Review: Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation

New to the beauty market is Rimmel London's Wake Me Up Foundation. Boasting of an anti-fatigue effect and radiant glow I decided to get my hands on a sample merely because I thought it quite dubious. Any product in my books that boasts of producing a radiant glow could not be made for people with oily skin.

The description on the back of the package reads "Our first foundation that visibly reawakens and illuminates skin with a radiant and a flawless natural-looking finish. Instant anti-fatigue effect. With peptides and a Vitamin Moisturising Complex." Again to me it sounded dubious. Usually when a product boasts of these things I think, yeah right! as if it ever really does that.

I opened up the sample and was greeted by a very pleasant scent. That is one point in its favour already. The product applied beautifully and did not take long to dry. My skin felt alive and I believe the scent I was met with was something akin to mint. The foundation did illuminate the skin and there definitely was a radiant glow. When I looked at my face under halogen lights I saw iridescent bits in the foundation and I thought that was really neat. So far the foundation had surpassed my poor expectations of it.

Next came the true test of the foundation. How would it look when the oiliness of my  T-zone kicked in. The result was a greater surprise. It held really well. After an hour of wearing it I did not see the oiliness, particularly of my nose showing through! I do not usually wear liquid foundations because I think they are quite a bother. I prefer pressed or loose powders, although I am not against using a primer.

Since I was just testing the product, I whipped out a makeup remover and proceeded to take off the foundation. Here I ran into some trouble. For neither love nor money would the foundation come off. I was very annoyed. I had to suds up twice and revert to my Sothys cleanser and toner to take away the vestiges of the foundation. 

Although there was trouble in removing the foundation I was overall quite happy with it. My favourite part I think would be that there really is a moisturiser in there. Usually when I remove my foundation (powder) I am left with this very dry feel to my skin and not even cleansing, toning and applying moisturiser gets rid of that cakey feel. My skin did feel refreshed and moist and for that I would highly recommend this product. If you have oily or combination skin, don't worry about it, you're in safe hands with Rimmel London's Wake Me Up Foundation.

Just to note, if you can't find your skin tone match, purchase one light and one darker foundation and mix the two until you get the perfect shade.

Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation - 4.5/5 (because it does what it says, but is the very devil to take off).

Photo: littlewoods.com