Face Atelier Ultra Foundation

I was recently contacted by Coco Beau, a UK boutique style make up retail website, offering me a sample of one of their cruelty free product lines, Face Atelier. Atelier being French for Artist's Studio - I looked it up as I was intrigued by the name.



I thought I might be in between shades #6 Honey and #7 Tan. Honey was was a bit too light for me, however I did really like the formulation and how it worked on my skin. First impressions were disappointing as it felt dry. I wasn't wearing moisturiser and it did the usual "Klingon" to dry patches I didn't even know I had! This is fairly usual for liquid foundations and my skin.



So advice tip #1, wear a moisturiser and don't be lazy like me!




I decided to mix some orange base in to the foundation to try and bring it to the right sort of tone for my skin. It worked to a certain degree but the tone was still a little pink for my skin tone. Coco Beau kindly sent me a darker shade to try #7 Tan.




I feel that foundations are a real investment, I have a box full of half hearted almost desperate purchases and samples which I use ocassionally, but really aren't suitable. Most are too light, too pink or too dark, too drying, too greasy, too thin or too thick. I am a difficult monkey to please really. I honestly give up with high street foundations (apart from UNE Beauty which I have to mix heftily with a silicone based primer to get it to go on smoothly). But it is an excellent colour (G13) and makes me look radiant and healthy. I digress.




Advice tip #2 Buy a couple of samples from the website.




A sample from Coco Beau is only £1, a full sized 30ml bottle is £32 (+ shipping). I think that this is an excellent idea. So many times I have wanted a small sample, which I think asking £1 for is very reasonable. I need to try a foundation at home, in natural light, for an extended period of time and in combination with my skin care products and other make up before committing to a purchase over a certain amount, I don't think I am alone in this thinking!? If something costs less than £10 or is on an unmanned stand in a shop I am more forgiving.



However, most shops won't have any samples. The Body Shop does offer samples of any products, you simply have to ask a sales assistant. So normally you take your chances with dirty testers or sales assistants who refuse samples (due to labelling regulations...?). My advice is to take your own clean tester jars and ask for a sample, be cheeky and push your luck. Otherwise you risk making a regrettable purchase or missing out on something which could be really good because of shop policies. Again I digress.



So on to performance. The reason I got back in touch with Coco Beau to ask for another colour is that I fell in love with the way this foundation works. A very small amount goes a long way. If you buy a sample, shake it and then just use what's in the cap of the sample jar. This tiny amount will be enough to cover face and neck. I do really like the way it blends in to well moisturised skin. This is because it has primer ingredients included in the formula, so there is no need for a separate primer. You can certainly tell when you blend it around, it doesn't settle until it's reached a thin enough level. I find that using ring finger works best but a damp sponge would work equally well. If using this product on someone else, a foundation brush works well. I am not loving my stippling brushes at the moment so I haven't tried it with one of those. You can also use this as a concealer, three light layers will cover most blemishes. For dark circles and dark marks I use a touch of concealer as well. However it did cover redness easily.








I wore this from 8am to 9pm and it worked fantastically. HOWEVER, there is always going to be a however from me... The sacrifice I have to make to use this foundation is that amount of primer in this foundation means I am dewy looking all day long. I needed to powder really well and continue with a dab of powder a couple of times to refresh and mop up shine. Whatever the silicone primer used in this foundation; it is very good at its job. No slippage, creasing or patching albeit a lot of shine and tackiness if I don't powder well. It's not a big deal and one that should be a part of a foundation routine, again I am sometimes very lazy and don't bother as my skin is combination to dry.





I would say this is a medium to full coverage foundation. It really doesn't feel like I am wearing any foundation at all, I am needless to say, very impressed. My sensitive skin has not suffered any ill reaction.





I received my sample of #7 Tan and although it is a little bland, needs more yellow, it is an excellent match for my skin tone. Yippee. I am off to purchase a full sized bottle right now!

I think for days where I need absolute flawlessness (is that even a word?) then I have a difficult choice to make between this foundation and my favourite Varama Cover Cream.

If you've made it this far down my review and want to see it in action, please see my latest tutorial on my YouTube channel.

Find Face Atelier available products on Coco Beau

I was sent a sample for review purposes, but this is not a sponsored post. If anything I have just spent £45 on products thanks to the sample alone!