Bobbi Brown Intensive Skin Serum Foundation Review

It's been a while since I did a beauty post (or any post actually, oops) so today I thought I would review a foundation I recently purchased and have been trying out. I had been on the lookout for a new base as my bottle of my usual go-to foundation, the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation, was coming to an end and I wanted to try something new so I paid a visit to the Bobbi Brown counter. The girls on my local Bobbi Brown counter were super nice and helpful when I was choosing and they recommended what they thought would be the best foundation for me then showed me several colours. What I specifically thought was great was that unlike on most counters, they tried 3 colours and asked for my opinion on which I personally liked the best rather than just telling me which one I should buy. I came away with what I believe is the brand's newest foundation, the Intensive Skin Serum SPF 40 Foundation in the shade Sand.

First things first, this is a pricey one even for a high end brand. I would usually expect to pay around £30-35 but this was £39 (most likely due to it's skincare benefits) and the reason I went ahead and bought it despite the price is because I loved how it looked so much when I tried it on that I didn't actually ask the price until I got to the till. So, is it worth the price? 

This foundation has a light to medium coverage, comes in a variety of shades like most of the brand's offerings, and is said to be suitable for normal to dry skin. My skin is pretty normal with the odd dry patch on my nose and forehead and this is probably the best foundation formulation I've tried so far. It gives the perfect amount of coverage for me which can easily be built up and it has a lovely natural, radiant, healthy-looking finish. The colour is also great and doesn't make my skin look lifeless like some paler shades do. It can go a bit shiny around the t-zone but this is easily fixed with a little bit of powder, I use the Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Pressed Powder which I picked up on the same day. It lasts well throughout the day with the occasional top-up of powder although it sometimes sinks into any fine lines (e.g. around the mouth from where you've been laughing/smiling) but I haven't really found a foundation that doesn't do this. All in all, I absolutely love how this foundation looks on my skin and it has definitely proven to me that it is worth investing a bit more in a high-end foundation because I 100% notice a difference between this and my cheaper high street foundation picks. 

In terms of skincare benefits, it is "formulated with Lychee, Bamboo Grass and Cordyceps Mushroom extracts" and has SPF 40 which helps towards anti-ageing and is supposed to make skin look fresher and smoother. I can't vouch for the anti-ageing and haven't noticed a massive difference in my skin without foundation but it does make the skin look healthy and fresh when worn. 

However, the massive downside to this foundation for me is the packaging. Sure, it looks beautiful but it is so, so unpractical. I personally prefer a clear foundation bottle as when they're opaque like this you can't see how much you've used up but what's even worse than that is the applicator. Instead of a pump it is a pipette/dropper which is extremely ineffective. On the Bobbi Brown site it gives instructions on how to properly use it but even when you do that the amount of foundation that the dropper picks up is limited and it's also very messy, as you can see in the image above. I feel like because of this applicator you can easily waste a lot of product which, at £39 per bottle, you don't want to be doing. I went to the counter to ask if I could buy a pump for it and unfortunately you can't but the lady who served me did say that she's complained to head office about it as she also dislikes it.

Overall, this is probably the best foundation I've used and it seems to be perfect for my skin meaning despite the high price I would definitely want to continue using it but the packaging is such a huge negative for me that it would prevent me from repurchasing unless they change it, which I am hoping they do as there is many complaints on the Bobbi Brown site. 

What foundation are you currently using? Would you recommend it?