Price: RM89.00
I received this Airish Cushion Foundation from All A Box Malaysia in exchange for an honest review, but all thoughts are my own, as always. This retails for RM89 in the official Airish store.
When All A-Box Malaysia offered to send me a box of beauty products to review, I wasn't expecting the cosmetics in it, mostly because my skin is particularly sensitive to anything that could potentially be clogging, so that pretty much means I need to be extra careful when it comes to introducing makeup to my skin. That said, I was estatic to get this because I'm running out of my 7Hara Cushion. I am very curious how it would fare against the 7Hara Spotlight Cover Cushion, which is almost twice the price of this one at the suggested retail price of RM183. We'll see. :D
Airish London LTD is a cosmetic brand that has branches in Malaysia and Indonesia, with the brand being more popular in our neighbors (Indonesia). The makeup brand was found in 2016 and originated from London, but their products are made in Korea, which is arguably the beauty capital of the world.
The Airish Cushion Foundation is a liquid foundation that is, according to their flowery description, 'infused in an innovative sponge that delivers the perfect amount of makeup. Our glow refreshing formula creates sheer to medium coverage to match your skin tone for natural fresh-faced perfection.' I have expectations, man. XD
Packaging
The Cushion comes pre-filled and does not include a refill, which is to be expected for the price point. The packaging for the cushion is pretty standard for cushions, in my opinion. Nothing too fancy or revolutionary about it, which is good. The compact is sturdy and comfortable to hold with a design that is matte and doesn't try to record my fingerprint, which I like. Lol.
Do remember to remove the protective layer on the mirror. I've seen people fail to do this because of how well the protective layer adheres to the mirror that they don't even realize it's there in the first place.
The sponge is reminiscent of the Face Shop CC Puff that I've purchased for about ~RM8. It's not a bad thing. I quite like the puff since it doesn't absorb too much for my product and allows me to have an even application. There's a reason for my repurchase, after all.
Ingredients
You know what would be really nice? If official product pages would have their own ingredients list so I don't have to painstakingly stare at it from their tiny print. I keyed in some of their ingredients into cosdna and found the usual stuff, water as the solvent, titanium dioxide as the pigment and sunscreen, various iron oxides as pigments, and a few emollients as well as well as viscocity controls. The preservative used appears to be phenoxyethanol, which some people may be sensitive to.
It also contains fragrance, though I can't really smell it on the cushion.
I'll be the first to admit that I've been spoiled by the 7Hara cushion, which is made not only with natural and safe ingredients, but also add ingredients that are able to promote healthier skin, such as Japanese Apricot flower for anti-aging, cheery blossom for soothing, white magnolia for it's anti-inflammatory properties, and lotus flower for skin purifying.
I kind of wish that Airish would adopt the same concept, but again, the price point of RM89 means sacrifices have to be made. It does have several emollients in the product, but the main focus of it is to be a pigmented foundation. The fact that it works as both a cushion foundation and a sunscreen is enough to satisfy me.
Due to the addition of several sunscreen ingredients in the product, it has an SPF of 50, which doesn't surprise me. What does surprised me that there's no PA mentioned, for some reason. PA refers to the amount of protection the sunscreen offers from the UVA rays, whereas SPF protects against UVB. Titanium dioxide, which is the second ingredient in this cushion foundation protects against both UVA and UVB radiation, so there's definitely UVB protection here too. I'm curious why they didn't think it's necessary to point it out.
Upon further digging, I found that the description on it's store mentions it is PA+++. It's just... not advertised on the box, which is odd.
Directions and Texture
Instruction says to 'press the anti-microbial applicator into cushion foundation and tap the applicator onto skin to deliver the perfect dose of foundation. Then tap on more to build a desired level of luminous coverage.'
I have yet to learn the importance of not dragging the product on my skin and patiently patting it on instead. Still, this is very forgivable when I do forget and drag it on instead.
The water-based formula is supposed to give a refreshing effect on the surface of my skin for an instant hydration of fitting sponge. There are several emollients in it's ingredient, which can help soften and soothe the skin, but I do find it just a little on the sticky side. The texture is spreadable via both patting and *cough* dragging, so I didn't find it hard to apply. As for the fragrance... It kind of smells like crayola, to be honest. Thankfully, the scent doesn't last long after application.
Performance
The shade provided for me is natural beige, which is should probably be a closer match to my skin tone compared to the only other shade it provides, which is Natural White. Unfortunately, this isn't the right shade for me. :( I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture above, but I did half my face and one side is a different (browner) tone than the side that's not applied. It is supposed to create a sheer to medium coverage to match my skin tone for a natural fresh-faced perfection, but I didn't find that too true for me.
I wore a #21 for 7Hara and the same shade for laneige, for a quick comparison. I don't know how I feel about this cushion foundation, to be completely honest. While the coverage is pretty good, I did not like the finish of the cushion foundation at all. It has a sticky finish that makes me feel like I have a film over my skin. Unfortunately, this isn't the shade for me, since it made my skin a darker tone and just a wrong shade, as you can probably tell from the picture above. It does have a pretty good coverage though!
It is, however, waterproof enough that it will stay on very well even in the hot Malaysia weather, which is a really good thing. The finish also means that if I'm doing a full-face makeup, it will allow the rest of my products to set perfectly, which means it's an ideal makeup to be wearing for a full-day event. Ahh, pros and cons, I suppose?
Rating makeup is a little difficult, since user reviews varies so much from person to person. Just because it didn't work perfectly for me, doesn't mean it would be absolutely perfect for you. For this cushion, I started with a perfect 10 and deducted points for a few things.
1. The lack of any visibly 'healthy' ingredients in the product. Something moisturizing or soothing for the skin would have been nice! At the price point, there are other cushions that does the exact same thing this cushion offers and manage to have ingredients that have me swooning. For example, the April Skin Snow Fixing Foundation that retails for RM80+ has green tea leaf water, jeju blossom extract, and camellia japonica flower extract for anti-aging, antioxidant, and moisturizing. Silkygirl is half the price and contains eldeweiss extract as an antioxidant.
2. Lack of shades. For a brand that seems to be focused on Malaysia and Indonesia market, having only 2 shades available is almost unforgivable. There is such a variety of skin tones in both Malaysia and Indonesia. I get that it's impossible for carter to everyone, but I expect at least 3, okay? One with darker skin tone would be good.
3. Dewy (sticky) finish. This cushion foundation is impossible without a finishing touch and isn't ideal for a quick makeup session.
I expect more from the product. It's not bad for what it is, but it's also worth pointing out that at the price point of RM89, there are plenty of products offering a lot more.
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