I’ve tried 1,500 foundations and this £13 one tops the lot

“HOLY SH*T!” The actual words that came out of my mouth as I watched my foundation turn my skin from booze-drained, post-Christmas grim to fresh-off-a-Bali-detox glow.

My editor had asked me to try out Drew Barrymore’s ultra affordable Flower Beauty makeup over the holidays in celebration of our January digital issue, The High Street Beauty Issue starring Drew Barrymore herself and I’ll admit there was a flash of snobby side-eye involved – I love my luxurious brands. When I picked up Light Illusion Foundation, my expectations were way low: I love Drew but what does she know about makeup formulations? Yes, she’s on screen and has her face made up regularly, but just because you can make a salad doesn’t make you a chef, right? WRONG. So wrong. Drew: I am shook.

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Now I don’t dish out the Holy Shts lightly. It’s my Golden Buzzer. My Hollywood Handshake. Get one of those bad boys and you’re in. Why the swears? It’s my job to be tediously picky. I’ve tried over 1500 foundations in my twenty years as a beauty journo: liquid, BB, CC, cushion, powder, airbrush… and only three have made it into main-feed life that I’d genuinely recommend to mates. It’s also from the high street and costs £12.99; something I’d usually recoil at because cheap means that corners have been cut (usually in the clunky packaging or drying formula). Yes, the bottle is a tad clunky but even if it came in a KFC bucket I’d still slap it all over my face, it’s that good. Here’s why…

The finish: I’m all about the glossy, dewy, juicy skin vibe, so anyone after a matte finish can basically scroll to the end now. This has glow in spades and the moment you start applying it’s like coating your face in high-shine Shellac. That plasticky, cellophane-skin effect dials down about 50% once dry and set, leaving you with a gentle reflective sheen that you’d get if you were to mix a standard foundation with a drop of highlighting fluid.

The coverage. It’s medium (red blotches and imperfections are gone but freckles still come through) and when I tried building it up later in the day it blended perfectly to a fuller coverage (truth: I broke Dry January I drank red wine at Sunday lunch, and my flushed cheeks were 100% hidden).

The application. With a damp Beauty Blender, it’s a breeze. I just bounce it all over and I’m done, zero buffing required. With fingers, it stretches well without streaking and gives you a more sheer, bordering-on-tinted-moisturiser look. When applied on top of Flower Beauty In Your Prime Hydrating Primer, it needs a blending brush to diffuse the edges, but the pigment stays put for longer (ace for desk-to-dinner days). My raisin-dry skin needs a ton of Hyaluronic Acid serum and facial oil, and even after all that skincare, it still sits perfectly without caking or splitting. Honestly, I was floored by how well it performs.