Review: CoverGirl Natureluxe Liquid Silk Foundation

Full disclosure: I signed up for BzzAgent awhile back and never managed to do much with it, but they *did* send me this foundation to try out. A year later, I'm finally getting around to reviewing it... To be absolutely clear, I did not purchase this product myself, but I can assure you this has not swayed my opinion of the product; what follows are my honest opinions after months of using this on and off.

I've had this tube of CoverGirl Natureluxe Liquid Silk Foundation sitting in my drawer for close to a year now, and I really need to get through it, so I've been wearing it as often as I think of it. Why haven't I used it up in that time? Well, for one, the color I was sent is a few shades too dark for my skin tone. I think there was a week this summer after I got back from Disneyland that I could wear this without blending like crazy and using really light powder, but now I'm back to bending over backwards and jumping through hoops to not look like a Jersey Shore reject every time I have this on. The shade I have is 320, which is the 4th from lightest shade out of 14 shades to choose from; on me, it looks too dark and too pink/red-toned. The coverage is light-to-medium, depending on how much you apply; I tend to apply very little product since it's dark and it spreads out evenly. It is supposed to be cucumber scented, but the scent reminds me of hairspray for some reason. It's not an unpleasant scent, but if you're sensitive to fragranced products, it is something to consider. The foundation itself feels fairly light on, and it is on the dry side of liquid foundations I've tried, if that makes any sense. It's not drying, but I don't think it adds any moisture; this would probably be a great benefit for those of you with normal-to-combo skin. This has more of a light, kind-of-sticky lotion consistency. If you'd like to read what CoverGirl has to say about the product, or to see the available shades,you can do so here. I find it to have a very natural satin finish; no shimmer, it doesn't look sticky on, but it isn't really unnaturally matte or dry, either. Depending on where you purchase this, it should run you about $10, but many drugstores often run CoverGirl on sale, so it's possible to get this for a few dollars less than that.

I tend to go for "long wearing" foundations when I am buying drugstore foundation, because I think they have a tendency to rub off and look patchy sooner than some higher end formulas. Even though this doesn't have a long wearing claim, it stays on fairly well when I've worn it with a primer (I've used an Almay primer with this) and set it with powder. I haven't noticed any patchiness when it does eventually wear off towards the end of the day. I like that it has SPF 10 in it; I use a moisturizer with SPF every day, but having a little extra coverage never hurts. I am not thrilled with the bottle, however; I don't like twist-cap tubes for foundation, since it's hard to control how much you get, the tubes can get messy, and sometimes it's awkward to try to put the cap back on after you've squirted a dollop of foundation out of it. I am also dubious of the name "Natureluxe" for the line. There's really not a lot that's natural about this foundation formula as compared to any other line. I think the name is kind of misleading, especially for people who are looking for more natural formulas.

CoverGirl Natureluxe Foundation

The claims

The ingredients

The nozzle; see how the foundation just kind of oozes out even if you're not squeezing it? Not a fan. of this type of makeup tube. 

On to swatches! Now, remember, this shade is too dark for me. But this will give you an idea of the consistency and the coverage. I swatched over the veins on my wrist so you can see how well it covers them; click on the picture to make it bigger if you'd like to examine that more closely. Notice the liquid-y-ness of the dollop.

Blended out and swatched heavily in indoor light

Blended out and swatched heavily in natural light 

 Sorry I forgot to take a bare skin picture for comparison; there are a couple in this post, and that's pretty standard for me; some undereye darkness, some redness around the nose and jaw, not a lot else to cover. I mostly want a foundation to even out skintone and look natural.

In the following picture, I am wearing Almay's primer, CoverGirl Natureluxe foundation, and powder (I believe it was L'Oreal Infallible pressed powder), but no concealer.

I've included some awkward close-ups. Around the nose and on the cheeks is where foundation often looks the least natural on me; if it's going to get cakey, patchy, or emphasize pores, this is where it's happening. So... weird pictures to show you the finish of this foundation:

Summary: Would I repurchase this foundation? Maybe. I think that, in the right shade, this is actually one of the more natural finishes I've seen from a drugstore foundation. However, it doesn't wear all day long (to be fair, few drugstore foundation do in my experience) and feels weirdly tight on my skin until I stop thinking about it. The scent also kind of weirds me out, but it fades after five or ten minutes. Those are honestly the two things that usually make me hesitate before using this (other than the shade), but they are both things that I don't think about after the foundation has been on for a little while. That being said, there are a few foundation formulas I have been wanting to try that I will probably purchase before I come back around to this. I think for $10, this is a really solid foundation, especially if you don't need something that will last for more than 6-8 hours. However, I haven't found a new favorite in this product.