Review on MISSHA M Magic Cushion No.27 With SPF50+/PA+++ by Jared Surabhi

UPDATED REVIEW: I hated this at first, but I decided to give it another shot before throwing it out. My skin is currently in better shape than it was originally when I tried this; I have no active breakouts and no flaking. I tried applying this with a Real Techniques sponge instead of the sponge this comes with, and when used with a patting motion (rather than wiping it on) this works better. It no longer has the drying effect or the crepey look that it had before. I still need to use a strong moisturizer before this and make sure that I don't have any flakes, but it works now. It is fast to apply for every day and gives enough coverage to hide redness, but does not fully cover my dark acne marks, which is fine. It gives a healthy, dewy look to the skin, and has decent lasting power. I like it best with a light layer of translucent loose powder pressed into the oily areas of the skin with a damp sponge and then blended out with a large fluffy powder brush. Even set with powder, it is a little tacky throughout the day. I think if you touch your face a lot or have long hair, the slight stickiness might annoy you, but I have very short hair and avoid touching my face so it's not horrible for me. I do not think the cushion actually has much product in it, and I expect that it will run out faster than other things I have. It is travel friendly because of the no leak cushion, but the plastic packaging is pretty bulky.At this point, I'm torn. I currently like it, but it only works for me when my skin is in good shape, which is not really the best quality for a foundation type product to have. I think this would probably work best for people with well balanced, normal skin (dry skin is emphasized with this and it is too shiny for oily) (doesn't look good on active acne, very large pores, or other texture) who just want to even out their skin and have a fresh, dewy look.ORIGINAL REVIEW: I had high hopes for this cushion foundation as I've heard many good things about the brand and this generally gets good reviews across the board. Unfortunately it really doesn't work for me.No. 21 is a nice, pale neutral (but not dull beige) toned color (my skin is about an NC15 for those familiar with MAC). This product has light coverage that is build-able to medium, and does a good job of evening out the skin and covering redness (you will need a separate concealer if you have blemishes and want them fully covered). The finish is quite "glowy," and it is fairly longwearing. And that's where the good stops. Somehow, this product grabs on to every single bit of texture in my skin, making my skin look worse than before and making it obvious that I have makeup on my skin. It makes my pores more visible and manages to significantly dry out my skin to the point of flaking. This settles in to smile lines and makes the skin look crepey when viewed up close. From a distance, this looks pretty good, it gives you that slightly glossy hyper-real look. The second you take a closer look it's all bad. I've tried it with several different heavy duty moisturizers and proper exfoliation etc. to try and combat the flaking, but no matter what I do, it dries my skin out. I've also tried it with and without powder, but it never sets and will stay tacky all day either way. For reference I have acneic combination skin -- dehydrated overall with some dryness/flaking and I get oily on my chin/inner cheeks/middle of the forehead. Most foundations tend to emphasize my dryness so I choose to "grade on a curve" and in that department this product gets an F (because it actually CAUSES more dryness). I would say that this could work on normal/oily skin that has no dryness but I think anyone with more serious oil production would be unhappy with the lack of setting/extreme shine they would get.