Organic Foundation That I Actually Love

So this post may have nothing to do with my “Chinoiserie” life but it is lifestyle nonetheless. I am a bit of a (okay maybe A LOT) beauty product junkie. My addiction is severe enough for me to have earned the coveted Sephora VIB Rouge status since it started! Trying out different beauty products is a passion of mine (or maybe a need because it seems like nothing works for me!) and I just have to share so that you don’t have to go through what I did! I’ll do the testing and you get to benefit! 😉

As a very fair skinned Asian with sensitive, acne-prone skin, I have found it extremely difficult to find a good foundation in my colour that did not break me out, look orange, cake, make me an oil slick, or just melt right off my face. I have never met a foundation that I actually liked, I just make do. I have tried the gamut from YSL to Makeup Forever – anything Sephora has to offer in my colour I’ve probably tried. What has worked for me is CoverFx powder foundation in N20 layered over Clinique’s Acne Solutions Foundation in Fresh Alabaster. The reason why I layer is because although I love the texture of the Clinique foundation (liquid to powder finish), the colour is just too dark for my skin tone even though I’m using their lightest colour. So I use the CoverFx power foundation over it to lighten the colour. Needless to say, this cakes a ton of makeup on my skin and I try hard not to look like a Geisha on a daily basis! I use a light hand and try to soften the look with hydrating sprays to set my makeup (LOVE LOVE LOVE Amore Pacific’s Moisture Bound Skin Energy Hydration Delivery System. It also smells like heaven) and give me a dewier finish.

When CoverFx came out with Custom Cover Drops which is a highly pigmented liquid meant to be mixed with your moisturizer to create your own foundation or tinted moisturizer, I would purchase it in N10 and mix it in with my Clinique foundation to lighten the colour. You may ask why I’ve done this complex routine instead of just trying another foundation in a colour that matches my skin tone?

SILICONES!!! The bane of my existence. There isn’t a single product on the market that does not have silicones in it! It’s usually the top three ingredients in foundation to give it that slip and silky feel. Silicones first became popular in primers such as the cult favourite Smashbox primer. It would fill the nooks and crannies and pores in your face and create a smooth canvas. For me, it would cause breakouts and white heads which are essentially blocked pores. It would take my aesthetician ages to poke each one with a needle to break the surface and squeeze all those suckers out. So like I said, I have never met a foundation that I have liked. I just make do with Clinique and CoverFx (which are also loaded with silicones but are further down the ingredient list that I can tolerate it) because it doesn’t cause the breakouts. But I still occasionally get some clogged pores over time that needs to be extracted at a facial.

Then I was introduced to the Detox Market. What?! A whole store dedicated to clean beauty products? Seems too good to be true! The sales associates at the Detox Market in Yorkville were extremely helpful and very patient with me as I lamented on my skincare woes. The experience overall was one I would definitely repeat again and again!

I’ve noticed in the last couple of years, not only have foundations become loaded with silicones, beauty products are now overflowing with them as well. Check your beauty and makeup products ingredient list. Do you see dimethicone or cyclopentasiloxane? Those are silicones!!! The beauty industry claims that they are not harmful to the skin (or hair as it is a common ingredient in hair products as well) and acts as a protective barrier to lock in hydration, blah blah blah. But that barrier also has an occlusive effect so for those who have oily skin, those oils are trapped under the silicone and can cause clogged pores and breakouts (aka ME). The CoverFx Powder Foundation I use has been a silicone free product since the start but they jumped on the bandwagon and added silicone to it a few years ago which freaked my skin out. I now use it more sparingly than before. So back to the Detox Market – it’s a smaller version of Sephora but all their products are clean, natural and free from harmful chemicals. Check out what they’re all about here, and their list of “no no” ingredients here, and their products are EWG approved! Walking in is like a spa experience – calming and inviting. Finding the Detox Market was like winning the lottery for me (but now what am I going to do with all my VIB Rouge Points???).

I mentioned to the Sales Associate that I have been looking for YEARS for a silicone free foundation and she said I came to the right place! Here I was introduced to the Kjaer Weis Cream Foundation in Lightness. Luckily for me, the Kjaer Weis Rep was in town from NYC (I wish I remembered her name as she was just so lovely), and she reassured me that I would not be disappointed with this foundation. She even took my address and said she would send me some luxury oil samples! I was so impressed with the Kjaer Weiss line and philosophy as explained to me by their rep. What I wasn’t impressed with was the price of the foundation: over $100 CAD for one tiny little pan! And I wasn’t completely convinced because of my record breaking bad experiences with trying new foundations, but being the junkie that I am, I had to try it and guess what? Let me introduce you to the FIRST EVER foundation that was love at first use for me. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing this foundation is (I’ve tried other natural and silicone free foundations from Whole Foods before and lets just say thank God for their heathy return policy). The compact comes in a gorgeous red packaging and the foundation comes in a luxurious heavy silver compact. It’s environmentally friendly because after the first time, you just purchase refills (which is thankfully much more affordable) for the compact with looks and feels sturdy enough to last forever. I just love how the Detox Market packages your purchases in a cute little reusable fabric drawstring pouch! I even got a deluxe Kjaer Weis cream highlighter. Talk about feeling spoiled!

Kjaer Weis Product Packaging and the cute little reusable fabric drawstring pouch from Detox Market!

The Kjaer Weiss Cream Foundation went on like a dream. I applied it with a foundation brush and it just melted right into my skin. It gave a beautifully semi-matte finish and has medium but buildable coverage. I couldn’t believe I didn’t even need to set it with powder! The finish looked so natural and not only looked but felt like skin! A little goes a long way and covers beautifully. It also doubles as a concealer if you build it up. I used a concealer brush and dabbed it on to cover areas where there was more redness and my under eye circles. I did use some powder under my eyes to set the makeup because I tend to get greasy there and makeup will settle in the lines under my eyes. For the rest of my face, I wanted a dewey finish so I used my Amore Pacific spray to set the makeup. It pretty much lasted all day without needing much touch up. I did blot with a pressed powder in the late afternoon because I tend to get oily in the T-Zone, but the colour held true and didn’t oxidize on me.

Kjaer Weis Cream Foundation in Lightness. (Pardon the fingerprints on the beautiful shiny compact!)

Not only is this an amazing foundation, it is silicone free and has nourishing ingredients for the skin so it’s like clean makeup with skincare built in!

I am hooked. Although I was extremely skeptical at first, I am now a convert and an addict. (Please help me!) I can’t wait to try all the other clean beauty products the Detox Market carries. (I’m currently using the Tata Harper Repairative Moisturizer…stay tuned for the review!)

What is your experience with silicones? Do you use clean beauty products? Thanks for sticking with me on such a long post! But I’m very passionate about clean beauty! Drop me a line and please share your thoughts!

XO, Amy