New Diorskin Star Foundation by Dior - is it worth it?


Affiliate Links


There are many new foundations being released this year for fall, and the one that's creating the most buzz is certainly Dior's Diorskin Star foundation. It promises to recreate professional studio lighting on your face, and I was very curious - how can a cream create light? Is it an exaggeration, or a flawed description, or does it really somehow attract light to your face? I decided to give it a try with the help of Sarah, an amazing cosmetics specialist at the Dior corner of my local Neiman Marcus store (Fashion Valley in San Diego - ask for Sarah, she's THE most knowledgeable sales rep I've ever talked to in a department store). 



According to Dior, Star has medium coverage, buildable to high coverage, and it covers imperfections very well for a flawless skin with a very luminous effect, and a weightless texture. Sounds exciting! Unfortunately... that's not really what I experienced. 





Diorskin Star shade 30 - blended in the center of the picture

First, the coverage is definitely not medium, it's light, and after playing with a sample at home, I wouldn't even say it's buildable. I don't have anything major to cover, but the redness and small blemishes are still perfectly visible with Star, barely blurred. You can see on the pictures that my freckles look pretty much the same before and after! 



Before
After applying Diorskin Star: notice how the freckles are not very different
but the pores more visible

Second and much worse, instead of making my skin look smoother, Star emphasizes its texture: it accumulates into pores, shows grainy and dry areas, and even turns my microscopic facial hair into something visible... 



With Diorskin Star: pore party...

It also looks like it's just sitting on the surface of my skin without penetrating or setting. I always have traces and uneven finish, and if I lightly run my finger on my forehead hours after application, I can still move the product. That's kind of weird for such a light fluid.


Of course my skin was properly primed before application at the Dior counter, and I also tried different primers and no primer at home, as well as applying with different brushes or with my fingers. Whatever I tried the result is the same: the texture of my skin looks worse with Star than without Star


Sarah was really embarrassed and told me that I shouldn't look so close but take a step back and try to focus on the big picture. Yeah, well, Star is luminous and weightless, and seen from far enough it looks alright. But you know what, my skin without makeup looks alright when seen from far enough! Seriously, are you supposed to not let people get closer than 6 feet? 


It's probably great for a photo shoot (no closeup) or on the runway because of the luminous weightless look (although they better use powder because it gets shiny within 1 hour) but in real life, why would I use a foundation that makes my skin look worse to the people around me? Needless to say, I didn't purchase it, although I did get a large sample to try and make it work at home, but like I already said, all my attempts failed. 


Overall: I am very disappointed by Diorskin Star. It makes my skin look worse. That's just not acceptable for a foundation!


Update - 10/2/14

After discussing the performance of this foundation with Alina from Kleo Beaute Blog who liked it, I decided to give it a another try by applying it with a sponge. One of the specific features of this foundation is that you need to work on a small surface at a time and should not spread it on the skin (I already made sure I followed the instructions with my previous attempts). So I used a silicon sponge and dabbed on the skin, without trying to pull or blend at all. The end result is better, pores and imperfections are not emphasized that much, and the coverage is better. 

However I have 2 problems with this application method:

- I use a lot more product than usual, about 3 times as much as I do with my favorite foundations. That's why the coverage is higher!
- not being able to blend and spread means that it's hard to get even coverage, some areas tend to have more product than others.

I still think that Star is not a good high end foundation, but in case you bought it and are disappointed, do try applying it with a sponge for a better result.



With Diorskin Star, applied with a sponge 


I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links.


No comments

Unfortunately the comment system does not work on mobile phones at this time :( If you see this message and leave a comment, I will be unable to approve it, I'm really sorry about this issue!