betweenthehangers

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

Before I get into the review, I’m going to give a quick warning and say that I may or may not disappear from the blogging world sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Why? In one word: finals.

Ugh, yes that. I have a lot to study for so I’m currently dying of stress but blogging kind of keeps me sane. This is also my way of avoiding my responsibilities which isn’t good, but I want to work really hard for this blog too. I hope I don’t burn out, but I just wanted to let you know I might take a break!

Okay, now onto the review!

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

I looked around and swatched a foundation but walked away. One of the sales ladies saw and asked me if I wanted to be matched. I didn’t have anything else to do so I said yes. I had never had my makeup done or anything so it felt quite nice sitting there and having her apply some makeup to my face.

Of course, store lighting is horrible but she said she thought she found a match and then asked me if I wanted it. I was unsure but agreed because I’m such a pushover when I haven’t prepared myself to be social (please tell me I’m not alone in this, haha). Now I could’ve just put it back or returned it without trying it, but I ended up buying it.

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.

It’s supposed to be good for all skin types and hydrate the face. Apparently, it has vegetable complex that can protect you from environmental stresses and your skin will be more hydrated after using this for a week. It has medium to high coverage and will make your skin look super 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 again, I hoped that this might be the miracle foundation I was looking for.

I gave this a try the next day and it seemed to have good coverage and it was easy to blend, but it felt tacky until I powdered my face. Then I took a photo with flash photography to see how it would look and oh my gosh, there was the worst white cast on my face!

It doesn’t specify that there’s any SPF/SPF-related ingredients in the product so I felt that that was really misleading and for me, it’s a big con because I feel like you should never worry about how you’ll look in photos. However, I went on with the rest of my makeup because I was just going to school.

Throughout the day, I knew I was going to get oily and sure enough, the oils came through pretty quickly. I had to blot my face a couple times, but eventually I gave up on it.

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 (too dark).

I know I should’ve given it a few more tries, but the foundation itself is very runny and hydrating foundations usually aren’t recommended for oily skin. What I had hoped was for my skin to be hydrated from the foundation and then my skin wouldn’t produce extra oil, but that didn’t happen. Plus, since the foundation is so thin, it gets pretty messy in the tube, which I didn’t really like either.

The other thing I didn’t like about this brand is their return policy. Now I totally understand why some places won’t take items back if they’ve been used, but Sephora and Ulta allow returns, so why shouldn’t they?

When I went to return this foundation, I told them that it didn’t match my skin, which implies that I at least used it once. The sales person checked my product, saw it had indeed been used and told me they couldn’t take it back. What I don’t understand is how I would know if it would match me or if I even liked it if I didn’t try it.

I repeated that it didn’t match my skin, but she replied with, “that’s why you get matched in the store.” Now I’m slow at comebacks so I thought of this later, but what do I do if the sales lady matched me to the wrong shade?? So in the end, I had to keep this foundation. I’ve gifted it to my mom who is a little darker than me, but I’m still kind of upset that I wasted my money on this product.

For those of you who do shop there, yes I know the receipt says you have to return products unused but seriously, how would you know what color anything is or if it works for you if you don’t try it? Hashtag just sayin’.

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 of their rules on returning items! And if you want to try out this foundation, it would probably be better for people with normal to dry skin.

So that’s my review on this foundation! Here’s a recap:

Pros:

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

Cons:

• A little too runny
• Hard to find a shade match for warm undertones
• Doesn’t look good in flash photography
• Isn’t compatible with oily skin
• Not the best return policy

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