Foundation - it's one of those beauty products that so many women use but it can be the hardest to find that Holy Grail item. My journey through foundations has been long and encompassed many brands... from various Cover Girl liquid makeup when I was in high school, through Maybelline Whipped Mousse, onto Revlon and others. A few years ago I was convinced to try mineral foundation. A woman I worked with sold Arbonne and suggested I try their mineral foundation and my fate as a mineral makeup junkie was sealed! Arbonne didn't work out the best for me as their shades weren't a match for my rather pale cool complexion but I loved how my skin looked using natural products instead of caking on foundation full of chemicals. Next I tried Maybelline Mineral Makeup and that was just so-so for me. Then I tried out Everyday Minerals and liked it at first, but then I realized that even though it looked great for photos, up close it was making my pores more obvious! Finally the lovely ladies on Megsmakeup.com suggested I try out Silk Naturals.
Silk Naturals is a great company that sells an entire range of mineral makeup, skin care, hair products, beauty tools, and even has vegan products. Their foundations and finishing powders are enhanced with real silk powder so it conditions, balances moisture, and has a creamy texture. Now here comes the scary part - you mix this foundation YOURSELF! "But me!? I can't mix foundation! It'll be terrible and I'll have to throw it all out!" But no - mixing this foundation is one of the easiest things in the world and if you are having trouble they have a wonderful forum on their website full of helpful women who will tell you exactly how to match your skin tone. I first bought the trial kit that contains a sample of the white foundation plus the various bases,a scoop, and a jar to mix in. To create your perfect shade, you start with X amount of scoops of foundation and add X scoops of base, then mix. I had no idea what my ratio was but they include a handy 'recipe' card with the trial kit to get you started. I also posted my photo on the forum and within a day someone responded and helped me figure out my ratio. In SN I am 8 scoops of foundation to 1 scoop of ebony base and I add just a bit of warm gold to liven it up. Their base shades are ebony, warm gold, olive, and buttery gold and between these you can create a foundation shade for almost any skin tone! They also offer different foundation formulas - original (light coverage), vegan (more coverage), medium, heavy, glow (has a bit of shimmer), and all-purpose (no oil control).
So lets get to the important stuff - how does this foundation look and feel and is it going to break the bank? I always use a primer when using mineral makeup to make it glide on smoothly and last longer - my top picks are Monistat anti-chafing gel or tarte primer. After priming I use the large flat top brush from EDM, tap some foundation out into the container cover, and swirl it around. Upon the first application, I immediately loved it! It has a smooth creamy consistency and you can really tell that the ingredients are pure and contain silk. It does not sink into the pores but rather fills them in and blurs them out and it evens out the texture and tone of the skin. I generally use medium coverage but sometimes switch to original if my skin is behaving. I also add a few scoops of glow to my recipe - glow is slightly shimmery and I feel like it perks the foundation up a bit. Original is a rather light formula and gives a dewey air-brushed look. Medium is a bit heavier, is good for layering, and still gives that smooth glowing look. I have used heavy coverage before as a concealer and that works well but can get a little caky looking if used too heavily. When I order I generally get 2 bags of medium, 2 original, 1 glow and 1 bag of ebony base and that lasts me about 5 months and only costs around $33 with shipping. I usually try to spend over $30 when I order, because then you get a full sized eyeshadow or lip balm of your choice for free! They also have a rewards program where you earn points towards future purchases. As if that's not enough love from a company for ya, if you spend over $10 you get a 3-gram jar of a limited edition color that is a surprise - generally whatever the owner feels like mixing up. Their eyeshadows are simply lovely and they have a lot of dupes for famous brand colors, and even a set of dupes for the UD Naked palette! I will be reviewing their eyeshadows and lipglosses another day, so watch for that!
Overall: A+
Pros: Natural ingredients, great texture, lasts all day with primer, nice range of coverage, good price, inexpensive shipping, great customer service
Cons: Can be messy when mixing, might take a few tries to get your exact color down
Buy it: http://host.silknaturals.com/creb/
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