Awhile ago I grabbed a sample of the Hourglass stick foundation after seeing how light the shade Blanc was. I initially applied it for reviewing purposes, wore it for an hour, then immediately removed it because I looked that bad. Then I completely forget about the sample for months. I saw it in my foundation drawer recently and decided to give it one more shot.

It retails for $46 and you get .25 oz; comparing that to other stick foundations, Make Up For Ever's stick foundation goes for $43 and has .44 oz, the ABH one goes for $25 with .32, and the Nars Velvet Matte one goes for $45 for .31 oz. So clearly Hourglass is ripping us off here; with such little product for the price tag this shit better blow me away. It promises "the coverage of a concealer, the fluidity of a liquid, and the weightlessness of a powder", and it is supposed to be full coverage and a satin finish.

The shade Blanc is super light with cool undertones (and it doesn't look orange shockingly!). When swatching on my wrist, this product actually looks pretty much like my closest shade match.  

Initially applying this product I take fault with the claims already. I applied it with my damp Real Techniques sponge, set it with my Laura Mercier Translucent Powder and elf Matte setting spray, and wore it for 8 hours. As I tried to blend the product out with my sponge, it tugged on my skin and it really took some smearing and hard dabbing to get it even somewhat spread out, so fluidity of a liquid. It also felt very thick as I blended it out, and I am very very sparse when I apply foundation, so weightlessness of a powder. It did have decent coverage, but only if you didn't blend it out. Once I blended it enough to where it didn't completely look like I was wearing a mask, my freckles were coming through, so coverage of a concealer. Not off to a great start.

full face with product applied

The reason I set this with a powder when I try not to for reviews, is that it did not set at all. It felt like any time my face touched anything ever so slightly it was going to rub off. I also thought powdering might help it blend into my skin a bit better, because after applying my full face it looked very mask-like. It wasn't blending into my skin, instead it was sitting on top and caking up in my peach fuzz around my temples and on my jawline. Finish is the only claim I somewhat agree with, I think it looked pretty satin-matte. I took a close up to really emphasize what the product was looking like.

full face done

I checked in after 4 hours and I wasn't looking too good. The foundation was just really aging me, settling into my laugh lines and just looking a tad bit heavy. I wasn't oily though, so that was a plus. Aside from the slight heaviness and creasing, it really didn't look that bad; but those are pretty big things that affect the look of a foundation so.

let's ignore the ketchup under my bottom lip I'm disgusting

 By the end of the night at the 8 hour mark, I was actually surprised by the results. My face looked better than it had at the 4 hour check it, albeit not flawless or anything. I was a bit oily, but nothing like I usually am at 8 hours. It seemed like since my oils had come through, the heaviness was gone, and the product that had creased in my lines was less noticeable.


Overall I give this a 7/10. If I had just rated it after 4 hours it would probably have gotten a 3/10, but the end of the night really saved this foundation for me. If I can find a way to lessen the creasing, I'd definitely wear this again seeing as how it controls my oil and is a nearly perfect shade match! But the creasing definitely can't be overlooked.