If you’ve never heard of Sculpted by Aimee, allow me to introduce you to what I believe is one of the best beauty brands on the market RN. Founded and entirely self-funded by make-up artist Aimee Connolly, this is the name behind some of my all-time favourite products, from MyMascara to Satin Silk Longwear Foundation - the best foundation I've ever used.
As somebody with an oily skin type, what I look for in the best foundations for oily skin is a base that won't give me a greasy appearance at any point throughout the day. However, I don't like my skin to look too flat and matte, preferring to use products that promote healthy radiance. Achieving this with any degree of oiliness to your skin is quite tricky, but Sculpted by Aimee Satin Skin pretty much nails the brief. It's one of those foundations that, whenever I wear it, makes me feel like my skin is looking its best.
Housed in a frosted bottle, Sculpted by Aimee’s Satin Silk Foundation looks suitably chic in line with the rest of the brand’s packaging. It’s full coverage and the formula is very thick, so one full pump is plenty to cover your entire face. I recently mixed a little with moisturiser to create more of a medium coverage base, which also works really well. There are 30 different shades to choose from—I fall somewhere between 1.5N and 2.0W, wearing the latter in the image below.
This foundation really is set up to be long-wearing without drying out on the skin and going cakey. There's hyaluronic acid and vitamin E to help keep the skin moisturised, plus niacinamide and centella asiatica in the non-comedogenic formula. The pigments are also sweat-resistant, which goes a long way in ensuring the base is long-wearing even on oily types.
Application-wise, I like to buff it in with a fairly dense brush, working outwards from the centre of my face. The formula stretches reasonably well and you don’t need much of it to get good coverage, plus it evens out skin tone brilliantly. I would say that a very painful and prominent spot would probably require some concealer to disguise it completely. In my experience, it also works well with any other products layered over the top. The finish is definitely matte, but there's a healthy, “lit from within” quality to it, too, rather than being completely flat and one-dimensional.
Where this foundation really shines (no pun intended), though, is how it wears. Because not only is the coverage impressive, it excels in the longevity department, too; more than seven hours after I've first applied it it’s still largely in tact and I feel no need to freshen it up—and that's an example from a day I didn't apply any of the best setting spray. My skin develops barely a hint of shine through the day while wearing it, too—and, believe me, it really likes to go shiny.
In short, if your foundation shopping list sounds something like the following—full coverage, long-lasting, slightly velvety and with a natural-looking matte finish—then I reckon you'll get on well with this fantastic buy. I feel like it should be shouted about even more than it is currently because, when it comes to coverage that lasts, it really is one of the greats.
This is the ideal brush to use to apply the foundation - different from the flat foundation brushes, this diffuses the colour making it look more natural on the skin.
This is my other favourite product from the brand. If you're after volume and length, you can really do no wrong. It's one of the best mascaras I've ever tried.
