Cushion technology from a high-end, luxury Western brand? Exceedingly expensive – but is it good? Read on to find out more in this YSL Fusion Ink Cushion Foundation review!
A quick word on cushion foundations
My love for them is well-documented: cushions nearly always have a light-to medium coverage, a glowy finish, blended with skincare properties and easy re-application possibilities. What’s not to like? (Their shade range, usually, that’s what.)
What does YSL say?
Luminous finish, long-lasting buildable coverage.
For a radiant, smoother looking complexion on the go, (…). The medium-coverage foundation can be used alone or as a top-up product for skin that looks luminous all day.
Benefits of using Fusion Ink Cushion:
– Portable fluid foundation
– All day long wear
– Cool, fresh sensation when applied
– Buildable coverage with a natural looking finish
Availability, price, shade range
This cushion is known under two names: It’s either Fusion Ink Cushion Foundation or Encre de Peau Le Cushion Foundation. Whatever. You either buy the casing + cushion, or a refill cushion. The cushion is 14g, and that’s either around 55€ or 34€ just for the refill. Let’s sit down and take a deep breath to process this. 14g of foundation for (best case scenario) 34€?! Yeah, right. As a comparison, you get Sulwhasoo’s Perfectioning Cushion Intense refill (15g) for around 30$, while Chanel’s cushion foundation sets you back around 50$.
Confusingly, there’re six (SIX!) shades available in Germany, 12 in the UK, and 14 on Feelunique. No, I don’t understand that either. I got B20, which is rather light and pink, and maybe not the best shade match. It’s made in Korea.
Sustainability
YSL, belonging to L’Oreal, does nothing particularly noteworthy when it comes to sustainability. L’Oreal though, DOES (a word or two about that here). While it’s great that it’s a sustainable case (read: refillable), that makes only sense if you truly use it for years.
Ingredients
If you now think – hey, I love the regular Fusion Ink Foundation, let’s get the cushion for easy touch-ups during the day! – Surprise! The formulas are quite different. It comes with an SPF23 (Octisalate/Octinoxate and Titanium Dioxide in both nano and regular particles are responsible for that). The inci list doesn’t tell me anything surprising: a lot of emollients, some moisturisers and antioxidants, plus a lot of silicones. It also smells weirdly of cucumbers. Run of the mill cushion?
Application
The puff is serviceable, but nothing special. Remember my rave about the Sulwhasoo sponge? Yeah, this is nothing like it.
The sponge inside is rather coarsely textured and rather porous, which leads the YSL PR to a blurb like this:
“Combine the intelligent pillow pick-up with a pioneering air-filled design.”
GAH! I don’t want to buy air, thankyouverymuch, and the larger the ‘pores’, the more foundation will be on your sponge during application, and – spoiler! – it will be likely too much.
Trust me when I say that a whisper-like touch is totally sufficient, and less is more. I need to touch my puff gently (!) twice to the cushion for a good, medium-coverage application.
Effect
The formula does pack quite a punch. I’d say that the coverage is medium, although I’m not really sure about building it up without is getting cakey. To my surprise, the finish is rather matte, although with a natural finish. (Whoever said that it’s glowy has been either smoking something or I do have a completely different view of glowy.)
I also nearly always powder (very lightly!) over my base, because I use powder products like blushes and bronzing powders that sit better on a layer of powder instead of a tacky base that leads to blotchy application. With this one, I didn’t – and it plays very well with everything you apply over it. When I touch my face, it feels silky and smooth, which I love.
Wear
I’ve worn the Fusion Ink Cushion Foundation on seriously hot days, and I’m happy to report that it looks flawless (on me, and I didn’t wander around in the sun or did anything overly sweaty and strenuous) for about six hours. After that, it starts to break down and look a bit funky: it pools in pores and fine lines, and look generally weird in textured areas. After nine hours, it looks – not good.
Before and after
The good news, though, is that you can easily smooth out those areas with the puff or even your fingers. It never gets overly oily or shiny though, and I think that that even combo/oily-skinned people can use this and be happy with the finish.
And then there’s the glow. After one or two hours, the formula seems to really mesh? Blend? With my skin, and it looks seriously good. Skin-like, smooth, glowy. That’s the time when I look in the mirror and kinda get why there’re so many raves about this.
Fusion Ink Cushion Foundation review: The End
This gets a definitive ‘meh’ from me. Sure, it’s far from being bad. It’s a nice cushion, but you get a nice one for less money. Also, dear YSL copy writers: this is neither luminous nor particularly long-wearing. I would characterise it as ‘natural-looking’, at least a while after application when it looks very much like a matte, medium-coverage foundation.
Apart from the SPF (don’t count on the SPF, guys!!!) it also doesn’t have any additional benefits cushions usually have. If you usually don’t like cushions that are ‘glowy’, this could be for you. Could you get a better foundation for less? Definitely yes.
Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
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