ELE Health & Beauty: We Tried Kim Kardashian West’s Beauty Brand and Here’s What We Thought

Alex, our Health & Beauty Writer, tried Skin Perfecting Body Foundation in Fair

It should surprise no one that I am a fan of Kimberly Kardashian West, so when she bought out something as unusual as a body foundation I knew that we had to try it. The day I got to collect the parcel I literally wore a dress so that I could try it straight away.

Now the reasons that KKW bought out a body foundation is something I think we need to discuss. The people who are critiquing her decision to bring out something like a body foundation may have a different approach to dealing with scarring, prominent veins and conditions that affect your skin tone. I believe that while people shouldn’t be ashamed of these conditions, it’s naive to assume that some people wouldn’t rather that they had a choice to hide these in some contexts.

Kim has been very public with her battle with psoriasis and the discolouration that it has left on her legs in particular. I think that given the overwhelmingly positive response from people who feel like her body foundation has made a positive impact on their lives purely for the fact that they now have control over something as simple as their physical presentation, it’s a justifiable product range to produce, even given the enormous amount of negative feedback that she received.

Now onto the actual product. I am pale with very warm undertones, and this product is definitely for people with yellow undertones, this is a common issue for me so I’m very willing to overlook it in products with a restricted shade range. I’ve popped it on just my left leg in the below photos, and you can see that it looks super yellow on me in artificial lighting, and much less so in natural lighting.

My biggest test of this product was if it would survive a full day of wear. I’m taking a bunch of weekend classes to finish my masters so at 8am on a Saturday morning as I prepared to leave my house I applied a surprisingly small amount of the foundation to my pasty winter legs and left the house in the bitter cold of Melbourne wearing a coat and a summery dress.

This foundation survived uber rides, lecture chairs, train rides, my backpack resting on it, restaurant chairs, cinema chairs and a coat. How? I assume magic. At the end of a very long day I was in the shower SCRUBBING it off. The transfer risk initially was quite high while it dried, but from that point it was very low. I was resting my black cloth backpack against my leg for a portion of the day and didn’t have any transfer. 

I sort of equate wearing this to wearing sheer stockings. I liked it because it left my legs feeling a bit more ‘presentable’ (for want of a better word), but it definitely didn’t feel heavy. Would recommend for anyone who would like a more even skin tone, and is happy not to touch anything for about 20 minutes after applying.

MJ, our Editor, tried Red Creme Lip Bundle in Candy Apple Red & Red 3

As a big fan of a bold lip and a long time Chanel red lipstick wearer (Rouge Allure, Pirate) I was a little sceptical about trying KKW’s lipstick and liner. Could a celebrity beauty line really compete with the classic beauty brands?

The first thing I noticed was the packaging, it’s very cute, emblazoned with Kim’s face all over it with a vintage/retro vibe. The blush tones and reds are really pretty and it comes packed well, we ordered from the US, shipping to Australia and all of the products arrived in good shape.

The actual product casings are also good- clear for the lipstick and nudie/pink for the lip liner. The only issue I had was with the lid of the lip liner which doesn’t stay on, which isn’t a problem if you are leaving it on a shelf at home but it’s a big problem if you have it in your makeup bag as inevitably the top falls off and bright red lip liner ends up everywhere.

The lipstick and liner colour is stunning, a bright candy apple red colour as it’s name suggests. I received many compliments the first day I wore it – from ‘wow that’s such a beautiful colour’ to ‘your lipstick looks very 1950s’, it really stood out, this definitely isn’t the colour for you if you are looking to blend into the background.

The product lasts very well on the lips, it handled a day of drinking, eating and back-to-back meetings although there is a little transference at the start if you don’t apply it properly. I’d suggest 2-3 layers and blotting in between and a light dust of powder to keep it set (I use Make Up For Ever HD powder).

While it won’t replace Chanel as my go-to day to day red lipstick, it definitely has a place in my makeup collection as a ‘every now and then red’ when I’m feeling particularly bold and looking to make an impact.

Want more beauty? Click here for our review of Cosmedix Lumi Crystal Liquid Crystal Lip Hydrator and here for Alex’s review of Physical Sunscreens.