautiful on the skin, but if you have to repurchase this ever few weeks because you have already run out it is still going to be expensive in the long run. So yes this is fun to try and if you have never tried a cushion foundation and you are desperate to do so and you want it to be cheap this can be a nice way to be introduced.
Buy the Essence Cushion foundation here *.
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