Hourglass Cosmetics Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick

I'm not really into trying out new foundations anymore as I already have a few HGs that I keep repurchasing, but I got a sample of this and I must say that I'm impressed. The color match is perfect, it glides on nicely and leaves a satin finish without the dreaded "painted lady with caked on foundation" look. Coverage is medium to full. I do not use primer with this foundation, but I do moisturize well beforehand as it can cling to dry patches. I buff it in with a brush, but fingers work good too!
The bad part: it doesn't last all day. I might consider getting the full-sized stick as travel a lot and this is travel friendly.

I resisted the temptation to buy this foundation for so long, despite all the glowing reviews I read. I eventually caved and splashed out, only to be disappointed!

Firstly, the amount of product you get for the price is pretty underwhelming. The packaging is nice, sleek and looks expensive..but the amount of product is meh!

The actual formula is nice, goes on quickly and smoothly, blends out easily enough but definitely not full coverage. You will need to go in with more swipes to build it up to a higher medium coverage, thus you will be using more product and wasting the foundation much quicker, and you don't get that much to start with! Also, for the time spent building the product up I feel I may as well have gone in with my normal liquid foundation, in the grand scheme of it I am not saving any time!

People with dry to normal skin may really like the wear of this, but on my mostly normal yet very slightly combo skin, it starts to slide around and look oily and break apart after 2 hours! I do not have very oily skin at all, with just a pinch of oil occurring after many many hours around the sides of the nose and chin and I NEVER need to blot or re-powder but with this one repowdering is a must..and it must be done regularly! To be honest, its not too much unlike the Make-Up Revolution Fast Base stick, although the MUR one has waaaay more coverage and is a tiny fraction of the price of this one.

Will not be repurchasing and will probably give this one to a friend to try.

I tried out a deluxe sample of this product - Shell was a decent match for my skin tone. I thought it was effortless to blend in for a stick foundation, which is my usual problem with stick foundations.

The oil control was also excellent for my oily skin! It did emphasize some texture/dry patches on my forehead and chin.

I loved the application, coverage and the wear of the product, but I can't see myself paying the high price tag.

I am so disappointed in this stick. I bought the veil primer and the brush but nothing will stop this from sliding and gathering around the nose and around the eyebrows. It also accentuates the pours. It was a great colour match but apart from that I’d say it’s once of the worst foundations I have ever used, and the price point is WAY to high for the quality of the product. I think if you have oily skin you won’t have any make up left on within two hours, and if your skin is dry it will just gather and look patchy.

This had quite a few rave reviews on YouTube and I finally bit the bullet and bought it 2 months ago.

Some info about my skin :
- Combination-oily (oily t-zone, normal cheeks)
- Little to no texture issues
- Hyperpigmentation
- Around an NC30 with neutral leaning-warm undertones. I use the shade Nude in this which is a very good match for me. My best match is Maybelline Fit Me Matte in 220. Note that the entire range of shades in this leans yellow, even the ones labelled "neutral"

Finish : A nice demi-matte finish - not dewy, but not really matte either.

Coverage : Very customisable. They were not kidding when they tell you that a little goes a long way - do NOT stripe this on like the YouTubers have been doing, else I predict it may end up looking mask-like and cakey. I dot 3 triangles on each cheek, one on the nose, 2 each on the chin and forehead, and I get very high, almost full, coverage that still looks very skin-like. If I do 2 triangles per cheek instead of 3, and 1 on the nose, chin and forehead, I get a medium coverage. My favourite way to apply this is with a Real Techniques buffing brush. I don't think sponges tend to work well for stick foundations.

Longevity : By itself, this does nothing to control your oils - I wore it by itself once with just moisturiser underneath and it was slipping off my face after 6 hours. I get the best longevity when I pair it with NYX Angel Veil primer with my usual setting powder and spray on top. I wore it for 8 hours today, touched up once, and it still looked really good when I came back, though I will say that some of the foundation came off when I blotted my forehead and nose with blotting sheets, so it's not transfer-proof.

Price, value for money : hoooooo damn is this one expensive. Hourglass is a luxury brand and this costs a whopping £42 for only 7.2g of product! For comparison, the Makeup Forever Ultra HD Stick Foundation costs a little less and has 12.5g! The Hourglass foundation is extremely pigmented though, so *theoretically* it should last you a while, but that price is still a big booboo.

Overall thoughts : This is a really good foundation, very comfortable to wear (I don't really feel it on my face), and you need very little of it to get good coverage. I love how convenient it is to travel with since it's in stick form. However, it's stupidly expensive, and I'm not really blown away by it - like it's nice, but it's not £42 worth of nice if you get what I mean. I actually like my Maybelline Fit Me Matte just as much as this foundation, and that's literally a fraction of the price of the Hourglass. I'll enjoy this while I have it, but I don't think I'll be rushing to repurchase it when I run out.

I really wanted to love this foundation because so many people rave about it, I have tried it with so many different brushes and a beauty blender, tried it with the hourglass primer, my skin looks moisturised before I apply I also use a night moisturiser and exfoliate every few days but this foundation will not stick to my nose. It looks so patchy and textured around my nose that doesn’t appear with my other foundations. I don’t get it.

I was out shopping one day and feeling rather insecure about my skin inperfections. I picked up this foundation because its supposed to be full coverage, and seemless. After taking it home and trying it a few times, I don't quite agree with the hype. If you have combination skin, oily skin, or dry skin, then this foundation isn't for you. I think only people with already flawless skin would suit this founation.. First of all, the day I had a few dried blemishes, the foundation stuck to them like glue and made them even more prominent! It's all well and good having a thick full coverage foundation, but it needs to do its job & hide your blemishes not highlight them. Secondly, I find putting powder over this one tricky, maybe I'm doing something wrong?! Thirdly, the foundation being a solid stick means that it's probably also got more silicones than a liquid foundation. Lastly, after a day of wearing the foundation, my skin is usually quite greasy.. Sorry Hour Glass, this one isn't for me.

Long story short: I like this foundation and it works for me, but it’s far from perfect. However I haven’t found a better foundation yet that also suits my skin colour.

I use the vanish stick in Blanc, and it’s the product’s main advantage. The shade suits me perfectly: all looks very natural and finally I have complexion that matches the entire body. I’ve spent ridiculously long time to find something that is an alright shade and doesn’t dry me out as I usually have a pretty dry skin.

The application is flawless with the Artis palm brush, but it works well with a slightly damp beauty blender too, however providing less coverage.

It doesn’t show my dry patches usually along with the few mimic lines and doesn’t fall into the pores. If weather is not too warm it wears well for me for 7-8h.

The main reason for not placing 5* is my personal preference: I like it matte. And this foundation is naturally matte initially but gets shinier with time. It’s not necessarily an oily shine but I still don’t like it. The other negative points are: 1) it creases under eyes (better not to apply it there and use a dryer concealer) and 2) it goes away with sweat. Really if it’s slightly too warm it will be gone from the nose quickly.

Overall it’s a nice foundation and it’s 80% likely that I’d repurchase it when mine’s over, but it’s not a perfection.

For quite some time, I found myself avoiding this product, which I had received as a sample (and have since bought the full size product). I found it to be a troublesome foundation -- it would slide off my T-zone and was tough to blend out thinly enough on my cheeks and forehead. But when I had breakouts, I found myself trying it out again to cover areas. And that's where I found it works for me. As an area concealer. If I need heavier coverage, I will set it with some powder. On an oilier area, I may have to touch up during the day, and since I'm not a mid-day makeup re-applier, this is not ideal, but I find it often applies and blends better than my Laura Mercier Secret Camo (although the LM is waxier and stays a little better). I use Vanish in Shell.I find it's actually a perfect compliment to use this as spot coverage with an almost nude face (LM tinted moisturizer in Nude for some SPF and a little evening out of skin tone).

Now, here's a conundrum. I'm not a major fan of stick foundation, as a rule; I find them heavy and I'm probably not great at working out when enough really is enough tbh. But I DO like them for stage make up and this is where this one scores. It's amazing onstage!!! In real life, though, I liked it a lot at first - good coverage, makes yoyr skin look really smooth, excellent colour match etc - but...after a bit, it just seemed too heavy for my skin, if that makes sense. I also found it insanely expensive, and there are other foundations which do a better job, I think. But if you're an actress, try it out!!