Giorgio Armanic: Powder Fabric Foundation review

I've had run ins with Giorgio Armani's foundations before, but here is one of my most anticipated, and pretty much most disappointing experience. 

I am not generally a huge fan Giorgio Armani's makeup at all, I find the products generally not colors or formulas that I would use but- if there is anything I turn to high end regarding makeup, it will be foundation. 

The formulas for foundation tend to be better, and longer lasting, and also a little kinder for my sensitive skin. Generally I've had much better finishes and wear time with high end foundations, and drug store tends to be a little more slippery and also harder to match. 

Also in terms of prices and where to get certain foundations, drugstore foundations in Australia tend to run from $20-40AUD (even Max Factor at 35ml goes for $37AUD at Priceline), and high end runs around $60-100AUD (Lancome's Teint Idol Ultra Wear at $60AUD for 30mL). 

No editing has gone into these pictures to keep the colors as accurate as possible! 

Power Fabric retails for $64 USD, or $90 AUD, for 30mL (though you only need a little for this formula!) 

Personally for me, in terms of my awful skin and my extremely oily t-zone, I find that drugstore just doesn't really match up to the wear time (even when you bake), and the finishes tend to be more gritty on the skin, so I prefer high end. 

When reading the reviews and the raves for this new foundation from Giorgio Armani, I had to try this out! I love Chanel's Perfection Lumiere Velvet foundation which is very similar to the Fenty foundation being liquid to powder finishes, and it lasts all day on my awful skin and happens to look beautiful as well.  

The reviews on this were that it lasts all day, with high coverage and a really great finish. 

Here's the official description : 

POWER FABRIC is a new liquid foundation that teams full coverage with a matte, lightweight second skin finish. 

POWER FABRIC is a concentration of oils with no greasy effect, which delivers a velvet matte finish. To achieve perfect full coverage foundation, powerful pigments were selected and then shaped to obtain extremely fine pigment particles with a quality of color beyond reproach.

POWER FABRIC combines full coverage with an ultra-light formula. Upon application, the texture melts into the skin, effectively blurring imperfections with an incredibly lightweight matte veil that feels like you're not wearing make-up at all. With a SPF 25 filter, power fabric offers effective daily UVA and UVB protection up to the promise of broad-spectrum SPF protection.

Because every woman is unique, POWER FABRIC foundation comes in 20 shades to suit all skin tones. The formula is adapted for each shade to deliver optimal coverage without cracking or dulling.

I really do agree that the foundation has a great velvet matte finish, definitely full coverage though it does feel quite heavy on the face. 

You can really feel the foundation sitting on the face, though I imagine it holds up much better in winter months than it does during European summers (which is when I was wearing it.) 

You'll also definitely need more SPF as it is only SPF 25 (and ideally you should be wearing SPF 50!)

I got mine in shade 4, however the colors don't necessarily match up with the numbering system either. Which is strange. I also realized that this shade was not the kind of shade I wanted (and was a bit too tan and a smidge too yellow, but the pretty dismal 20 shade range really doesn't accomodate for my more neutral/yellow undertone.) I also got 'shade matched' in store with a SA, and it's just another one of my run ins with SAs who really just don't seem to be able to accurately color match for me. When I buy foundation, I try to pick mine with as little assistance as possible. f you want to know more about shade matching tips, click here. 

It's quite heavy the bottle, and also is made of glass and will easily break if you don't take care of it.  The one upside - it has a pump bottle! It is high luxury high end packaging though, so I imagine at least $10 will go to the bottle. 

Here's a swatch of it applied, and also with the dry down. 

As you can obviously tell, despite the flush of red on my arm, it basically runs way too cool toned and dark on my skin.

A dry down of almost 20 minutes, and is far too dark and yellow toned for me. 

A quick and easy thought on this foundation: I could see someone liking this, and I don't mind it too much except that I'm allergic to this foundation and instantly broke out with it. Within a few hours of wearing it, I had some itching around my cheek and jaw, and the next day already had a cluster of acne where my skin was reacting. 

The positives are: it is a lovely high coverage foundation that will last the whole day. 

The negatives: breaks me out and has an awful shade range which also doesn't really suit my undertones very well either. 

With the price tag, I really can't recommend this to anyone, or at least anyone with my skin type or skin tone. 

Anyone who prefers high coverage, matte finish foundations without a history of sensitive skin, may find this a great foundation though! 

With some context on my own history of sensitive skin as well, I'm not generally allergic to perfumes/fragrances, but I have had a previous run in with an old version of KATE's Powderless Liquid for Cover (reformulated into Powdery Skin Maker). I had an awful reaction to this, and while it looked amazing on my skin, and for a few thousand yen, I loved this, until I realized I had pimples the very next day from using it. Since then, I gave that away to a friend who still raves about this formula (and it's been quite a while since this was discontinued) 

Another similar reaction I had with breaking out instantly was to the Fenty foundation. It is a smidge drying, but I don't mind that at all. Unfortunately, I tested it in store and the next day- pimples everywhere. 

Also to note - I've heard that Huda Beauty's Faux Filter Foundation is also quite bad for sensitive skin. 

If you too had a reaction to Power Fabric, I recommend you stay away from these! 

Between them, the price range seems to be pretty all over the shop and don't think it is a price issue with this one specifically, but rather maybe an ingredient that causes the dry down reaction. 

Unfortunately, not being a qualified PhD in Chemistry or even involved in makeup formulation, I really can't say specifically with conviction what it could be, but only tell you my experiences.