I was doing a bit of decluttering over the weekend and whilst culling my insane and very unnecessary collection of foundations that is enough to paint an entire body, I came across this foundation and realised I never shared my thoughts about this with you. How the heck I missed this, I have no idea, because this is actually a great foundation!

Ah well, better late than never, eh? 😛

I reckon the name “Stroke of Genius” came from the brush that’s attached to the tube. Straight up, not a fan of the brush. Better get that out of the way first because I think it’s unnecessary and not a very sanitary choice. You can’t detach the brush so giving it a clean can be an issue. Even though the brush head turns to lock and unlock the foundation from spreading into the brush, it’s still messy to have to clean the brush because you may end up wasting foundation that’s still stuck at the base of the brush head. Personally, it would have been better without the attached brush.

Now that I’ve gotten the negative part out of the way, let’s talk about how good this foundation is (even with the crummy brush). The foundation is rich and creamy yet it blends on the skin very well. The coverage of the foundation is high with at least minimum coverage and layerable to a full coverage. Oh, another reason why I don’t like the brush is that it can dispense too much foundation making the application and results cakey and unnatural with too much makeup on the face. Given that the coverage of the foundation is high, too much of it on the skin would make it look very made up.

What I like to do is to use the brush to paint rough strokes of foundation on the 5 points of my face that is the 2 cheeks, chin, forehead and nose. Next, I even the foundation out with the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge. You can use a Beauty Blender or a similar sponge too if you like. The effect is flawless yet natural skin. The sponge evens the application out, making the foundation appear not heavy on the skin but still giving you high coverage.

This foundation reminds me of Covergirl’s Outlast Stay Fabulous Foundation, which also gives high coverage on the skin. I actually prefer the Stroke of Genius Liquid Cashmere Foundation to the Covergirl Outlast because it gives a natural, satin finish on the skin compared to the Covergirl’s matte finish.

Staying power for the foundation is also top notch. I’ve had this foundation on on warm and sunny days for over 12 hours and it barely faded on my skin after that amount of time. It also contains a pretty decent SPF of 20 so while using the foundation alone wouldn’t give your skin sufficient UV protection (you’ll need a separate sunscreen for that), it will still help along with your sunscreen.

I give this foundation an enthusiastic thumbs up. Check it out when you can, especially if you’re a fan of high coverage foundations. This one didn’t disappoint me and I hope it wouldn’t disappoint you too.

Napoleon Perdis’ Stroke of Genius Liquid Cashmere Foundation retails at U$60.00 for 30ml and is available at Napoleon Perdis concept stores, David Jones, MYER and over 875 pharmacies and salons nationwide.

What I like about it: Good coverage foundation, creamy but not heavy, has great longevity.

What I do not like about it: The attached brush head is an unnecessary and unsanitary inclusion.

Have you tried this foundation before? What do you think about foundations with attached brush heads like this one? A clever multi-tasker or totally unnecessary?

Disclaimer: This product was provided for editorial consideration.