I've had really good experiences with Shiseido skincare in the past, and I was really excited to be provided the Synchro Skin Liquid Foundation for review from Influenster and Shiseido. I've owned a few liquid foundations before and even though they are not my favourite formula, I like having a variety of foundation styles to choose from, but is this one worth the price tag?

Application - The foundation comes in a sturdy bottle of frosted glass with a pump top, and while that does help the foundation from being contaminated (looking at you Estee Lauder!) sadly it's extremely runny straight out of the bottle. It did not apply well with my BeautyBlender as most liquid foundations don't, but it also didn't apply well with brushes either, coming across as streaky. Instead I patted it on with my fingers and blended everything out with my BeautyBlender to finish. I also found that only ONE of my primers worked well with this foundation, the Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer. I had significant pilling when I used any water-based primer or even my Smashbox Hydrating Primer or Primer Water. (I primarily use only Smashbox primers, but I also tested a Guerlain too, with the same result.)

Finish - The initial finish of the foundation is light to medium, and while the product claims you can build upon it with multiple layers, I found it started to look quite heavy if I did. It IS a very blendable base to work with, and I found it easy to layer blush/bronzer/highlight over the foundation smoothly. It has a fairly natural finish, not too matte and not shiny at all, but my results at the end of the day were quite varied.

Durability - As I mentioned above, I tried this foundation with multiple primers and with the exception of the Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer, my foundation would break down within about 4-6 hours. It would simultaneously look like it was melting off my face, as well as breaking down and drying up on my face. Only with the Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer did it stay put, but it did fade away quite a bit after 8 hours, which makes it tough for me to trust wearing it and going out after work.

Final Thoughts - The Shiseido Synchro Skin Lasting Liquid Foundation is ok, but the finicky nature of the formula and the trickiness of knowing what to use with it, makes it less likely that I'll buy it again, especially since it's $58 CAD. I currently have a serum foundation by The Ordinary which delivers a similar result for only $6.70, and while I'll forgive a cheaper foundation for it's flaws, something almost $50 more should not be so high maintenance.

On the plus side, I also received some other Shiseido products in my kit, the Rouge Rouge lipstick in Ruby Copper, the Inkstroke Eyeliner in Black, and the Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate and had positive experiences with each of them. The eyeliner specifically is very easy to apply, but my sample only included a small sample brush and I need to test it with the proper brush to do it full justice in a review. The lipstick is fantastic and I'll definitely be doing a proper swatch of it in the future.

What's your favourite Shiseido product? Let me know in the comments!