Diorskin Airflash Foundation - review

So this foundation, Diorskin Airflash, wasn't at all what I expected.  I expected it to be something like a mish-mash montage of every perfume and shampoo ad you've ever seen; me, in soft focus, spraying myself liberally with an ultra-fine mist of foundation.  I expected my hand to be about 1 foot from my face, all “fetlocks blowing in the wind” (machine) and with lots of hair tossing and the neck extensions, looking like this was the most sem-orgasmic foundation applying experience ever...

... and we're bumped back to reality.  What it actually is, is me screwing my eyes shut tight and hoping that my spritz of foundation-from-a-can doesn't go up my nose or into my mouth, or blind me, and that it does go roughly on my face somewhere I need it.  And then realising, hey, I can open one eye and spray it on the other side of my face at a time.  And having to go through this ritual.  Every. Single. Time.  Ah the joys.

On the other hand, I can honestly say that, disappointing application method aside, I love this foundation.  To lift directly from an email earlier on this week to MontyC, I am in deeeeeep smit.  It's Gorgeous.  I love, love, love it.  It’s not what I expected but I love it nonetheless.

(This is the foundation I was referring to in this post by the way, if anyone’s curious).

Coverage

This has a gorgeous medium coverage.  It’s reasonably buildable to just-short-of full coverage.  It can look a bit caked on though, if you’re not careful.  Personally, I’ll stick with “medium”.  It’s also got (I’m sorry, but I’m going to use that annoying word) amazeballs pigmentation.  Truly unbelievable.  Using this on its own negates need to use a concealer on my ruddy cheeks.  Fab.  End of, as MontyC would say.

Finish

This provides a satin finish, with a tiny bit of a healthy glow thing going on underneath.  Nothing hugely exciting, finish-wise, but lovely none-the-less.

Wearability

Slightly longer than a standard eight-hour wear, it lasts me all day and then some.  I have had no issues with patchy or bunched skin despite frequent use (abuse?!) of this, day in, day out, for weeks.  When I finish this can, I’ll buy another.  No question about it.  My face goes on at around 7am each morning and I would prefer a foundation that lasts me until around 5pm in the evening, as I have genuinely little or no time for topping up or powdering or that kind of palaver during the day.  So something that does the trick with no help is welcome.  I have found that it can sometimes fade somewhat on oilier parts of my skin (for example, the coverage on my nose is somewhat diminished about two-thirds of the way through the day alright).  When it fades, it does so reasonably uniformly.  It can rub-off during the day, not badly, but definitely so if not locked in place with powder.  I did not get this all over my OH's shirt recently.  And I did not own up to it.  Oops.  Not sure which of the Did Nots I did do, or didn't do.  Do dee do.  Onwards.

Best applied with

Flashing back to the soft-focus 80’s montage dream sequence at the start of this post, application is not at all what I expected.  It’s not a beginner’s foray into an airgun/airbrush foundation.  Despite what the Dior site says about spraying a fine mist in a Z across your face, it doesn't deposit a superfine film of foundation on your face with no effort.  It shoots out a splodge of stuff that you have to buff in with your fingers/sponge/brush (any of them will do, even a dampened sponge).  I like my Shu Uemura #18 foundation brush best, but then again, to be honest I like this brush the best for most foundations I have anyhow (or to be very fair to all my other brushes and truthful and honest to my readers, it’s my current favourite).  In fact, the lovely SA at the Dior counter when I was purchasing recommended to me that I spritz/splodge this onto the back of my hand and work from there (she reckoned it make it go a bit further).  One thing: give this a serious shake, shake, shake senora, before using it, or you’ll get mainly propellant and very little pigmentation otherwise.

Best suited to

I can’t see this suiting particularly oilier skin types, but I could see it working with combination, normal, slightly dry and perhaps even dry, with some powdering on oilier areas.  I have used this on younger and more mature skins and it worked fine on both.  Given it’s “deployment mechanism”, you’re not going to be able to get a sample of this, so you’ll need to get this one tried out on you at a Dior counter really, and wear it and see how it works for you.

Shades and Undertones

Dior's foundations have three different undertones - neutral, pink and peach.  For neutral to yellow undertones, always choose a foundation ending in "0" (for example, I'm using 300, which is a neutral undertone medium shade).  For pink undertones, select a foundation ending in "2" (012, 022, 032).  For apricot/peach undertones, select a foundation ending in "3" (023, 033)

Dior Airflash #300 Medium Beige splodge

I'm using #300 and it’s very slightly darker than I’d like, but the next one down was far too pale.  And as I was purchasing this one blind, with no possibility of getting a sample first, I didn't want to buy two shades to mix them.  Mixing would not be impossible if you assume the working-from-the-back-of-your-hand trick recommended to me, but far from ideal.

Formulation

This is a liquid foundation in a can.  It's water-based with a bunch of propellants, nylon, glycerin, silicones, silica,  parabens.  Probably not the best for your skin so.  When you spray it, it has a lovely cooling feel and a crackly sound, akin to that stuff that Virgin Vie remember them?) produced as a cooling pick-me-up for the feet years ago (I can't remember its name, but I remember how bloody useless it was; this foundation on the other hand, is not useless).  I assume that’s some kind of propellant-or-other.

SPF, Flashback, Price

I don't believe it contains an SPF, I certainly didn't note any sun factor ingredients in the listing.  €48-ish will buy you a 70ml can.   Recommended?  A whole big pile of hell yeah, but bear in mind what I’ve said above.  I love it for its day-long lastability.  That’s the key piece for me.  Look here to the Dior site if you're interested in some more info.