Swatches taken right after they dried down, standing beside a window, overcast outside
Combo skin, oily nose dry everywhere else
Recently picked up new Espoir cushions. They were hard to find swatches for so I sorta blind bought them. My Be Velvet is a refill that came with the Be Natural set so it isn’t featured in the first photo. Apologies in advance if the formatting is weird.
​
***Nu Zero***
When first applied, it’s an okish match to my face, but it oxidizes like crazy on me and becomes around 1.5-2 shades darker by the end of the day. The coverage is medium. Love the puff it comes with.
​
***Espoir Cushions***
The cushions seem to run a shade lighter and lean yellow instead of pink. Probably should have only brought one to test the shade first. I’ll probably pick up shade 22, Petal, next time as these are slightly too light for my face (match my arm nicely tho), hopefully it’ll be a better match. I’ve been only applying them in the center of my face to brighten instead of a lighter concealer. Works great and layers nicely over other foundations. The compact refills are interchangeable between the different versions (natural, glow, velvet etc. for the new class ones at least) so you can always just buy refills to try different finishes after purchasing one. All the Espoir ones come with a refill. Their puffs are nice, feels the same as the cult classic pony puffs after you dampen the pony ones.
None of the Espoir cushions seem to oxidize on me and all feel slightly cool on first pat. They are all quite heavily fragranced and I do get whiffs of the fragrance throughout the day for the first few hours, but my nose is sensitive to smells so ymmv.
I tested a full face wear for the Espoir cushions on days I stayed home and the Be Glow and Be Velvet lasted ~10hrs on me (outside of my nose, see second last paragraph). Be natural lasted shorter ~8hrs. I didn’t set them with powder.
​
**Be Natural**
Has the least amount of coverage (mesh cushion), great for people who are looking to even up their skin tone. Not super dewy, probably closer to a satin(?) finish. Has a floral scent that leans slightly chemical (sorry if that doesn’t make sense).
**Be Velvet**
Reminds me of the new zero coverage wise. Is the most matte out of the three. I personally don’t find it drying. It has the most chemical fragrance out of the three, almost like a toned down acrylic paint scent. Finish is still surprisingly natural looking for the coverage, prefer it over the Nu Zero.
**Be Glow**
Coverage is between the other two Espoir cushions and the most dewy. I’d say it’s half a step down coverage wise (buildable) compared to Be Velvet. Fragrance wise, to my nose at least, it seem to be the strongest smelling out of the three but the least chemical like scent.
My nose gets super oily and starts breaking down the foundation after a few hours, especially with sunscreen on. Usually by the end of the day the product is gone on the tip of my nose and the nose crease area gets super patchy, and has broken down product in the crease. This happens with most foundations I’ve tried, western brands included.
*Random Hack for my Oily Nose:* I’ve started applying a bit of eye primer (just enough to control oil production) on my nose and it helps immensely with oil control. Foundation/cushions stays intact on my nose with this hack After 10-12 hours of wear, my nose showed some oil but my foundation/cushion didn’t break down at all. Use this hack at your own risk tho, heard it might clog up pores and can make foundation look cakey and patchy if too much primer is applied.
alkemicalgold on
The little Prince packaging 🥹
strawberrif on
the nu zero kuromi one is cute! i thought about getting it, do you think getting a lighter shade would help?
soleilee on
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been looking for a new cushion to replace my Em Cosmetics one, and I really appreciate you mentioning fragrance because I can’t stand in my base products.
Also the Little Prince stickers are so cute!! You make me want to sticker my own compacts and palettes haha
chevereok on
What are swatches?
RubyDiscus on
The Espoir glow has been my favourite cushion so far. Finish wise and color wise
7 Comments
***Background Info:***
Shade match: NC15
Swatches taken right after they dried down, standing beside a window, overcast outside
Combo skin, oily nose dry everywhere else
Recently picked up new Espoir cushions. They were hard to find swatches for so I sorta blind bought them. My Be Velvet is a refill that came with the Be Natural set so it isn’t featured in the first photo. Apologies in advance if the formatting is weird.
​
***Nu Zero***
When first applied, it’s an okish match to my face, but it oxidizes like crazy on me and becomes around 1.5-2 shades darker by the end of the day. The coverage is medium. Love the puff it comes with.
​
***Espoir Cushions***
The cushions seem to run a shade lighter and lean yellow instead of pink. Probably should have only brought one to test the shade first. I’ll probably pick up shade 22, Petal, next time as these are slightly too light for my face (match my arm nicely tho), hopefully it’ll be a better match. I’ve been only applying them in the center of my face to brighten instead of a lighter concealer. Works great and layers nicely over other foundations. The compact refills are interchangeable between the different versions (natural, glow, velvet etc. for the new class ones at least) so you can always just buy refills to try different finishes after purchasing one. All the Espoir ones come with a refill. Their puffs are nice, feels the same as the cult classic pony puffs after you dampen the pony ones.
None of the Espoir cushions seem to oxidize on me and all feel slightly cool on first pat. They are all quite heavily fragranced and I do get whiffs of the fragrance throughout the day for the first few hours, but my nose is sensitive to smells so ymmv.
I tested a full face wear for the Espoir cushions on days I stayed home and the Be Glow and Be Velvet lasted ~10hrs on me (outside of my nose, see second last paragraph). Be natural lasted shorter ~8hrs. I didn’t set them with powder.
​
**Be Natural**
Has the least amount of coverage (mesh cushion), great for people who are looking to even up their skin tone. Not super dewy, probably closer to a satin(?) finish. Has a floral scent that leans slightly chemical (sorry if that doesn’t make sense).
**Be Velvet**
Reminds me of the new zero coverage wise. Is the most matte out of the three. I personally don’t find it drying. It has the most chemical fragrance out of the three, almost like a toned down acrylic paint scent. Finish is still surprisingly natural looking for the coverage, prefer it over the Nu Zero.
**Be Glow**
Coverage is between the other two Espoir cushions and the most dewy. I’d say it’s half a step down coverage wise (buildable) compared to Be Velvet. Fragrance wise, to my nose at least, it seem to be the strongest smelling out of the three but the least chemical like scent.
My nose gets super oily and starts breaking down the foundation after a few hours, especially with sunscreen on. Usually by the end of the day the product is gone on the tip of my nose and the nose crease area gets super patchy, and has broken down product in the crease. This happens with most foundations I’ve tried, western brands included.
*Random Hack for my Oily Nose:* I’ve started applying a bit of eye primer (just enough to control oil production) on my nose and it helps immensely with oil control. Foundation/cushions stays intact on my nose with this hack After 10-12 hours of wear, my nose showed some oil but my foundation/cushion didn’t break down at all. Use this hack at your own risk tho, heard it might clog up pores and can make foundation look cakey and patchy if too much primer is applied.
The little Prince packaging 🥹
the nu zero kuromi one is cute! i thought about getting it, do you think getting a lighter shade would help?
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been looking for a new cushion to replace my Em Cosmetics one, and I really appreciate you mentioning fragrance because I can’t stand in my base products.
Also the Little Prince stickers are so cute!! You make me want to sticker my own compacts and palettes haha
What are swatches?
The Espoir glow has been my favourite cushion so far. Finish wise and color wise
Hello op! What camera did you use?