Tom Ford Traceless Foundation Stick Doesn’t Match My Skin, But I Don’t Care

Do you know how painful it was for me to open my Tom Ford Beauty Traceless Foundation Stick signed by TOM FORD himself? But a number of you contacted me wanting to know the scoop on what I thought about it, so I had to do my beauty blogger duties and get ‘er done.

First, the question on everyone’s minds—is this foundation worth the $78 price tag?

To me, being the beauty addict that I am, it is. Let me explain what I mean. If you’ve been reading The Style and Beauty Doctor for a while, you’ll know there are things I’m cheap about (uh, not paying more than $7 for mascara aside from YSL Faux Cils Shocking) and things I’ll prefer to splurge on. Now I’m not saying drop everything you’ve been using on your faces and toss it all for this, but I’m not disappointed in this foundation’s performance nor do I feel I overpaid (which could also be influenced by the fact that I actually met Tom Ford after I bought it).

I’m truly a sucker for packaging as well as the experience I have with a product. I could go to my local drugstore and have security on my tail for every move I make or I could go to Bergdorf Goodman where the people are so accommodating, they damn near give you a back rub even when you’re just browsing. Plus while a Tom Ford frock is way out of my financial reach now, I can still “experience” the brand through cosmetics.

That said the packaging on Traceless Foundation Stick is quite chic—a deep chocolate brown with gold accents. The top of the stick doesn’t easily come off so if you need to throw this in your bag, no worries about getting foundation all over your belongings. But it also isn’t so tight that you have to weight train for weeks to get it open.

Now getting to the actual foundation. It’s sheer and feels soooo silky smooth on the skin (another part of the experience of a product), but you can vary your coverage easily to medium or full if need be. For review purposes, I put this all over my face though I would advise to use this only where you need it. At first the finish felt a little emollient and I worried that my oily skin would only be able to rock it in the dead of winter. It dries down to a nice satin finish that gives you the look of a healthy glow. If you’re oily, like with most foundations you’ll need to carry blot paper or a powder compact nearby for touch-ups throughout the day. I feel the finish and texture is better suited for normal to drier skins, but oily skin like mine can still wear it now that temps are a little cooler (at least they are here in NYC), but let temps get anywhere over 65 and we might have a problem.

On my NW47 skin, Chesnut is a smidge too light. A color like this is better for subtly highlighting my face with a foundation color that matches my skin around the perimeter. I also love this is as a luxurious under eye brightener. Clearly I wouldn’t return this because it has TF’s autograph on it, and I’m too scared to keep using it as a bit of his signature is already starting to rub off (ahhhhh). I’m contemplating buying another one just for highlighting purposes because it does perform well. I actually decided to work out in it to test (don’t try this at home, kids) and did some MAJOR sweating yet the foundation still looked flawless.

I didn’t get to nose around the entire collection like I wanted to on Tuesday when it debuted (talk about pandemonium at the TF counter), but I did get to quickly play around with the blushes which was what I was initially interested in. They too had a silky smooth feel and when a lovely Asian woman got a quick makeover at the counter, it gave her a beautiful almost-airbrushed glow. There were a number of vivid colors (because on darker skin like mine, brighter colored blush is a must for a gorgeous glow—lighter colors can look washed out), but sadly they were so silky they didn’t translate on my skin like the color in the pan. I’d have to build it and I have enough one swipe blush here that will do the trick. If your skin is fair, medium, olive to caramel you’ll love the look of the blush.

Anyway, I’ll be going back to Bergdorf soon to check out the lipsticks and nail polishes. I’ll be sure to report back.

More Tom Ford…

Bottom line: If you’re a lover of luxury cosmetics, Traceless Foundation Stick is a great treat to get a radiant satin finish glow that performs as a $78 foundation should.