I’ve been testing out Armani’s Power Fabric foundation – very thoroughly, in fact, because I’ve been trying to film quite a bit of content for Youtube and so I’ve needed a fuller base.
As you realize, I’m not the greatest lover of high coverage, longwear foundations – I’ll usually grab something slightly more natural looking and glowy unless I’m filming a specific makeup look – but this one isn’t your typical take-it-off-with-a-chisel, polyfilla-esque complexion-coverer. For a start, the coverage isn’t quite as heavy as something like Double Wear – it’s full, but it’s not a “blank it all out” foundation.
I like this – some of the life is left in the skin. It looks perfected, but not overdone, and what’s astonishing is when little of the product you will get away with using to attain such a beautiful finish. It appears very polished and pulled-together, but you don’t have to load the skin with a tonne of claggy base.
There’s none of the dryness that you might usually find with a longwear foundation – some of them can cling awfully to flaky bits, if you don’t prep your skin well, or they are able to gather around the nose and chin and look cakey and wrong. Not a problem with Power Fabric: the only real time I had unevenness was when I hadn’t blended quickly enough on my cheek and it went slightly patchy. I believe that the key is to work reasonably fast with a sponge or a stipply sort of foundation brush (I found the Real Techniques Buffing Brush* to be a good match for Power Fabric); when I’ve used a flatter brush I’ve found that the product has laid down too thickly. And there’s simply no need to lay this down heavily – the good thing about it is in its relative lightness.
Before and after pictures for you:
You can see that the finish is lovely and velvety – not a powdery matte, just soft and slightly radiant. And this really is a longwear foundation; I’ve seen some online reviews stating that Power Fabric doesn’t last, but I’ve tested it out for twelve hours or even more on a number of occasions and it has stayed put extremely well.
I like Power Fabric a lot; it’s a nice (though relatively pricey) introduction to high coverage foundations if you’ve never tried one before. It's good longevity and it has very decent coverage, however with less of the pitfalls usually associated with a full coverage base. I’m generalising here, however they can be hard to blend, quick to create (and then difficult to adjust!) plus they can have a deadened, flat look on your skin. Although you do have to take special care to blend this well (it’s best to work fast with a little bit of product and build it up rather than slap on a layer) to avoid mistakes, the conclusion is far from flat.
Read: Armani Maestro Glow Foundation Review
Admittedly I've found the cushion versions of Dior’s Forever and Lancome’s Teint Idole easier to use, but I think that perhaps that’s since you pick up less product when you press a brush right into a cushion foundation, so you kind of lightly “stipple” the product on, which results in a far more even finish. I’ll have to put that theory towards the test! Both of the aforementioned bases are comparable when it comes to coverage and longevity, and I’d say, tentatively, they have a smidgen more glow.
Have you tried Power Fabric? What is your opinion? You can find it at Selfridges here* if you wish to take a look online – it’s lb40. I made use of shade 4 for the photos above.
Read: All Foundation Reviews…
