Review | The Balm Time Balm Foundation in Medium-Dark

Hello everyone! I have another foundation review for you today, but this time
its of a cream foundation which is very different to my norm. Introducing
The Balm Time Balm* in the shade medium/dark. This is the first time
I’ve tried any base products from one of my favourite brands The Balm
cosmetics, who make fantastic cheek and eye products. (I’ve also heard
great things about their liquid lipsticks, those are firmly at the top of my
‘to-buy’ list…next year!) So when I got the opportunity to try out their
cream foundation I was intrigued.

Packaging
The box this foundation comes in is very pretty, though I was surprised there
weren’t any of the cute balm characters adorning it. The packaging of the
foundation itself is very standard, a plastic circular pot with a lid that you
secure by screwing on. The advantage of having transparent packaging is that you
can see the shade clearly, and also you’ll use up ALL the product which is good
– but in all honesty the packaging itself is nothing special. I should also
mention here that the foundation comes with a foam applicator which applies the
product in a very blotchy manner – discard and read on to see which application
method worked out best for me.

Price and Amount
The Time Balm foundation costs £22 from Debenhams and you get a hefty 21.3g
of product. It’s not s expensive as brands such as NARS and Dior, however the
quality of the product is one par. A little goes a long way with this foundation
so I think it’ll lasts a good while before hitting pan.

Formula and Finish
Of course the formula is cream – however I was almost expecting it to be hard
and pastey to the touch, how wrong I was! It’s creamy to the touch and with a
bit of blending it melts into the skin with ease. My favourite way to apply this
is using the Real Techniques Buffing Brush, I feel like it picks up the right
amount of product and I can layer it easily. It feels silky on the fingertips
and as long as my skin is prepped with an emollient moisturiser (my current
favourite the the Embroylisse lait cream) the foundation glides with ease. Time
balm gives a medium to full coverage, so when I’ve finished applying this all
redness, hyper-pigmentation and dark spots are effortlessly covered. I was a
little worried when I read about the coverage, because I assumed that cream
foundation+ high coverage = cakey finish. I couldn’t be more wrong, despite the
high coverage, the way it blended into my skin meant no caking what so ever.
Typically I’ll reach for a light-medium coverage foundation for day-to-day so
switching it up with time balm was pleasant because my skin looked so beautiful
with very little effort. It has a semi-matte/satin finish, which is one of my
favourites. If I want to get a more dewy look, I’ll spritz my Mario
Badescu Facial Spray review
here over the top.

 
Longevity
I have tested this foundation without a primer, powder or setting spray,
typically getting around 7 hours of wear before my skin started looking shiny.
When I did powder the areas that were shiny I got an extra half an hour of wear,
so I think this is a great foundation for those days where you need a decent
coverage but you’re not out from 7:30am-6pm.

Shade Medium/Dark
I was sent this shade which is probably 1.5-2 shades deeper than my skintone.
Now I typically go up one shade because my face is a good deal lighter than my
body, so I wasn’t too alarmed – but I think the shade medium would be ideal for
this time of the year. I looked pretty tanned when wearing this, so it’s now
reserved for summer time. In terms of other brands I think this is close to
Barcelona in NARS, or perhaps the shade deeper and for reference sake probably
an NC40-45 in MAC. In general the shade range seems fantastic, going from
‘lightest light’ to ‘after dark’. They all seem to run on the warmer undertone
side according to online swatches.

Rating: 8

Pros: Affordable, good amount of product for
the money, fuss free packaging means product won’t go to waste, a decent shade
range, yellow undertoned, creamy formula melts into the skin without any effort,
medium-full coverage with a natural satin finish, decent lasting time. The other
day I woke up super late for work and grabbed this foundation, within 1 minute
my face looked like I had spent a good 10 minutes on perfecting the base, the
fact that it covered all my blemishes and uneven skintone and melted and blended
into the skin SO easily was incredible!

Cons: Not great for anyone who is super oily or
has dry patches. Also the packaging is pretty basic.

Repurchase? I am loving using this at the
moment but I’m not sure if it’s my favourite higher coverage base simply because
it does get shiny on me, we shall see!