Collection Illuminating Touch Foundation Review

So as you may have seen if you follow my instagram (if you don't follow me then please go and find me @ beth_makeupblog) in the week I promised a review on this collection ' Illuminating touch foundation' and here it is! Now, this opinion isn't one of a complete professional. Instead, it is the opinion of someone who has worked with and tried many a foundation that are both bargains and bank busting. Because of this I feel that I am  able to give you a fairly well rounded opinion on this foundation.

When it comes to foundation I don't think it's worth messing around with. It is the base of your makeup and pretty much decides how the rest of your look will go. Now, like a fair few people with problematic skin( and many people with beautiful skin) , I love nothing more than a good medium/ full coverage foundation. For me a good foundation has to last long, it can't make me look like some shiny greased up mirror ball... or cakey...or orange...or dry skinned. oh and I like it if I don't have to take out a morgage out to buy it! So as you can tell, I'm not to fussy with foundations, right?

Now, this foundation I stumbled across online with other MUA's stating it was a secret holy grail on the british highstreet. As I am ALWAYS on the hunt for the perfect foundation for my troublesome skin type I thought it was worth a shot and picked it up. This foundation as I said earlier is made by collection (once known as collection 2000 for all us 90's babies!) and on their website collection claim the foundation has:  

"Hydrating formulation that leaves skin with a naturally radiant finish

Medium - full coverage and long-lasting wear

Gives a 'your skin but better' finish

Available in 6 classic shades' "

(http://www.collectioncosmetics.co.uk/products/face/foundation/illuminating-touch-foundation)

This foundation can be brought at both Boots and Superdrug and usually retails around £5.99 but it can be brought currently at Boots for the killer price of £3.99?!?!?!

What do I think of this foundation?

Okay, I am not going to lie... this foundation is actually pretty good. I am someone that totally gets wrapped up in the idea of "The more money you spend on makeup, the better it will be" and this foundation proved this is a load of rubbish!

Finish:

Colours:

The foundation did actually stick to what it claimed and gives a nice radiant finish! I noticed a difference between the finish of this instantly compared to my other normally matte foundations. I found it personally to be the right balance between matte and dewy for my combination/ acne skin and found that the finish set fairly nicely with a powder and would be fine on its own if you don't mind the texture of a dewy foundation all day. I found it had the right level of dewyness for someone who has textured skin and acne as it didn't make me look too shiny but gave a slight 'umph' to the skin that was nice. It blended well with other products also.

swatches from bottom to top WITHOUT FLASH:
1- shade 2 Ivory Blended
2- Shade 3Cool Beige blended
3- shade 2 Ivory swatched
4- Shade 3 Cool Beige swatched

The foundation comes in 6 shades and I originally picked up the foundation in the shade Ivory (2) and then cool beige (3) later on when I began to vamp up the summer fake tanning! Now, one thing I have noted with this foundation is the 6 shades are all fairly close together and are in the medium skin tone area in my opinion. They do not really have many shades for us naturally super pale ladies and do not accommodate any gorgeously darker shades for deeper skin tones. Unfortunately, I think the lack of a diverse colour range is something that is a problem within MANY foundation lines and it would be great if high street makeup brands added more spectrum to their shade range so it could suit everyone.

The colours they do proivde however do both suit my skin tone well and Collection seem to have a nice range between pink, neutral and yellow undertones in the 6 different shades. I noticed that they didn't really oxidise or change colour too much compared to other foundations. However, something I would suggest is obviously trying out the shades in store to make sure that you get the right undertone. For example, my cool beige shade almost suggests a pinkish undertone through its name... but in fact it was really yellow in undertone and the warm beige (3) was pink?!?! This is slightly odd, but remember... you are paying 6 pounds at max so colour matching yourself so it's not too much of a bother to swatch the 6.

Coverage:

The foundation was fairly on it when it came to its coverage claims. I would say that the foundation was around medium coverage and wasn't too bad to build up for more coverage. I always cover my scarring further with my camouflage makeup regardless but I felt like it gave me a good base and evened out most of my redness and skin tone even though I had darker scarring peeking through like I do with all foundations. I found that it blended quite well with other makeup and did not cake any more than other foundations. However, I did notice when wearing it that some days  after around 5/6 hours it would sometimes go a little cakey around certain areas such as my under eyes, mouth and nose. Now, I never touch up my foundation and have been known to sometimes go OTT with the old powder products so this may have been more down to be then the foundation. This can happen with some of my £45 pounds foundation so I would say this wasn't any worse then you could expect.

Packaging and Apperance:

The packaging is actually really nice. It comes in a nice frosted glass bottle that gives this foundation the illusion of costing WAY more than 6 quid?! I think this is nice and also clever as it makes you feel like you are applying something that is more luxurious and therefore bound to be better right?

 It comes with a pump which is nice and a black top with the foundation shade stuck onto it. One thing I have noted is that the bottle doesn't display its ingredients and doesn't come in a box or with instructions that does either. This doesn't really bother me too much personally and I'm sure you can find out the ingredients online, but looking at this from a sensitive skin perspective... it is something to bear in mind.

The foundation does not have any sort of fake floral or 'old lady style' smell, BUT I think it does sort of smell like suncream?! The smell isn't unpleasant and it doesn't seem to have any funny chemicals or smells that instantly will break someone with acne or sensitive skin out which is a win! ( and trust me, merely looking at some products is enough to turn my face volcanic!)

OVERALL:

Overall, I would give this foundation around 3.5 stars out of 5 as for a while I have been using this as an everyday foundation. I think you have to work with this foundation and play around with it to find the best amount and method for application. I used around 1 1/2 pumps per layer and always using a buffing brush or beauty sponge to apply it and I have had no worries.

 Is it the best foundation I've tried? No

Does it live up to higher end foundations that cost loads? Probably not in most situations.

Is it worth the price I payed? Yes and more so!

It has a beautiful finish and has been enjoyed by someone who doesn't have the easiest skin to please. I think for currently £3.99 in Boots that this foundation is really worth a go as its one of the better drugstore foundations I have personally tried and totally worth its usual 6 pound price tag. I think this will be one that will stay in my foundation collection and has a place in certain looks. Collection, you have actually surprised me and you have made a cracking affordable and illuminating foundation!!

Have any of you guys tried this foundation? Or, do you have a drugstore foundation that has become a Holy Grail product? Let me know! x