REVIEW: Giorgio Armani Beauty Power Fabric Foundation

I have always wanted to try the , since it has a cult-like following on the Internet.  But I could never get the right shade match for me (everything skewed too yellow).  So when recently released the new , and I heard that they had new shades, I had to try it.  I was a little hesitant to splash out $64 on a full bottle before I knew how it would work on me, so I headed over to to get shade matched and get some samples to try at home.  The friendly sales associate gave me two generous samples, each size enough for 2-4 wears, and off I went.

Before I tell you how it worked out, let me tell you a little bit about my skin, because what works well (or doesn’t) for me may be very different for you.  First of all, my skin is older.  It, along with the rest of me, will be 44 years old at the end of March.  So I’m definitely in the mature skin camp.  I have dry, somewhat sensitive skin, and while it’s older, I don’t have a crazy amount of lines but I do have my share around my eyes, nose, and forehead.  I generally prefer a satin finish, medium coverage foundation, and while it doesn’t have to be long-wearing, it does need to stay on for 10-12 hours.  I do not have the time or patience to fuss with my makeup after I put it on.

Now some information about the .  It’s $64 for 1.01 fluid ounces and comes in 20 shades and has SPF 25. says it’s a velvet-matte finish with full coverage that should wear up to 16 hours. They recommend applying a small amount with a blender brush for best results.

The above pictures show me first with a bare face, then with just the foundation on, and then finally with a full face of makeup.  Here’s the bare face in full frame so you can see what I’m starting with:

I haven’t done any editing to the picture-I just literally took a screenshot from the video review I filmed on the foundation.  As you can see, I have lots of freckles on my cheeks (which I like), a few lines around my eyes and mouth, and some redness on my chin.  Overall, I’m very pleased with the condition of my skin and I wouldn’t use a full-coverage foundation.

Here are I am after applying two layers (they recommend building up the coverage) with an .  I also tapped a little extra underneath my eyes as an undereye concealer, since markets the foundation as being able to do double-duty as an undereye concealer when mixed with a brightening liquid.  I went a little crazy with the brush and got it al over my eyebrows and lips.  You can see that it made almost all of my freckles go away, and it covered all the redness on my chin.  The shade I used was #2 and I think it matched up with my body perfectly.

| Lipstick
Here I am with a full face of makeup-powder, blush, bronzer, etc.  I’ll list everything at the end of the post. I did feel that my undereyes weren’t bright enough, so I went back and added and a little to lighten things up. Now for the fun part-I wore it for the rest of the day and checked back in about 10 hours later….
| | Lip Balm

And now it’s 10(ish) hours later…and from a distance it looks pretty good! Some of my bronzer has worn off and my hair didn’t make it all day, but the foundation looks pretty good, right? WRONG!
It’s very patchy across my upper lip, and it’s definitely settled into my forehead lines.
What the heck is going on with my nose? Look at how dry and flaky it is!!
This area was not good either.  Granted, I did layer on extra concealer, so that’s not going to help, but I look like I could be cast in The Mummy AS The Mummy-there are some serious wrinkles going on under my eyes, next to my eyes and even onto my cheeks!
This picture didn’t turn out as well as I’d hope, but I’m hoping you can still see the dry patches on my chin and nose.

FINAL THOUGHTS
So I think it’s fairly obvious how I feel about this foundation, at least for someone with my kind of skin, but let me break it down for you.   says this foundation is suitable for all skin types.  I’m going to have to disagree with that.  It also says it’s buildable to full coverage. I’d agree with that, as long as you don’t have dry skin-otherwise you’re going to have dry, cakey, flakey skin at the end of the day.  It’s recommended to use as an undereye concealer, but I would advise sticking with your favorite dedicated concealer for that job.

Even though this did not work for me (and I tried it TWICE), I DO think it will work for a large group of people-those with combination to oily skin.  Long-wearing foundations in general just don’t work well with dry skin types, and I think we can see why in the above pictures.  But if you have normal, combo, or oily skin, this may be your new hero foundation.  Even for me, at the end of the night, it still photographed beautifully as long as you didn’t get too close up.  So I can imagine with a different skin type it would look gorgeous.  And with SPF 25 AND 20 shades to choose from, I think you get a lot of bang for your buck.

If you’re interested, you can find the new at these retailers:
Sephora
Nordstrom
Bloomingdale’s

Selfridge’s

I’m still searching for my perfect, long-wear, full-coverage, special event foundation, but if you fit the description I mentioned above, this may be just what you’re looking for!

Here’s all the makeup I wore in today’s post:
Glossier Priming Moisturizer
Armani Power Fabric Foundation-2
Mac Prep+Prime in Radiant Rose
Tarte Shape Tape-Fair
Laura Mercier CandleGlow Setting Powder
Too Faced Milk Chocolate Bronzer
Makeup Revolution Skin Kiss-Peach Kiss
Eyes: Tarte Tarteist Contour Palette
Lancome Grandiose Mascara
Anastasia Brow Wiz-Taupe
NYX Brow Mascara-Blonde
WnW Liquid Lipstick-Flame of The Game

If you’d like to see me apply the foundation and hear more about how it performed, watch the video by clicking HERE or watching below: