Hourglass Vanish Foundation Dark Shades {Swatches, Review, + Demo} #SwatchesInSeptember

I’ve been an Hourglass fan for years—those Arch Brow Sculpting Pencils, the lip colors, the Ambient Lighting Powders, the eyeshadow palettes—Hourglass knows the way to a makeup girl’s heart. But they always lacked when it came to foundation range. They’d have a few deeper colors, but nothing to write home about. I once went to a press event they had for the additional shades of the Arch Brow Sculpting Pencils and I remember practically the whole team there apologizing and telling me that they would have foundation shades to match my skin soon. And here we are!

I received the three deepest shades of Hourglass Vanish Foundation: Walnut, Chestnut, and Espresso. These shades aren’t as dark as the computerized swatches on the Hourglass site make them seem (see below)

Shade descriptions (from brand):
Walnut – deep, warm undertone
Chestnut – deep, neutral undertone
Espresso – deep, cool undertone

Chestnut was the closest to my shade, but even though the brand describes it as having a neutral undertone, it was very noticeably red on me—and I have neutral undertones. For the sake of using all three shades, I used Walnut to highlight (this is deeper in color than what I’d normally highlight with, but I did like the look—I’ll have to incorporate it into some future makeup looks) and Espresso to contour. I really liked Espresso as a contour (it’s a deep brown with a touch of red in it—which is what I like in a contour color) but I now typically skip contouring with a cream and just contour with a powder. If Hourglass comes out with powders in deeper shades, I’d be all over the Espresso one–but who knows, I may still reach for the cream and set it with powder. It’s described as having a cool undertone though it looked very red on me—I’ll have to do a post explaining this later.

Hourglass Vanish Foundation official description:

• A foundation and concealer in one, this concentrated formula contains double the amount of pigment versus traditional foundations for instant coverage in one application.
• Long wearing, waterproof formula provides 12 hour coverage.
• Innovative formula adjusts to your body temperature to effortlessly blend into the skin.
• Designed specifically to be used with the Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Brush for the most seamless finish.
• Available in 26 shades to perfectly match every skin tone.
• Vegan
• .25 OZ / 7.2 G

• Based on a 1-week consumer study of 31 women, Vanish demonstrated dramatic visible improvements:
-100% reported product was fast and easy to use and apply
-97% saw an instant improvement in skin appearance
-97% reported product effectively covered redness and skin imperfections
-94% reported product blended seamlessly into their own skin
-94% reported product effectively covered skin discoloration, pores, blemishes and dark under eye circles
-90% reported product effectively covered hyperpigmentation and dark spots

My thoughts:

Hourglass Vanish Foundation is MY KIND OF FOUNDATION! The packaging is sleek, the formula blends in like a dream, the finish is a natural matte, it’s long-lasting, performs well, and plays nicely with my oily skin. I probably would need to use a primer if I were to wear this in the middle of summer or if I was traveling to a tropical climate (see How to Stay Beat in the Heat for tips on how to keep your makeup on in the heat). I also like that a little goes a long way. I may get either Golden Amber or Golden Almond for a highlight shade (though I love my Bobbi Brown Concealer in Golden, I AM a beauty fiend so I’m always looking to try something new). This is one of the best foundation sticks I’ve tried ever.

I haven’t yet seen the other deeper shades, but I think they did a good job with these three although they tend to be more on the red side—and there are some gorgeous dark brown beauties who have very rich red undertones who might find a good match with this launch. I do wish that Chesnut was really more of a true neutral undertone as it’s described, but I could probably use it when I tan OR for times when I’m on camera and need a little warmth than what my typical foundation (Cover FX N110) provides (sometimes lighting and background can affect how my makeup looks on camera). I’ll send Jedi mind messages to the folks at Hourglass so that they make a dark brown with neutral undertones for me—something like Chestnut but without as much red in it.

Hourglass is a higher end brand so the $46 price tag doesn’t surprise me. I received these for review consideration, but if one was more my foundation shade, I would have no qualms with forking over the $46 for this because it looks so amazing on and performs so well.

Video demo:

Check out my video demo above! Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to my Youtube channel for more videos!

Bottom line: I have only seen the three deepest shades, but if you’re a dark brown goddess with gorgeous red undertones and the $46 price tag doesn’t deter you, you must try this out on your next Sephora run (I hope they have all the shades on display).

I actually like these better than the Anastasia Beverly Hills Stick Foundation (which I’ll be reviewing soon), but Anastasia may have slightly more range in colors. You also get more product in the Anastasia stick ($25 for .35 oz while Hourglass is $46 for .25 oz)

Price and where to buy: $46 each at Sephora.