I’ve been raving about this cushion to my friends for months now, but in the whole holiday madness, I had neglected to post a formal review about it… and it is high time I rectified it! Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Cushion is the latest cushion that had come my way, and it has been permanently in my makeup pouch since I received it. And while we are on the topic of base makeup, I’d also like to introduce you to the nifty new Ibuki Smart Filtering Smoother that will keep your makeup game strong throughout the day!
Shiseido released the Synchro Skin Foundation last spring [see here], and for a time it was my daily staple. The formula featured an intelligent responsive technology that was able to adapt to changing skin conditions, adjusting for oil control as well as hydration levels to keep makeup looking fresh throughout the day. More importantly, the Synchro Skin Foundation had an advanced colour polymer that ensured the perfect shade match regardless of skin tone.
The new Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Cushion utilizes the same technology as its liquid counterpart, packaged in a convenient cushion compact form. The cushion comes in a sleek black rounded plastic case with the Shiseido camellia printed in white on the top. The enclosed puff applicator is typical of most cushions although it feels somewhat softer and less “rubbery” than some of the others in the market.
The cushion resides underneath the usual swing lid and comes with a pretty white camellia sticker to keep the contents fresh. Just a small touch as opposed to plain white stickers, but these are the things that make me go woo and ahh….
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Sometime before Christmas, my son accidentally scratched the corner just below my lip and left a horrible scar as you can see in the picture above. Since then, the scar has lightened considerably thanks to 2 Q-Switch laser treatments at The Clifford Clinic [read about that here]; but it offered a good before an after comparison opportunity for the Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Cushion. I had started out with my usual half-faced comparison shot, which regular readers may have noticed usually featured the product in question on the right side of my face, which I had also done here out of habit which explains the brighter and more even tone as well as the vast difference to my dark circles.
**Please click to open in a new window and zoom
In this 2nd shot, I had applied Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Cushion all over my face, and now you can see how it had almost completely covered my scar! There is some greyness left, which could have been avoided with a colour corrector before the cushion, but is hardly noticeable unless you scrutinized my face closely. But do go ahead and scrutinize though, because the finish is flawless… it still looks like my natural skin despite the amazing coverage. For all that coverage, the Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Cushion is virtually weightless, and the texture is so easy to apply, no blending needed! I love that it wears well throughout the day, balancing out my skin’s natural tendency to dry out on the cheeks and oil up on my t-zone.
You don’t really need an additional primer with the Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Cushion, but since we are on the topic of base makeup I really want to introduce you to the latest pocket-sized magical selfie tool – Shiseido Ibuki Smart Filtering Smoother! This lightweight fluid goes on the skin like an invisible veil, blurring the appearance of pores to allow the perfect selfie shot. It also contains an oil-targeting micro powder to control shine; and a PhytoTarget Complex to enhance skin’s natural moisture factors and help build resistance to external stressors. I found this Ibuki Smart Filtering Smoother to be really easy to smooth over the entire face, or even applied over makeup on select areas of the face to mattify (e.g. t-zone). It dries down almost immediately and does not leave any oiliness nor stickiness behind. As expected, it keeps my makeup intact and extends the wear time by hours. Marketed under the Ibuki skincare range [see some others from the family here], this Smart Filtering Smoother also contains Bergenia Ciliata Root Extract and Marjoram to help fight acne and balance skin tone.
Both the Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Cushion and Ibuki Smart Filtering Smoother are out in counters now, so do check them out!
This post featured products that were kindly provided for my consideration. Regardless, all opinions expressed here are my own honest, unbiased views.
Impressive. This covers well and looks great. I rarely wear foundation and am just digging my toe in those waters with the first foundation I’ve really liked. (It has a lot of natural ingredients of course.) But this one is very tempting.
If you don’t wear foundations much, then you probably will love these cushions. Not sure if you need one with a lot of coverage though, but this one is so lovely, i’m just really biased. After these few months, it’s still my favorite cushion!
This cushion has such a lovely real-skin glow while doing a wonderful job of covering up those few spots of discoloration. You always look lovely, Linda, but you also look particularly healthy in this foundation–youthful skin with a soft glow, natural finish, and believable color. This one is a winner! I think I need to stop by the Shiseido counter 🙂
Hi Eileen, so nice to hear from you again! Yes you are absolutely right on, you perfectly described how I feel about this foundation! I hope you are able to find a good shade match, and please let me know how you like it!
OMG the coverage!! It looks great. I also read great reviews on this Synchro foundation. I usually prefer my foundations to have only light to medium coverage though. More forgiving in shade mismatch. LOL!
Hi Lily, I think you should be able to find a good match with this one, and what I love about this one is that it covers up so well and yet it doesn’t feel or look like i’m wearing a high coverage foundation at all!
Lovely flawless skin with this cushion ! I’m really in the mood of cushion too and hope I can find this one here 😉 Kisses Linda !
Kédidja ~ beautymoodboard.com
Hi Kedidja, I hope you can find this too!! It’s always in my purse now for touchups and it wears so well on its own! LOVE!
Thank you for your review. This foundation sounds really good. I hope it’ll be available in Europe soon. After your review of the original Synchro skin purchased that and am happy with it but this one sounds maybe even better and definitely more convenient. May I ask which shade you’re wearing in the above photo? Thanks.
Hi Anne, i’m so glad you enjoyed the Synchro Skin fluid foundation!! I’m using shade Neutral 2 for this cushion, and I think it’s a fairly good match for me. I hope you get to try this out too!
This is very good coverage Linda. Once cushion foundations -and generally cushion products- come to Europe, I will be all over them, hehe! They’re just so handy… So far, I’ve only ever tried Lancome and YSL. As for the Filtering Smoother, this is genius! When you applied over make-up it doesn’t take some of it away or anything like this right? Thanks for the review! x
Hi Elena, prior to this, the YSL was my favorite for the natural skin-like finish. I think this one has even better coverage than the YSL, with the same lightweight texture and beautiful finish! And here it is cheaper than the YSL… 😉 As for the Ibuki smoother, if you’re applying on top of makeup, take a small drop on your fingers, spread it out and then gently tap on your face. It doesn’t have too much slip to it so it doesn’t cause your makeup to budge or water down (if you understand what I mean). And it dries right away so it really works perfectly!