“It’s a serum. It’s a foundation. It’s a multivitamin for your face.”
With product copy like that, you can’t help but notice Gressa Skin’s Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation.
A darling of the green beauty blogosphere, Gressa Skin’s Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation caught my attention because of its skin-beneficial ingredients list and magical serum-to-powder finish formula.
However, this natural foundation didn’t completely WOW me the first few times I applied it. It’s since grown on me, and here’s how I enjoy it.
{I purchased Gressa’s Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation from the Gressa website. It costs $48 for a 15 ml dropper bottle.}
After reading several reviews before splurging on it in early December 2014, I opted for shade 03 and requested a sample packet of the Illuminating Serum with my order.
I was quite impressed with the match I got in shade 03, described as a light-medium color with olive and slightly warmer undertones.
As you can see in my before-and-after photos below, it’s almost a perfect match!
But as you can also see in my before-and-after photos, the coverage is very light, as I can still see the imperfections on my forehead and the deeper yellow-tan circles under my eyes.
{LEFT: No makeup. Not even my brows. Ah! RIGHT: Wearing only Gressa Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation}
This is after buffing in 7-8 drops of the runny formula — substantially more than the recommended 2-4 drops in the application directions.
I used about 3 drops on my forehead and down my nose; 2 on each of my cheeks; and one on my chin and jawline.
Though the light coverage can easily be remedied by adding concealer on my spots and undereye circles, one issue I had with Gressa Skin’s Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation was its tendency to stick to dry patches on the skin.
I’ve read this feedback in a lot of other reviews, and it held true even for me, the oily blogger in residence.
Granted, it is the dead of winter, and we’ve had some brutal weather in the Midwest lately, but I was surprised at how the foundation balled up on even the slightest dry patches on my face. This was after a healthy amount of cleansing, exfoliation, toning, moisturizing and application of the Illuminating Serum sample.
With that said, I’m interested to see how Gressa Skin’s Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation performs in the spring and summer. I imagine this issue will go away, and I will have a deeper appreciation for how lightweight and beautiful this formula is.
(I’ll provide an update to this post when it’s warmer!)
Speaking of the formula, let’s look at those skin-beneficial ingredients that got my attention in the first place:
*Brassica oleracea (Broccoli) Seed Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Silica, GRESSA Healing ComplexTM *Silymarin, *Neem (Azadirachta indica) Extract,*Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) Extract, *Lemon Balm (Melissa officianalis) Extract, *Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) Extract, *Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) Seed Extract, *Elder Flower (Sambucus nigra) Extract, *Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) Extract, Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate Non-GMO, Coenzyme Q10, Ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, (Vitamin C), *lecithin, *glycerin, mica, iron oxides, titanium oxide. *CERTIFIED ORGANIC
Broccoli seed oil is the hero ingredient that gives this serum foundation the feel of a primer without the use of silicones.
Neem, horsetail, lemon balm and sea buckthorn are known for their anti-inflammatory and acne-fighting properties, which is a wonderful bonus to those of us who are breakout-prone and attempting to reach “foundation-free” status with our skin.
And that brings me to how I’ve come around with this foundation. As I mentioned in the introduction of this post, I wasn’t immediately impressed with this foundation from a pure coverage and everyday application perspective.
However, as I’ve been experiencing some really great skin days lately, I’ve come to respect this foundation more as my “good skin day” foundation. It allows my skin to breathe, continues to treat it with good-for-breakout-prone-skin ingredients and makes me feel like I’m wearing nothing on my face.
As I get older and appreciate the ability to let my bare beauty shine through, I yearn more and more for the days when I can be that girl who just slicks on lip gloss, curls her lashes and goes — no major skin coverage needed!
Until then, it’s easy to use Gressa Skin’s Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation to fake that “no-makeup” makeup look. Just remember to spot-conceal where necessary, and feel confident in your own skin!
So, final verdict on repurchasing: Undecided until I’ve seen how it performs in warmer, humid weather.
Until then, check out some of my other natural foundation reviews and see some of my other favorites and fails.
What are your thoughts on Gressa Skin’s foundation? Do you have “good skin day” foundations and foundations you use when your skin needs a little extra help? What are they? Tell me in the comments section!
