Trying to find a lightweight, skin-like finish foundation for under a tenner is like trying to find a needle in a very matte and chalky haystack. Historically for me I either find drugstore base offerings to be too oily and slick for my skin, or on the other end of the texture scale creating a horribly troweled on appearance that can only be described as ‘cake-face’. But hold your horses and withdraw out that tenner as I’ve found one that fits the ‘nice and natural’ bill and doesn’t leave me reaching for the bottle of Bioderma after application – Revlon’s new Nearly Naked Foundation*. Playing on that word we just love to hear in the beauty world, it surpasses all my usual budget base niggles. Here’s its report…
Trying to pigeonhole Nearly Naked into a coverage category is a tricky one. More flaw-reducing and less glowy than a tinted moisturiser but sheerer than your usual foundation – I guess it sits best as a light-to-medium coverage base layer. No shimmers, no powdery pigments just a pretty spot-on skin-esque finish; the shade 120 Vanilla blends in with no face/neck shade difference to be seen (which makes a change). Applied with my usual procedure – no primer, Real Techniques Buffing Brush, no powder – the longevity isn’t anything to write home about, although there is a Nearly Naked powder to pair with it – I find it to dull the natural finish so suck it up and go for a dab of retouching instead. The not so rave-worthy pointers? As with any highstreet lineup the range of shades is lacking. There’s 10 in total and they lean more to cool colours and aren’t as pink-toned as other purse-friendly choices I’ve tried, but there will be those that still struggle to find a good match. Things could also be improved packaging-wise. No pump means you end up with a shedload of product dripping down the back of your hand and things can end up getting a wee bit messy. But it’s still a good’un and will be sure to keep the legion of lighter coverage lovers happy. To see this foundation whipped into action lay your eyes on my latest video.
Marching onto makeup counters as you read, it’s priced at the very reasonable £7.99. A bit of a bargain if you ask me. Will the Nearly Naked franchise be Revlon’s new ‘thing’? I’m bagsying the first place in the queue if they add a concealer to their range…
*PR Sample
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