A quick word from HK: Shu Uemura Lightbulb Foundation

Hi my lovelies! I’ve been running around in HK the past 3 days on a whirlwind business trip, and tried to load up on shopping every spare minute I have.  It’s in between Fall and Holiday seasons at the moment (except our dear highly anticipated Tom Ford Fall 2013 just hit stores and was snapped up within hours!), and what is new in the market?

FOUNDATIONS, FOUNDATIONS, FOUNDATIONS!

This time last year, we saw a whole slew of “naked skin”, dewy foundations.  And as fickle and herd-ish as the beauty industry is prone to, this year is all about matte, full coverage foundations!  Over the next week or so, I’ll be reviewing some of the latest in the market, including Giorgio Armani Maestro Cream Compact Foundation, YSL Serum Foundation, NARS Radiant Cream Compact, etc!

But for today, a quick word on Shu Uemura Lightbulb Foundation!

I realize i’m probably the last person to review the Lightbulb, so i’ll keep it short and sweet:

I LOVE SHU UEMURA THE LIGHTBULB FOUNDATION!!!

I’m not going to bore you with the technical breakthroughs that went into the Lightbulb.  By now, you must have heard a million iterations about how it took 4 days to handcraft the bespoke sponge, and how the dual ends are shaped to replicate 2 different brush tips, yada yada.  The reality is, i’ve seen this sponge before.  No, i’m not talking about the Beauty Blender. But Too Cool for School’s Pudding Aqua Shaking BB during my trip to Korea almost 2 years ago (btw, TCFS can now be found at Far East Plaza!)!

My obsession is clearly not with the sponge.  But the formula of the foundation itself.  It is a nice, fluid texture that blends easily enough. Granted, a sponge will probably give you a more even coverage, but you can achieve the same results using a good buffing brush.  It offers medium to full overage, whilst feeling incredibly light on the face.

My biggest worry when I heard it gives a glowy finish was that it’ll make me look too shiny and oily.  Not to worry at all!  Lightbulb makes you GLOW, without going the (what is now considered) old-fashioned way of DEWY.  Yes, you CAN look velvety matte AND glow!  I’m not going to cheat you with heavily photoshopped pictures (and also because I really can’t seem to get a good picture that does the lightbulb justice), just go get a sample and experience it for yourself!

Finally as you all know, the biggest test for me is a foundation needs to outlast my long days… and Lightbulb does!  For the 1 week that I tested it out, I had pretty much forgotten to touch up with powder as I really didn’t see the need to!

I’m flying home tomorrow with a bag full of Tom Ford and YSL and everything else.  Can’t wait to hold my darling little baby in my arms again!  And I promise I’ll be back with more reviews afterwards!  Meantime, feast your eyes on my haul via Instagram if you’d like!

xoxo