Foundation Review: Bobbi Brown Skin Stick 00 Alabaster

A much-belated, oft-requested review of a product that probably no longer qualifies as 'new' :P Bobbi Brown's 2014 reformulated version of their cult foundation stick, in the palest shade, 00 Alabaster.

Bobbi Brown is one of the few mainstream brands that actually offers a shade pale enough for me -- see Skin liquid swatched among my foundation matches here -- '00 Alabaster' is significantly paler than a MAC 15-depth, and more neutral in tone than the brand's other, uniformly yellow, offerings. As with all brands, the same name/number doesn't necessarily designate the same colour across the various formulas in that brand (remind me to swatch all the wildly variant MAC NC/NW15's for your amusement some time...) so FYI, other pasty folks, the 'Alabaster' in Bobbi Brown's Luminous Moisturising, Moisture Rich, Tinted Moisturising Balm and Tinted Moisturiser formulas all run significantly darker and warmer -- unwearably so for me.

However! I was very pleased to find that the new Skin Stick foundation's 00 Alabaster was a decent match to Skin liquid. And being on the hunt for a stick foundation to replace my beloved discontinued Shu Nobara -- sticks being so convenient for the localised application I usually favour for base, and doubling up as concealer to boot -- I swooped:

As expected of a stick foundation, the Skin Stick offers good coverage in a thick cream formula -- medium-to-full, about on par with the Vapour stick foundation I reviewed previously. It's both sheerer than the old Bobbi Brown Stick foundation and less emollient -- making it a little trickier to blend, and a little drier in appearance, especially as the day goes on. It's also not the kindest to any textural issues common to dry skin, highlighting even tiny flakes or raised dry bumps in irritated / eczema patches -- though that said, it sits more elegantly on my very dry skintype than the stage makeup brands that provide closer matches for my skintone.
After a month of testing, I find I get better results by applying this on smooth (recently exfoliated), very well moisturised skin (preferably freshly sheet-masked), on top of a still-tacky moisturising primer; and the very best finish by mixing a little of my face oil with the foundation (currently HABA's squalane) on the back of my hand, before applying -- this sacrifices some coverage, but textural prettiness is more important to me than perfectly even pigmentation anyway.


Ready for the before&after part?



In the interests of SCIENCE, for the purposes of this review I applied the BB Skin Stick neat, drawing a few lines and dots on my face, without any of the ameliorating tricks mentioned above, over only my usual daytime skincare and sunscreen, and blended it out with a No 7 foundation brush.
Aside from the fact that it's a bit dark for me at the moment [I'd usually apply a much sheerer layer which makes this less evident], note the good coverage that knocks out my cheek pinkness, visible veins and most of my vestigial freckles, creating a more uniformly-toned, satin-matte canvas. (I also added some RBR lip balm for the 'After' btw -- this foundation will not gloss- or warm up your lips :P)


Okay, you can stop squinting and resisting the urge to smack me :P Minor niggles, I admit, but isn't that what you come here for? Notice how beautifully the stick foundation photographs even in ultra close-up, without any flattened flashback.


Next to the neutral Graftobian Lady Fair, the other four shades are obviously pink-tinged (Vapour the most strongly, Shu Uemura the least), though they're still within the neutral-hyphenated range -- they'd look beige next to a genuinely pink line like MAC's NW shades. I think even these arm swipes hint at how much smoother the emollient Vapour and siliconey Shu formulas look on my current skin compared with the other three -- Graftobian looking the driest and sinking into cracks despite being freshly applied -- the BB liquid is a formula I tend to reserve for summer.


In conclusion, much like the Bobbi Brown Skin liquid, the new Skin stick is very much a compromise formula for me. Readily available, a passable match worn sheer / when I get some colour, and not as unflatteringly dry a texture as the stage makeup brands that offer paler shades. I like it enough to save it for future summers in Asia, which are hot and humid enough to dial down my skin's dryness from freakishly-saharan to just vaguely-human level. It should sit more smoothly on my dry skin in the heat, and in greater humidity I think its matte skin-grabbiness will become a boon rather than a bit of a liability. Updates will be forthcoming.