KIKO UNIVERSAL FIT HYDRATING FOUNDATION REVIEW

Hello lovelies, welcome back to Makeup Monday! Today I’m going to be doing a review on the Kiko Milano Universal Fit Hydrating Foundation!

THE BACKSTORY

So one day, I walked into Kiko Milano for the first time. I had heard good things about their lip products and wanted to see if they had purple-toned lipliners for my new plum lipstick.

I looked around and swatched a foundation for fun. A saleswoman saw me and asked if I wanted to be matched. I ended up saying yes because I had never had anyone do my makeup before.

When she thought she found a match, she asked me if I wanted it. I was unsure on how it looked because of the lighting but agreed because I’m such a pushover when I’m not prepared to be social (please tell me I’m not alone in this, haha). I also was in the market to try a new foundation, so I thought why not?

So that’s the backstory! Now what does this foundation promise to do? Apparently a lot, according to the paper you get inside the package.

WHAT IT CLAIMS TO DO

It’s supposed to be good for all skin types and hydrate the face. It has vegetable complex that protects you from environmental stresses and your skin will be hydrated after using this for a week. It has medium to high coverage and will make your skin look smooth and flawless. It’s also hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic, fragrance-free, and paraben-free.

I didn’t look up reviews for this product, so I tried it unbiased. I was very skeptical with all its claims but I hoped that this might be the miracle foundation I was looking for.

MY FIRST IMPRESSION

When I applied it, it seemed to have good coverage and was easy to blend, but it felt tacky until I powdered my face. Then I took a photo with flash to see how it looked and omg, there was the worst white cast on my face!

It doesn’t specify that there’s any SPF/SPF-related ingredients such as titanium dioxide in the product so I felt that that was misleading and for me, it’s a big con because I’ve had my share of looking too pale in flash photos so I like to avoid that as much as possible.

HOW IT WORE THROUGHOUT THE DAY

I spent my day going to school and I just knew I was going to get oily. Sure enough, the oils came out pretty quickly. I blotted my face a couple times throughout the day, but eventually gave up.

I only used it once, but I knew it wasn’t going to control my oily skin or work well for flash photos. It also wasn’t a shade match in normal lighting (too dark).

I wanted to give it a few more tries, but the results were clear from just one try. What I had hoped was for my skin to produce less oil because it was hydrated, but that didn’t happen. It didn’t match my skin in real life or in flash photos, and my skin got too oily.

The foundation itself is very runny and hydrating foundations usually aren’t recommended for oily skin so that should’ve been a red flag for me. Plus, the packaging gets messy easily so this wouldn’t be great to travel with.

TRYING TO RETURN THE FOUNDATION…

So my last issue with them was their return policy. I understand why some places don’t take items back if they’ve been used, but Sephora and Ulta allow returns, so why shouldn’t they?

Their receipt does say they don’t take returns, but I tried anyways because I was so unsatisfied. When I went to return it, I told them that it didn’t match my skin, which implies that I at least used it once. After checking the foundation, she said they couldn’t take it back.

I repeated that it didn’t match my skin, but she replied with, “That’s why you get matched in the store.” This is the part that frustrated/annoyed me, because I was matched in the store, and I was given the wrong shade. On top of that, I was recommended a foundation that’s supposed to be compatible for all skin types (which is unrealistic in the first place), and my skin got oilier from using it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think of this argument until later, so in the end, I had to keep this foundation. I’ve gifted it to my mom who is a little tanner than me, but I’m still kind of upset that I wasted my money on this product.

Overall, I did like the other products I tried (coming up in a haul!), but I don’t think I’ll come back. The only other products that held my interest were the lipsticks/lipliners but I felt like I had all the shades they were selling.

I won’t say I hate this store just because of their return policy, but it doesn’t make me want to shop there. If you do decide to try out Kiko Milano, just be wary that you can’t return items! And if you want to try out this foundation, it would probably be better for people with normal to dry skin.

IN CONCLUSION

So let’s recap!

Pros:

• Good coverage
• Blends well
• Has a nice finish upon initial application
• Affordable (under $15, but I bought it on sale for $6.90)

Cons:

• Too runny
• Hard to find a shade match for warm undertones
• Doesn’t look good in flash photography
• Isn’t compatible with oily skin
• Disliked the return policy

So that’s my review for today! I hope this was helpful and I’ll see you lovelies tomorrow!