My Review of Charlotte Tilbury’s Magic Foundation with photos and swatches.

Problem skin transforms into perfect looking skin before your very eyes. The hyper-intelligent formula dispenses evenly over your skin and does not sit in imperfections. Magic Foundation is a miracle in a bottle that transforms every skin type into flawless, poreless perfection. My chemists worked for five years to create a “hyper-intelligent” formula that’s totally full-coverage yet completely weightless. 

RRP- £29.50

Charlotte Tilbury is a big name in makeup, producing interesting and luxurious products in gorgeous packaging. One of the things I really like about Charlotte Tilbury is the Website. It’s full of information about active ingredients, fanciful claims and resources to help you select your shade and links to videos. A makeup fan could spend hours on there (and a great deal of money).
Magic is touted as a makeup that suits everybody. Magic! what a great name for a foundation. The name alone filled me with excitement. Its promise of working well with acneic skin clinched it for me. Magic foundation is meant to work well with Rosacea and dry skin too. It contains these skin loving ingredients-

• Laricyl (mushroom extract) this moisturises, tightens pores and firms skin
• Vitamin C for preventing skin damage
• Hyaluronic spheres for plumping
• SPF15

It sounds so good, it gives me butterflies.

How it performs

The problem with all this exciting blurb is that I was whipped into a frenzy of high expectations. It’s only a foundation, it’s not actually magical.

It comes in a very attractive glass bottle with a pump, so it dispenses easily. I was matched with shade 3.5 instore, this is described as a warm golden-beige for Light Skin Tones with Warm Golden/Yellow Undertones. I think my skin tends more towards Cool, so maybe it’s a little yellow (I think in future I’m going to ignore the shop lady, they always seem to get it slightly wrong) but it’s not a terrible match, I’ll live!

The swatch on the right I blended and allowed to set so you can see that the finish is powdery and nearly matte. Magic foundation is comfortable on the skin, It’s very lightweight, I can see why it would be a great choice for sensitive and problem skin. I do find it attracts to dry skin patches, you need to exfoliate and use primer to get the best out of Magic.

The coverage isn’t quite full enough to cover the dark discolouration I have, which is a shame.

It reminds me of Vichy Dermablend it terms of finish and feel (but it doesn’t quite match its coverage).

It lasts well. I’ve said it a million times now- my face repels makeup. Magic foundation lasts well into the day on me, I’d call that good to excellent staying power. On anyone less oily, I think it should stay in place all day.

All in all, I like this foundation. It’s great for day wear because it looks natural, has SPF and is comfortable and light. It’s not perfecting or enough, in my view, for a special occasion. I love the fact it contains active skincare ingredients. My main problem being that it’s not quite as magical as I was hoping.

Magic Foundation Overview

Pros-

• Skincare benefits and SPF
• The price, £29.50 isn’t cheap for a foundation I know but it’s actually one of the more affordable products Charlotte Tilbury does (the Wonderglow was £38!)
• Lovely comfortable lightweight matte finish
• Great packaging

Cons-

• The coverage is less full than it promises to be
• Sticks to dry skin- you need to exfoliate and prime before applying
• Not actually magical

All in all I would say I recommend Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation, particularly if you have sensitive and problematic skin. If you’re looking for something a bit fancy to wear for day to day it’s perfect.