Friday 3 September 2010

UNE Skin Glow Foundation Review

In my last post I mentioned the UNE Skin Glow Foundation as my weapon of choice for my FOTD. Back in March, UNE received quite a bit of publicity as they were just launching and reaching out to new customers. Things got a little quiet since then, and admittedly, I hadn't heard of this brand until around a fortnight ago when I found the makeup stand at Westfield in Shepard's Bush, and came home with a bottle of this, bought partly on impulse, and searched the brand for more information.

Now I'm going to write this review based purely on my experience with this foundation and ignore what I've read, because so far, I don't feel like this brand has been painted in a positive light which with my experience isn't rightly so, because I have nothing really negative to say.

So a quick overview of UNE, they are a spin-off company from Bourjois, but differ quite considerably to Bourjois, or any other make-up brand in that they are a "natural" cosmetic company. I think if any brand is deserving of that title, it would certainly be UNE since in the foundation alone, 98.2% of the ingredients are from natural origin, 17.1% are from Organic Farming, and many of the products, if not all, are free from parabens.

There may be a brand comparable, but when you walk into Boots, that's not neccessarily obvious, and that's what singles this brand out, is it's accessibility. Since buying the foundation in a large branch of Boots, I have now seen a stand in my local Superdrug, which I was pleased to find, and glad that this brand is reaching out as accessible and affordable. I opted for shade G06 which I think is around a MAC NC20-25. The foundation was priced at around £13 for 30ml of product. Not cheap, but then not vastly expensive either. It's mid-range, cheaper than a lot of foundations I've tried and a price I'm willing to pay to not put a cocktail of chemicals on my face. Don't get me wrong, I'll slap on MAC like it's going out of fashion, but I do think it's important to give my skin a breather from time to time, and I am one of those paranoid people who's a little afraid of chemicals. If I could choose a product from another and the only difference was the list of ingredients, then I'd obviously plump for the one without the artificiality, and I'm sure I'm not alone. So I applaud UNE for going against the grain and releasing an authentic natural range.

The real test is in how this make-up holds up. It's all well and good being natural, but if this make-up is gone without a trace in 2 hours, it's somewhat useless. NOT the case I'm glad to say! This is a "glow" effect foundation, and I am a combination/oily skinned client, so we are not traditionally a match made. I usually need something with "matte" in the title, particularly this time of year, late spring to early autumn and anything "glowy" or "dewy" on my skin usually=shiny. If I don't powder, I do notice a shine, but it's actually not something I can't live with, I don't feel like my skin is suffering under there, it's just a very natural look. It makes me feel like I can embrace the natural oily state of my skin, because it is still less oily than usual, and it evens out my skin tone, minimises my pores, all the while looking natural.
Here we have a blob. I wanted to give you an idea of the consistency and texture of the foundation. It looks like any other at this point I suppose.
Rubbed in a little, it's actually very smooth to apply, even on the dry skin on my hands it doesn't pick up any skin, just smooths over for an even texture. It's very creamy yet light feeling.
And rubbed in almost entirely, this is pretty much the coverage on my face, minus the cracks because my hands are a little dry lately. A little blob goes a long way which is another plus point, I don't like to apply a lot of foundation, I want a foundation that is going to last me a good few months so it's good value, and this definitely does the job.
So is this foundation for you? If you want heavy coverage then no, definitely bypass this, but if you enjoy make-up and want to go for a lighter, natural look than normal without skipping foundation it might be worth a look. I think this is great for people just getting into make-up aswell, people who might not have tried any foundations before, or if you have problematic, sensitive skin, this might be suitable as it's free from harsh chemicals. Even those make-up lovers who just want something for their down-days where you still want to wear a foundation but without the effort of a heavy coverage face, since this is almost like a tinted moisturiser. Since buying this, I've also gone back to my parents house to visit and lost my moisturiser somewhere in transition, so I use this after toning and it's become a make shift moisturiser/foundation. I love a good multi-use product.

3 comments:

Lorna, literally. said...

A great review, I mentioned you in my post today at http://make-me--beautiful.blogspot.com

T x

joana said...

GREAT review sweetie. Let's follow each other?

Eden Angel said...

I have mixed thoughts about this brand, if I'm being completely honest. I hope I'm not being too spammy but I've reviewed this product along with a few of their other products if you want to have a look.

http://lovefromeden.blogspot.com/2010/10/une-cosmetics.html

http://lovefromeden.blogspot.com/2010/12/une-skin-matt-foundation.html

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