Review + Demo: Anastasia Stick Foundation (w/ Swatches on Dark Skin of Almost All the Deep Shades)

If you would have told me like ten years ago that Anastasia Beverly Hills—a brand that at one point only sold a handful of brow products—would have a full cosmetic line, I’d be all like “yeah, right…” But yup, they’ve been slaying the brow category for ages, they make amazing shadows, they dropped a bomb on us with their lipglosses and liquid lipsticks, and even came through with the concealers and contour kits (see Anastasia reviews here). Now we have the Anastasia Stick Foundation.

I’m also excited because the brand worked with two of my favorite makeup artists for the ad campaign: King Mali Magic (she also produced a lot of the video tutorials) and Kilprity (you need to get up on following them if you haven’t already). The imagery for this campaign is so beautiful. I also love that Norvina has been vocal about representation of deeper skin tones:

If you love ABH mom/me/makeup then please show up & show love when we post WOC. That's showing respect to us & our beauty community ???? luv u

— norvina (@norvina1) August 24, 2016

But let’s talk about the Anastasia Stick Foundation.

Official Description:

A highly pigmented, buildable cream formula that leaves a natural matte finish. Apply Anastasia Beverly Hills Stick Foundation as an all-over foundation, sheered out as a tinted moisturizer, or for highlighting and contouring.

Available in 28 shades
Lightweight tubes are perfect for travel and on-the-go touch ups
Ideal for combination or oily skin
A shade for all skin tones

One thing I LOVE about a stick foundation is how versatile it can be. With a stick you can sheer it out, use it for spot coverage, add layers for more coverage, or use it to highlight and contour (depending on the shades). The Anastasia Stick Foundation feels so creamy and smooth and for those of us with oily skin, it’s practically for us. It has a gorgeous natural matte finish (you can manipulte the finish by adding a product like Cover FX Custom Infusion Drops or setting it with an illuminating powder), and performs well even in the heat (you’ll probably need a primer though for the heat—see more in How to Stay Beat in the Heat). If you have a drier skin type, make sure you’re using a good hydrating moisturizer for your skin type and then you might also benefit from adding a bit of something like a hydrating face oil to the foundation.

My closest match for base was Truffle which is described as deep with cool undertones. My undertones are neutral (I wear Cover FX N110) and can wear some foundations that may go a little red, but I still tried out Truffle for the sake of this review and demo. In the video it looks okay but in person I could definitely tell Truffle was off in undertone for me. I’m not sure if Ebony would have been a better match because it wasn’t available when I went to buy these and it still isn’t. I used Almond to highlight (it was the closest out of what I had that wasn’t too light or too dark). Almond is described as a dark medium with cool undertones—I typically prefer to highlight with something with more golden undertones, but again, for sake of the demo and review I tried Almond. I used Earth (deep with red undertones) to contour and was actually really pleased with the shade as it’s similar to what I typically like to contour with: a dark brown with reddish undertones.

Comparisons between Truffle vs Cover FX N110 vs Cover FX P110:

Shade descriptions:

I was given four shades by the brand’s PR and then I bought the rest. I wanted to have a good amount of the darkest shades—I got almost all of them (Ebony wasn’t available and at the time of me writing this, still isn’t) but I also wanted to have a good amount of what would be considered “light skin Black” shades but alas, this is what I have.

(from the brand)
Golden: Medium skin with red undertones
Caramel: Medium tan skin with warm neutral undertones
Almond: Dark medium tan skin with warm neutral undertones
Chestnut: Medium deep skin with warm undertones
Cocoa: Deep skin with red undertones
Walnut: Medium deep skin with cool red undertones
Espresso: Deep skin with warm olive undertones
Truffle: Deep skin with cool undertones
Cool Earth: Deep skin with blue undertones
Earth: Deep skin with red undertones

(Golden is lighter than Caramel and Almond—I just swatched out of order when I was photographing)

I do think Anastasia Beverly Hills did a good job with the deeper shades despite not having a perfect match for my skin tone. I do know that while brands can carry a range of shades for deeper skin like mine (and deeper) that not everyone is going to find a match at every brand. For example I don’t have a good shade match in a lot of the black UP foundations and that line is catered to Black skin. For those of you who are lighter in complexion with golden undertones—ranging from butterscotch to caramel shades, I didn’t see a ton of shades within that range with yellow or golden undertones. Ditto for deeper brown skin with golden undertones. If you fall into any of those categories, check out brands like Cover FX (their latest shade extension added more deeper shades in their “G” category as well as “P” and “N”, check it out here), Bobbi Brown, and BECCA. I believe Make Up For Ever might also have a decent selection of deeper golden shades so check them out as well.

But Anastasia could be covering some of the undertones and shades that the other brands lack, so it’s worth a look to see if you can find a shade match or maybe a new highlight and/or contour shade. Remember, ONE foundation won’t cut it for women of color—you can read why here. Also check out these NYX Pro Foundation Mixers—even with the most extensive efforts to be inclusive with foundation shades, some shades and undertones can still get left out so the Foundation Mixers (and these aren’t the only products out there that alter foundation shades—just the ones I actually have a review on) are great to get a better match from your foundation all throughout the year even when you tan.

See also Why MAC Isn’t a Foundation Guide here

While the Anastasia Stick Foundation is awesome, I did like the Hourglass Vanish Foundation more—it’s got a more gorgeous real-skin finish, blends easier, and I drank the Kool-Aid on the packaging…lol. But it is more expensive and you get less product than Anastasia Stick Foundation—Hourglass is $46 for .25 oz while Anastasia is $25 for .35 oz. I don’t have a good base shade match in either brand though but I have contour options from both that I like.

Comparisons of the deeper shades—I took these in different lighting than the other swatches so you could see the nuances in the differences of the shades better.

Anastasia Stick Foundation Video Demo:

I also did a video demo of the Anastasia Stick Foundation—check it out below. Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my Youtube channel!

See also why you CAN’T use MAC as a foundation guide here

See more Foundation posts, reviews, and swatches here

Bottom line: Anastasia Stick Foundation is a solid foundation perfect for oilier skin types but can also work on normal and dry skin as I described above. I do like the Hourglass Vanish Foundation more, but not everyone is going to find a match in either brand. Anastasia Stick Foundation is an AMAZING value, too.

Price and where to buy: Anastasia Stick Foundation is $25 each and is available so far at Sephora (plus 4% cash back when you use eBates), Macy’s (plus 6% cash back when you use eBates), and of course on the Anastasia Beverly Hills site.

Did you buy Anastasia Stick Foundation? Did you get it online or did you buy in-store? How do you typically buy foundation? Tell me in the comments!