Discovering the MAC Studio Radiance foundation

Finally a foundation that offers more radiance and less shine.

So event season has finally started, and it kicked off with MAC Cosmetics. Going to beauty events is always a hit or miss. Either the brand has carefully thought out what types of activations should be included to engage attendees or they’ve just thrown together a bunch of random sections that have nothing to do with the actual product and end up being a waste of time.

Thankfully, in this instance, MAC got it right. To introduce the new Studio Radiance serum-powered foundation, they collaborated with Ganache Chocolatier. Before I had even attended the event, the collaboration just made sense. If you had to compare foundation to anything edible, you would immediately think of chocolate, so needless to say, I anticipated this was going to be a good event because who doesn’t love chocolate?

I went straight to the foundation lounge, where PRO MAC artists were on hand to find your perfect foundation match. I also learned a little bit more about the foundation:

• It’s infused with skincare

• 10% hyaluronic acid

• It’s a buildable formula

• Gives you a lit from within radiance

Everything sounded good, and I was hoping this was one of those foundations that didn’t just disappear on your skin. As much as I love my skin to look like skin once my foundation is applied, I also do want some level of coverage. I was pleasantly surprised after trying some of the foundation on my jawline to see that it didn’t just disappear into the skin completely. One layer of the foundation still allows your skin to look healthy and come through, but with a more flawless finish.

My shade is NC40 which matches my tan perfectly. However, I know that even when I lose my tan, firstly, I’ll probably try and get it back, and secondly, even if my skin does become a little lighter, I know I can always lighten the foundation with a slightly lighter concealer.

Once I got my foundation shade matched, I headed over to the chocolate bar, which was full of delectable chocolate named after each foundation shade. I initially thought it was going to be a little too sweet for me, but this has to be the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted. I usually go for dark chocolate 80% and over, which can sometimes, depending on the brand, be a little too bitter. However, the chocolate I tried here was amazing - not too sweet nor too bitter.

There was also a station where you could paint your chocolates, which I thought was a really nice option to have. I watched the professional artist paint my chocolate perfectly and then gave it a go myself, and thankfully mine looked somewhat acceptable. The next stop was the coffee bar, which was such a cute set-up with different coffees named after MAC products. I grabbed myself a MAC-accino and headed to the personalization station, where a talented artist was personalizing foundation bottles with your name.

As soon as I got home, I decided to try out the foundation, as I had everything fresh in my mind and I really wanted to see if this foundation lived up to the hype.

After wearing this for a full day, here are my thoughts:

• I loved the instant radiance that it gave my skin. More of a lit from within glow as opposed to a dewy finish.

• One layer of foundation gives you a very healthy skin-like finish and evens out your skin tone very well. It’s very easy to build up the layers without disturbing the initial layer, and you can achieve medium coverage very easily; however, if you want full coverage, you can very easily add a concealer to take it up a notch.

• The color stayed true to itself and didn’t change throughout the day. My skin didn’t look tired later on in the day, and I genuinely felt that it looked as healthy as it did when I first applied it. The only difference was that there was a little more shine than earlier in the day, but I feel like I can easily mattify this with a little finishing powder. It’s not meant to be a matte foundation, so I was realistic about my expectations.

It’s packed with skin ingredients that help improve the texture of your skin over time, so the more you wear it, the better your skin gets. If you’re the kind of person who likes your skin to look like skin but better and you like a healthy radiant glow without looking oily or overly shiny, this is the foundation for you.