It’s a blessing and curse, having a consumer community as engaged and as vocal as Glossier’s. Get something right – like the return of the much-requested Wild Fig Balm Dotcom, which garnered thousands of emphatic comments – and you’re richly rewarded, but miss the mark (non-biodegradable glitter in your sparkling eyeshadows, for example,) and you can be sure your shortfall will be writ large all over social media.
This month, the brand is launching what I'm sure was one of the most nerve-wracking products for it to release into the wild: its first ever foundation. (If you think the people have opinions about lip balm, wait until they get their hands on a base product.)
'It's kind of unheard of for a make-up brand to be almost 10 years old and not have a foundation, right?' Emily Trillaud, Glossier’s director of product development tells me. 'And I’m a little bit embarrassed to say, honestly, it's because we hate foundations.'
So, what does a foundation look like when your brand manifesto is ‘skin first, make-up second?’ Naturally, Stretch Foundation, which comes in 32 shades split across five undertones, is designed to look just like, well, skin.
As Trillaud explains, the brand started the formulation with the skincare base. 'We built, very specifically, a lightweight gel-cream and we thought, ‘this is what the ideal foundation should feel like’. Then, we loaded it with skincare actives. We’ve got yummy squalane and glycerin in the base, then wild rosemary and plankton extract. Why are those interesting? They’re essentially skin modulators – they regulate the levels of oil on your skin throughout the day. That means that I, with bone-dry skin, and someone on my team with oily skin, can both wear this foundation.'
So, what’s the verdict? On first pump, I’m honestly a little sceptical about how rich and creamy the texture appears to be. As someone who usually wears a lightweight skin tint, perhaps this isn’t the launch for me. But with a quick blend (I prefer a brush, but fingers work too) reveals it to be something quite different: the dense cream becomes supremely breathable, seemingly disappearing into the skin – but with no cost to coverage, which is higher than I initially expected.
The finish doesn’t quite tick any of the usual boxes – it’s not exactly dewy, satiny or matte – and the end result is indeed remarkably natural. It reflects just enough light to appear as your own god-given skin, and can be built up to mask redness and moderate blemishes. (For heavier coverage though, the brand is soon to be relaunching the original Stretch Concealer in 32 shades to match the foundations.)
'The foundation is 89% skincare, 11% pigment,' says Trillaud. 'We coated those pigments in amino acids, because skin contains amino acids.' When you coat the pigment in something the skin recognises, it’s said to aim adherence, ensuring long wear without the need for heavy layers. 'This is what makes it so the foundation is not sitting on top of skin – you don’t see where the product ends and the skin begins.'
So will this one keep the community content? Of course, no one foundation will please anyone: those looking for ultra-light coverage or major shine won’t become loyal converts. But in a baffling world of glazed-doughnut skin and strawberry make-up, there’s something refreshingly appealing about a foundation designed to look just like skin – and if initial response is anything to go by, Stretch Foundation will soon be mentioned in the same sentences as Milky Jelly and Balm Dotcom as something the brand got really, really right.
