Minimalism for Makeup Purists: Gressa Skin Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation

One of the things I love most about green beauty is the unique innovation involved in creating healthy, cutting-edge products. I admire green beauty brands that constantly bridge the gap between high-quality makeup and beneficial skincare. One such brand is Gressa Skin. I’ve loved Gressa since the beginning with their gentle and pure skincare products. Now, the brand has an outstanding full line of cosmetics: Minimalist Glamour featuring liquid foundation, liquid contouring serum, liquid highlighter, and their bestselling Lip Boosts (my review here).

While visiting my sister in Portland a few months ago, I also met up with Gressa’s founder, Svetlana for coffee. It was so fun to meet her in person and chat about everything from her company’s story to everyday life, and she kindly gave me a bag of goodies, including the new Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation* to try.  While I don’t usually wear foundation everyday, I was definitely curious about these new products especially with their claims to be high-quality, pigmented, and full of nourishing, healing botanical extracts.

The Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation* ($48) is a true gem. As far as high-quality, natural makeup goes, this product is a game-changer. The formula is smooth, lightweight and gentle yet provides serious medium to full coverage. The foundation glides on skin and never leaves my face feeling cakey or weighed down, pores do not feel clogged either. You only need a tiny bit to apply to the whole face, I usually use only 2-3 drops of product. Application is as easy as applying a facial serum; when I’m in a rush I like blending and patting the product into skin with my fingers. But I recommend using a beauty sponge or better yet, Gressa’s new vegan Immaculate Buffing Brush* ($31) which is the perfect shape and size for buffing in product and results in a more airbrushed finish.

This foundation has a unique, natural liquid-to-powder finish so I find I don’t really need any other powder to set it. The end result is a radiant but semi-matte look and though I’ve found the foundation to be pleasantly hydrating on my dry skin, I recommend using a light moisturizer prior to applying if your skin is like mine. The liquid-to-powder formula does leave me with tiny flakey spots on the dry areas of my face and those areas become quite matte for my skin.

My favorite aspect of this foundation is that it really does feel more like a facial serum than a foundation and has an amazing formula to vouch for it. Infused with tons of beneficial organic ingredients like broccoli seed oil, barberry extract, licorice root extract, and neem extract among many, this foundation not only hydrates and provides excellent coverage, it heals and nourishes skin at the same time. The Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation also contains Gressa Skin’s proprietary blend of botanical extracts, the GRESSA Healing Complex which provides skin with overall balance, radiance and clarity, while minerals provide tone-correcting coverage. I can definitely tell my skintone looks more balanced overall and less red while wearing this foundation as well as after I remove it.

I don’t often use full-coverage foundation but when I go out to events or fancy parties where there’ll be lots of picture-taking, this foundation would be my first-choice product to last all night long. It gives you that photo-ready airbrushed, flawless finish with natural ingredients that are gentle and beneficial for skin. My skin never looks red, inflamed or feels irritated after use, unlike many other foundations I’ve tried, and my skin seems to look healthy, if not better even after removing the product from my face. This unique product is definitely up to par, if not superior to mainstream high-quality foundations!

The Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation comes in a range of 8 shades, perfect for a variety of skintones. I wear the shade 03 or, “Light Medium” and it matches flawlessly with my olive, cool-leaning undertones. It’s usually tough for me to get the perfect match for foundation or concealer but I was surprised at how much the Gressa Skin Foundation looked like my skin. Gressa’s website has a “Shade Guide” detailing each foundation shade. You can email a photo of yourself with details about your skintone and other foundation shades you use. I highly recommend finding swatches on the web or contacting Gressa Skin to find your perfect foundation match. (Svetlana is a shade-matching genius!)(Photo: Face before foundation, face with foundation.)

Next up, I’m dying to try Gressa Skin’s Contouring Serum Bronzer! I’ve never tried a product like that and if it’s anything like the foundation formula (which I’m sure it is), it’s sure to be a hit in my book.

Purchase the Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation for $48 (.5oz/ 15mL) at Gressa Skin. There’s also a convenient gift set with the Foundation, Illuminating Serum, buffing brush, and a lip boost you can purchase here. Check out the bestselling Minimalist Glamour collection here and the brand’s bestsellers here.

Ingredients: *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

Have you tried any of Gressa Skin’s Minimalist Glamour products? Have you tried the Minimalist Correct Serum Foundation? What other natural foundation products do you like?

 

*Products were kindly provided to me for consideration. As always, all opinions are honest and my own.