Product Review | Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation Stick + Vanishing Foundation Brush

Alright, so I received these products curtesy of Influenster. I've worked with them A LOT, and am finally ready to give my verdict. 

I was sent the Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation Stick in Vanilla and the Vanishing Foundation Brush to test out. As soon as I yanked them out of the box, I was so excited and tried them out immediately. My skin was not prepped, I put on WAY too much, and long story short, it was a disaster.

I tried yet again the following day, being wary of the amount used and prepping my skin appropriately. A little goes a looong way. I liked how easy it was to blend, as it's super creamy, but you have to work fast and you can't really build this foundation. If you go back over certain areas it will look cakey and gross, but even with a thin layer, I was not a huge fan of the finish. It definitely doesn't vanish...It's very apparent and sorta powdery, but it does offers great coverage, especially considering how little product you should use. 

Let's get down to the nitty gritty, with some very up close and personal shots of my experience. As per usual, I waited until my skin was a in Strugglesville, to help give a better idea of performance.

For reference here is my bare face (yikes!). As you can see, I have less than perfect skin; quite a bit of redness, spots, freckles, acne scars, large pores, etc. Also, as a reminder, I have combination skin.

Here it is applied with the brush. No concealer, no powder, just the foundation. Under, after I moisturized, I primed the whole face with my Nivea Sensitive Post Shave Balm, and went over my T-Zone with a bit of NYX Pore Filler to reduce the appearance of large pores and fine lines (which it does a great job at, until the foundation erased my efforts haha) :

And here it is applied with a Beauty Blender with the same prep as above. You can see that because it doesn't soak up as much product as the brush, it looks a bit more cakey in some areas, and tad discolored due to oxidation ;

I've also tested the lasting power with and without setting spray (I used Ben Nye's Final Seal for the pictures, which I was trying out for the first time, but I have used it with other setting sprays previously, to no better results). Both shots after 6h or so.

No Setting Spray (6h)

With Setting Spray (6h)

As you can see, you get much better coverage from using the Beauty Blender...At the same time, it looks even less natural than with the brush. But to be honest, I'm not a big fan of either results so it doesn't really matter. As far as the lasting power is concerned, nothing seemed to work with this. If you add powder to its already powdery finish...It doesn't look good. If you don't use anything, it completely just slides off the face as the oil washes it off. If you use a setting spray, you don't get as oily, but instead of sliding off, it just kind of separates and seaps into your pores and creases and clings even more to dry patches...No dice.

To sum it up, I can't really bring myself to "rate" this foundation, so instead, I'll just give my overall pros & cons;

What I did like about it:

-Easy to apply & blend

-Great color match

-Nice coverage

-Looks decent from far (kind of a back handed compliment but I mean, I'm trying here haha...)

What I didn't like about it:

-The finish

-The lasting power

-The formula (feels heavy, isn't buildable)

-It broke me out

Bottom line; I'm not really sure who this foundation might be suited for. I have combo skin, and it failed on both dry and oily areas. Maybe if you have normal skin, and just want to even out your skin, you might like how quick, easy and travel friendly this is...I really wanted to like this foundation and tried and tried and tried everything I could think of to make this work for me. That being, I did quite enjoy the brush with my usual go to bases. It's a really high quality buffing brush (for me the "champagne" version of the Real Techniques), but you don't really need to shell out that much money for a good one...However, if the budget allows, it's a nice addition to any brush collection!

Have any of you guys tried it? I'd love to hear if it worked for you, quite curious!

Talk to you soon!
-Xoxo, Val

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