Review: Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Giorgio Armani Beauty Line is probably most well-known for their foundations. Their famous Luminous Silk ($59 for 1 oz) is an awarding-winner as well as a best seller. It provides sheer to medium coverage, a glowy finish and very light-weight smoothing texture. Containing no SPF, Luminous Silk is flash-photography-safe.

Luminous Silk has widest shade range among Armani foundations. The shade systems however make no sense to me. I read comments here and there on beauty blogs that the shades ending in .5 are yellow-based, .0 are neutral and .75 are pink-based. It turns out that's not the case. Giorgio Armani Beauty's website writes and I quote" 3.75, 4.73, 5.25 are cool toned; 5.75 is warm tone; 10 is warm to neutral; 11 is cool and 13 is neutral". Completely confusing!

I was matched for 6.5 at Armani counter. It looked amazing on my skin during the first hour, then turned muddy or more exactly yellow dirty. Shade # 6.5 is too warm for my warm skin tone probably because it has yellow brown undertone instead of yellow. I also tried shade # 6 and 5.75. Shade # 6 turned out too beige on me and it's even lighter than 5.75 (stumped!). Fortunately shade # 5.75 matches me perfectly. It's very similar to Chanel Mat Lumierre in Begie but more light-weight and more dewy.

Luminous Silk looks amazing on me during the first 3 hours of wearing. Starting at hour 4 I have to pull out my blotting papers. Even though I set it separately with three different setting powders including Armani Micro Fil loose powder, Laura Mercier translucent powder and Bobbi Brown sheer finish pressedpowder, Luminous Silk doesn't stay on after 5 hours of wearing. Bobbi Brown translucent powder is the dries of the bunch but has no better setting power than the others.

I find it's best to use a foundation brush to apply Luminous Silk since it's very watery and dries out rather slowly. Using clean fingers, my favorite way of applying foundation, will sheer out Luminous Silk too much unless you want sheer coverage. I skipped the Armani blender brush that is designed for this foundation. I use Sigma foundation brush and it blends flawlessly.

Luminous Silk (5.75) swatched outdoors under mild shading. It is smooth I tell you!

One more swatch under direct sunlight.

Long story for short, Luminous Silk is a great foundation for normal, combination or dry skin. Matching the shade is tricky. The sleek packaging of Luminous Silk (and Lasting Silk) makes it a good travel companion. If you love medium coverage foundation and long-lasting is not a must-have, you will like Luminous Silk. However, I recommend you test the samples to see how it behaves on your skin through out the day before opening your wallet.

Comparison swatches with some other foundations I own are on the way....  is here.

Check out his how-to video on Luminous Silk Foundation.

Note: I have normal combination skin, i.e. oily T-zone and normal to dry cheeks. My complexion has yellow undertone. I prefer medium to full coverage foundations and translucent setting powder.