Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation Review and FOTD

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

6 comments
Elizabeth Arden's Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup is one of the brand's new foundations, with SPF 15 to boot. It touts high coverage, a luminous finish, and a formula that moisturizes skin for 24 hours. With that, I was pretty excited to get my hands on this and give it a good whirl!


Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation: Good coverage with a luminous finish.

In Singapore we have 8 shades. You have #1 Linen (pale yellow beige), #2 Alabaster (pale neutral beige, less yellow than Linen), #3 Vanilla Shell (light beige with some pink, a shade darker than Linen/Alabaster), #4 Cream Nude (medium beige with neutral undertones, a shade darker than Vanilla Shell), #5 Natural (medium beige with cool undertones) #6 Warm Sunbeige (medium beige with yellow undertone), #9 Buff (medium-deep beige with neutral undertone), and #14 Cameo (medium-deep beige with cool undertone). Roughly speaking, shades #1, #2, and #3 are the lighter shades, with shades #4, #5, and #6 being the medium shades, and #9 and #14 being deep shades. There is also a mix of undertone between the shades, so everyone's covered!

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation 1
Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation in shade #2 Alabaster

I was matched to shade #2 Alabaster, which at first I thought was too pale or pink for me. But upon trying out the product, I think it was probably the best shade in the range. This was a surprise to me. I've always known I've been kind of fair, but is it me that's been getting fairer over the years, or is it recently that I seem to be matched to really pale foundation shades? I always thought I was an NC20, but I might need to check that out again one day. But musings aside, Alabaster turned out to be a pretty good match for me.

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation Swatch
Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation: Good coverage, but not thick

The product itself is actually surprisingly lightweight. I was expecting the Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation to be thick and heavy, because it looked like foundation, and because I was somehow thinking in my head, "Elizabeth Arden = mature brand = probably has a thick gooey formulation". Anyhow, it does come out creamy, but it's not as heavy as it looks. It feels fairly lightweight for a foundation, and as you can see from the photo below, it blends out quite well into my skin.

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation Swatch Blended
Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation blended out on my skin.

Another thing I noticed that was, when I tried it on, it actually had a surprisingly luminous finish! When I blended it onto the back of my hand, I thought that it was going to be very matte and cakey looking. But when I applied it, I was surprised by how glowy it looked, giving a nice finish that looks luminous but not unnatural. There are no big specks of glitter in this one! I also found that it had pretty good coverage. It probably covered about 70% of the visibility of my acne marks and undereye bags, and the rest I could just use a similarly-textured creamy concealer to dab over it to get fuller coverage (in this case I used the sadly discontinued Prescriptives Anywear Makeup Stick). I also applied this foundation over a light moisturizer (Hada Labo ES Sensitive Skin Lotion), and it blended out just fine. I found the product pretty moisturizing, though, I just added it over a moisturizer because it's a habit of mine. I wore this for half a day of sedentary activity, and I had to say it was pretty good even after a few hours - no oxidation, little slipping or sliding, and generally, my makeup looked much like how I had applied it.

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation FOTD
Wearing Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation in #2 Alabaster: Look at how glowy it is!

Here's the full breakdown of my makeup above for anyone interested.

Face:
Hada Labo ES Sensitive Skin Lotion, previously reviewed here
Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup #2 Alabaster
Prescriptives Anywear Multipurpose Makeup Stick Y/O Cream 02 as a concealer on spots only (this is discontinued sadly)
Becca Creme Blush in Frangipani (like NARSS Sin, but with more shimmer!)

Lips:
Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Moisturizing Lipstick in Rose Berry, previously reviewed here

Eyes:
Ulta Naked Eyeshadow
Shu Uemura Hard 9 Pencil in Stone Grey for brows

If the glowy finish doesn't suit you, you can always powder over it for a more matte finish. In the photo below, from the Elizabeth Arden event that I attended from this post, the ladies and me are all wearing our respective shades of Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup. At the event when I tried out the foundation, I layered it over Elizabeth Arden's own Ceramide Capsules, which I've also previously reviewed before, and it turned out fine. I set it with another Elizabeth Arden powder, although I can't remember which.

Elizabeth Arden Event Group Photo
All wearing Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup here!

And for those interested, here's a quick glance at the ingredients list. There's water, of course. After that are some emollients (Isohexadecane, Hexyl Laurate, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, which can also function as an emulsifier, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate), UV filters for the sunscreen (Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Titanium Dioxide), humectants (Glycerin), and other functional ingredients like emulsifiers and surfactants to keep your product from separating (Potassium Cetyl Phosphate), film-formers (Carbomer), pH adjusters (Sodium Hydroxide) and the like. There's also some interesting ingredients such as Vitamin C (in the stable form of Ascorbyl Palmitate), Vitamin E, (Tocopheryl Acetate), and some plant extracts Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract (so Tremella Fuciformis is a type of medicinal mushroom that apparently has anti-oxidant and moisturizing properties). Mica is also in there and is the source of the foundation's glowiness. So given the emollient-rich formulation, it is no surprise that this would be fairly moisturizing for a foundation. This would also be good for those with dry skins, too.

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation Ingredients
Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup ingredients: An emollient-rich formula makes it moisturizing.

All in all, would I recommend this product? It's pretty good overall. The coverage is good, the finish is also very lumminous, and the formula was pretty long-lasting. I also liked how this product lasted quite well on me for half a day. If a luminous foundation with good coverage is what you are looking for, then I think you can check out the Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup.
Recommended? Pigmentation Texture Application ColourLasting Power
Yes 8/10 9/10 8/10 9/108/10
The Bottom Line: Elizabeth Arden's Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup is a good choice overall for good coverage, a luminous finish, decent lasting power, and a moisturizing formula.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

6 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing, dear ~ i really love ur blog!


    my blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow!! Alabaster looks quite light!! Please do try to know what Mac shade are you!!
    One of my sisters looks like you shade wise (she is olive warm) and she is NC10 (matched at Mac pro)
    I'm terrible knowing what shade people(including myself) are .

    Like my sister just bought me the new bobbie Brown foundation stick in Alabaster and Porcelain and we trough that they were perfect for me but I came to look like her :
    http://drivelaboutfrivol.blogspot.mx/2014/05/bobbi-brown-skin-stick-foundation-review-00-alabaster.html

    The orange face T_T and is almost exactly as how my face goes with Benefit pore professional and Etude magic cushion in peach :(

    Why!!?? I don't think at all that I'm as fair as her!! Why my face looks as orange as she if I'm darker and she is purple and I'm green?

    I think I'm more like her :
    http://theimaginariumofmakeup.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/fall-look-nude-pale-tutorial-mac-fb-white-different-lip-options/
    imperfections wise too(more like acne scars and brown spots in my case)


    She is very pale too but doesn't look like? What to do? I need something to cover up my veins as Kiehl's treatment masque made my skin like transparent not lighter but transparent it helped with my brown spots a little but now all my veins (the big green and blue ones and the little purple and pink ) shows and it looks very bad!! Help!!!!

    Is Linen lighter than Porcelain? Do you think it can work for me?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Ann: Thanks for your comments, as usual! I always love hearing how your beauty journey is going. To be honest, I suspect the shades in the range might all be too dark for you. Linen and Alabaster are the paler shades (I can't quite remember the comparison between both of them, but I think Linen is more yellow), and if Alabaster matches me, then I'm going to say that in all likelihood it's going to be too dark for you, since from your comments I gather than you are a lot paler than I am. So if you're thinking of trying out the Elizabeth Arden foundation, I strongly suggest getting a sample or swatching the colours if you have a counter near you, in order to avoid a case of the wrong shade! I last matched myself to MAC NC20, and although I think NC20 isn't a perfect match anymore, I don't think I'm drastically a lot paler than before - so maybe just a hair lighter? So I'm probably still a couple of shades darker than you.

      For foundation, I think most of the mainstream brands don't carry too many pale shades, which is a pity. Trying out brands that have a wider range of shades (MUFE is good for that) may help, or even theatre brands like Graftobian, Kryolan, Ben Nye etc. If I recall, I think Illamasqua has some pale shades in their Rich Liquid Foundation shade (100 is just plain white, and 115 seems popular with pale girls), and so do Estee Lauder and NARS (I think their Sheer Glow Foundation has more lighter shades, the lightest is Siberia). Not sure if you've seen those? But in anycase, I do recommend that given how pale you are, it's probably better not to buy foundation sight unseen - I'd highly recommend getting a sample or trying to swatch to avoid another case of a too-dark/too-yellow foundation!

      I love those bloggers you mentioned! Kate from Drivel About Frivol is quite pale and cool-toned, perhaps in that way both of you are similar (even if exact skintone isn't a match) and thus trying on a colour that's more dark and yellow would produce exactly that effect. Same for Imaginarium of Makeup - she's also another pale, cool-toned girl. I think all of you might have that in common underlying your skintone :) Have you also seen Perilously Pale (http://www.perilouslypale.com/)? She's another blog I sometimes read and also think is cool-toned and pale.

      Anyway that was a long reply - I hope this helps!

      Delete
    2. Thank you for answer me! :) I'm very grateful to you, I really appreciate your patience with my essays (what I leave can't be considerate as comments)

      I do have some of the foundations that you suggest me, like Nars Siberia ( too dark and yellow), MUFE Mat Velvet 15 (dark,pink ), Illamaqua 02 (pink) and the best match color wise has been Kryolan Fair Olive mixed with Kryolan White but they are stage make up creams and my skin hate them!

      i do know that what I need is a mixer (liquid) like Mac Face and Body in White,Illamaqua in White, Barry M in White etc and I have been trying for years to get hold of them but they evade me T_T

      So wish me luck with Kryolan maybe this time it wont settle as bad as before in my pores and facial hair.

      Cheers!! :D

      Delete
  3. Hmmm...interesting and impressive. This seems like a really great product to try out. I love how it blends well with the skin and how it works on it too. I will be checking on this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ooh, this looks like the perfect shade for me!

    www.talesofapaleface.com

    ReplyDelete

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