After watching a good selection of videos of people who were similar skin toned than me, I figured that I would be the shade Barcelona, so I went to my local Nars counter and picked up a sample of it, I wasn't about to part with £31 without picking up the correct shade. When I tried it on I was disappointed to see that the shade Barcelona was rather peachy toned and made my yellow skin look ruddy. Wrong shade aside I quite liked the light feeling it had on my skin and the natural skin like finish. It was really skin like and blended easily with my fingers.

Detachable cap

Medium 3 Stromboli

Upon arrival I was literally buzzing with excitement. Beauty blender in hand I applied the foundation onto my face and bounced away. The shade matched my cheeks perfectly. It really had a lovely yellow olive undertone. My first impression was that this foundation wasn't sheer as the name suggested and it certainly wasn't glowy. I was very confused. Then I recalled Wayne Goss' video on this foundation and remembered he said the same thing. I have combination dehydrated skin so I get dry and cakey really quickly. And this was what this foundation was doing, it was catching on my dry bits, not a lot but because I was literally expecting a sheer and glowy texture and finish this was very very far off from my general expectations. Another bugger was that it made the area of my mouth horrendously grey. Because that area is significantly darker than the rest of my face. On the leaflet that came with the foundation, Francois Nars mentions to use the warmth of your fingers to apply and blend the foundation in. I am yet to try that....

After a few occasions of trialing and testing with different methods of applications and amounts, I realised you only need a small amount of this foundation, a little really goes a long way as it was that pigmented and I had to make sure I was well exfoliated and well moisturised beforehand. I also use an orange corrector around my mouth and use the foundation even more sparingly in that area. It blended easily and had amazing coverage with such a tiny amount. It does make skin look really really lovely and flawless and quite 'done up'. 

This isn't holy grail status for me because I feel the shade is slightly off, don't get me wrong Stromboli doesn't look silly on me and I can easily get away with it, it's actually one of the first foundations to match me so well but I wish they had a shade in between Stromboli and Syracuse as Barcelona was too peachy, so my next option is to get a sample of Syracuse and see how that fares on me. I may have to mix two shades together to get an absolutely perfect match. 

It also isn't as sheer and glowy as I thought it would be, it is quite thick in texture and leaves a semi matte-satin finish, it also catches onto a lot of texture. Everyone in the blogosphere and youtube world always rave about it but I just can't seem to give it the same reaction. I was simply surprised at how semi-matte the texture was.

Also after reading a good few reviews on Makeup Alley I found out that people that are roughly between NC35 - NC40 - NC42 won't find a perfect match within Nars' shade range. The shades within that range will probably be too peachy and not golden yellow enough. Even though Stromboli is yellow undertoned it is a medium shade so tanned or more golden girls will find it too light, and then going up a shade to Barcelona will only be too peachy. And I can imagine Syracuse being too red or brown. Here's my little sample of Barcelona resting on the lid for comparison.

Barcelona (L) & Stromboli (R)

Barcelona on top and Stromboli on bottom

In these swatches I have swatched Mac Studio Fix Fluid in NC37, Mac being the bottom swatch and Stromboli being the top, here you can also see how yellow Stromboli is compared to Macs NC37.

Stromboli (Top) & MAC NC37 (Bottom)

I currently have only NC37, NC40 is a better match for me, it is slightly too yellow but I prefer it to NC37. I'll do a separate blogpost on Mac Studio Fix Fluid.

I have been gravitating towards this foundation for the past few occasions I have been to, until I find the perfect one, this one will do. I use my wet/damp real techniques complexion sponge and apply it in sections. It builds up very easily but be wary of the dry areas of your skin, they get cakey and build up texture very quickly. If you have milia or clusters of blocked pores they will show up more. I can't stress enough to make sure your skin is flake free when applying, the more smooth and flat your skins surface is the more beautifully this foundation will sit on your skin. 

I use around 2-3 light layers of Nars sheer glow which is between 1-2 pumps and I must say while I'm trialling the foundation for this review now, I'm looking in the mirror and must admit how beautifully flawless it's made my skin appear. My pores, redness, acne and acne scars are covered flawlessly and it doesn't look unnatural or cakey. It is a semi matte texture and finish but the overall finished look is very illuminating and glowy. The light is bouncing off my skin in all the right places. It's not a dewy look at all, my skin doesn't look oily or wet, it's definitely a semi matte - satin finish. And to be perfectly honest the colour isn't drastically off, just slightly, as I build up the layers the colour gets deeper. This is a very very good and quality foundation, definitely one to try out. Just make sure that your skin prep is thorough, if you find it doesn't sit well on your skin try out different techniques, mix in some moisturiser or oil and see what works best for you, I'm still trial and error-(ing?) to see what works best for my skin. 

*UPDATE*: I have been using this foundation quite a lot and what I can say is that when I build the foundation up the colour does deepen quite significantly, and it is most definitely golden enough for my skintone, in fact Stromboli is the closest ANY foundation has come to my skintone and it also actually oxidises a tiny bit on my skin too. In comparison to my much loved Studio Sculpt foundation, the Nars is much better, MAC is just too orange in comparison! I was shocked believe me. I thought MAC done yellow best. I actually have come to love the colour of this foundation, it really mimics the yellow in my skin. Also orange corrector helps a lot around my mouth.

My gripe with this foundation is that it shows texture, a lot, so my uneven skin texture doesn't look very nice when the foundation is built up, which in turn makes the foundation look 'obvious' on my face, so it isn't immensely skin like (only when I want to build up for more coverage). I do think if less is used it'll look better, building up coverage will give you a very 'done up' look and I know some people aren't too fond of that, myself included. I want to try using my fingers to apply the foundation as Francois suggested even though I love my sponge/beauty blender. It's a really good foundation, just not Holy Grail for me. 

I hope this review was helpful. If you have any questions please do ask.

*Update* : I have been using my fingers as Francois recommended, I use under a pump for a natural everyday look and it blends in seamlessly and looks very natural and doesn't pick up texture. I don't think you can build up too much coverage with your fingers because you will simply be moving the foundation around. Unless you do pin point concealing with the foundation and pat it into place instead of rubbing it. This foundation is quite pigmented, so you really don't need much. 1/2 a pump to 1 full pump should be enough. 

One of my issues, as you read in my review, was that you end up looking quite "done up" and obvious, I've noticed using less product and blending in with fingers will stop you from looking too done up, in fact it will look rather skin like and natural. The warmth from your fingers really melts the product into the skin and should leave no tell tale lines as it does for me. I've noticed this is something a wet sponge can not do as it's just not as warm as your fingers.

I know this is a very long in depth review on this particular foundation, I just found it difficult to get along with because it's been advertised and reviewed a little differently than I expected. And it's a Holy Grail for a lot of people out there. Though I hope this review was helpful. 

Comes in a simple cream plastic bottle and has a little hole to dispense the toner, I've removed mine as its too slow and little a drizzle. It smells floral and herbally, so it's not too bad but I don't think it's everyone's cup of tea. I use it at night time after cleansing. I paint it on with a flat foundation brush or I use my fingers and leave it to sink into my skin before applying a little moisturiser. 

The first time I used this I woke up and my skin looked really soft and plump and youthful. And it felt really soft too! My dry skin patches and chronic crusty nose were soft and smooth. After a few uses I started noticing how my acne scars and little bumps and pimples were reducing and my skin was looking clearer. After doing some research I found out that this contained 2-4% AHA. As you know I am an AHA addict I knew I would like this product. Struggling with hyper-pigmented skin and congestion I need to regularly exfoliate my skin and I much prefer chemical exfoliants compared to physical exfoliants. But both together work well too if done carefully. I started seeing results straight away, they were slight but overtime this has helped improve my skin tons, like the REN mask this has helped lighten and diminish my acne scars so I have only a handful left on my face which are still lightening. I also think you will see better results if you keep on top of it and use it regularly.

This bottle had lasted me aaages since I bought it in March this year and I use it 3-4 times a week. I have roughly a third left. I don't use cotton pads as this would use up too much product. This has really helped with my uneven skin texture and acne/scars. I recommend this for everyone as it's really mild and works gently as the name suggests. Do a patch test of you have sensitive skin. This has helped my South Asian hyper-pigmented skin and I recommend this to fellow olive tan skin tones that struggle with hyper-pigmentation and congestion. I bought mine from eBay for under £15 for 120ml and it's usually £20-£25. 

*Update*: This is a good exfoliating toner to start off with if you are new to exfoliating toners and want to start using them. It gets rid of dry skin and works over a period of time to get rid of acne marks. I saw results pretty much straight away with my dry patches and after a couple of weeks my dark spots were disappearing and it also seemed to control breakouts too, I was rarely breaking out, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working for me anymore and I'm not getting satisfactory results. I hardly breakout now but the little bumps I have are clogged pores and you need salicylic acid (BHA) to get rid of them and this toner doesn't contain salicylic acid if I'm not mistaken. even though it helped with breakouts it's not sorting out the congestion or bumps. I still recommend this, it's a good one to try out.