A rather belated review, I’m afraid; I had a bit of a shade mix-up with the Eve Lom products when they were first launched and then they got a little overlooked for a while, partly because I wasn’t overly wowed by the product that I tried first (spoiler alert!) but mostly because my schedule went haywire and I simply couldn’t get around to doing an in-depth test. But now I have had a good play and I think that you may be surprised at my verdict – the results certainly surprised me!

I was positive, before even opening the packaging, that my favourite products from the range would be the Flawless Radiance Primer and the Radiance Perfected Tinted Moisturiser. These are the types of high-end, luxurious, “my-skin-but-better” products that I reach for time and time again; makeup that gives a flawless yet natural-looking complexion. Cosmetics that do a great job but are barely noticeable on the skin. I have drawers filled with these skin enhancing, glow-producing creams and lotions – the “barely-there” finish is absolutely my default look. Interestingly, though, I wasn’t initially bowled over by this skin-enhancing duo. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with them, they just didn’t seem to quite live up to the hype. The Radiance Primer gave a good, subtle glow, the finish was silky smooth and it felt incredibly hydrating, like a powerful-but-light moisturiser (the texture of the Elemental Emulsion from Omorovicza very vaguely comes to mind) but despite the fresh and comfortable feeling, it didn’t really stun me with any kind of mega-watt luminosity.

The Tinted Moisturiser gave a beautiful, even finish, had nice coverage, but felt ever so slightly claggy on my skin. (In all fairness, this might be better suited to much drier skin, but still I found the texture quite heavy.) They were small, small niggles with perfectly nice products, but I suppose at £48, I wanted a base that made me throw open the bathroom window and sing like Pavarotti. By Terry’s Denisliss, for example. (Which admittedly needs its own mortgage.) Or By Terry’s Cover Expert, or Sheer Expert (there’s a theme there), both slightly cheaper, or Tilbury’s Light Wonder. I realise that I’m comparing a tinted moisturiser to a set of foundations, but I suppose that what I’m getting at is that I find them faultless, and when it’s a premium price, I want to be able to rave about something absolutely and without reservation. (See Mineral Foundation, below!)

Before: just “Radiance Primer” applied

However, after filming with the products a few times and looking back to edit the video, I had to admit that the primer and tinted moisturiser looked pretty perfect together. There was a real evenness to my skin but it still looked very natural; there was a hint of a glow but nothing too obvious. It was, I suppose you could say, a “sophisticated” finish. And so, although the feeling of the products didn’t wow me, the visual effects couldn’t really be argued with. In addition to this (and the next point is possibly quite important) the makeup products are designed to be almost an extension of Lom‘s skincare range. They are marketed as having benefits such as helping to lighten dark spots and smoothing out the skin long-term. If this is true, and they are potent in these ways, then you are getting double for your money and the pricing is actually very fair. (I’d be interested to know your feedback if you are using these and have noticed a marked difference in your skin. As always, I can only vouch for my own experiences with a product and it’s really very difficult to record longer-term effects (even five weeks using exclusively Olay Regenerist products has been pretty hard to monitor!) so please, do leave your feedback below if you are in a position to do so. It’s helpful for future readers and I also like to see what other people think!)

The verdict so far, then: I can imagine that the primer will actually get a fair bit of use – I’ve tried it underneath loads of different bases and it always works very well – but the tinted moisturiser? Not so much. It gets a lukewarmish reception. But fear not, Eve Lom fans, for this only serves to contrast nicely with the next product review; one which is almost indecently hot…

I absolutely love-love-love the Mineral Powder Foundation. Me! I know! Shunner of the powdery bases! I was prepared to just give the Eve Lom version a cursory swish-swash with a kabuki brush, such is my general distaste for mineral foundations, but I am so very glad that I gave this a thorough trial. I’ve now been using it as a kind of “perfecting powder veil top coat” nearly every day for the past fortnight or so. It is really just the most radiant, glowy, lit-from-within powder foundation that I’ve ever used. It’s a bit like the Ambient Lighting powder from Hourglass, (though far, far more subtle, thank God, otherwise I’d look like a shiny android), in that it doesn’t seem to have any obvious shimmer but neither does it absorb light and make the skin flat. It just seems to kind of process the light and multiply it and send it back on out again with a high-intensity kick. Absolutely brilliant. I just whisk a bit over the top of my CC cream or tinted moisturiser or (less frequently) I use on bare skin and build it up to my required coverage. I think that it’s best buffed in as a finishing touch, though – it seems to just hold everything in place and bring it all together. Top stuff. It does cost £45, but I only use about enough each time to fill a gnat’s boots, so I’m anticipating this lasting a good while.

After: with primer, tinted moisturiser and the amazing mineral foundation

A surprise verdict, then – the Mineral Powder Foundation comes out on top. As a visual aid, I’ve popped in a couple of photos above: one with just primer, and then primer, tinted moisturiser and powder foundation. I’m sorry, I forgot to pause and take a snap of the makeup pre-foundation, but you can see it all in action in my latest Youtube video. It’ll be embedded into tomorrow’s post, but you can watch it here if that’s too long to wait!

Eve Lom Makeup is available at SpaceNK – I used Ivory 02 in both the TM and the Mineral Foundation.