Flashback Beauty Friday 90: Urban Decay Surreal Skin Liquid Makeup

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Alongside the limited edition packaging I feature in my weekly Flashback Beauty Friday posts, I also share discontinued products or packaging evolution of a product over the years. Last week, I posted a fragrance for the first time, with the limited edition glass bottle of Anais Anais and today I have a discontinued foundation. I think I've only featured foundation once here; the beneFit record compact, as generally speaking, foundation tubes and bottles aren't that interesting to look at, but this bottle certainly is.

It's the Urban Decay Surreal Skin Liquid Foundation. UD had been through their grungy, metal packaged era and moved onto newer fonts and all purple everything!  This pearlised lilac, genie bottle (that's what it reminds me of anyway) and formulation I think dates back to 2009-10ish, but was discontinued a couple of years later when their 'Naked' range of face products began.  Although beautiful, I see many issues with the packaging here. Firstly, I personally hate foundation (or skincare) where I can't see how much is left. Often by the time you 'feel' you're running low, it's too late.  

Secondly, it's not a squeezy bottle. The more bulbous bit is a little softer, but it's not intended to be squished at all.  You twist the highest point of the silver lid and there's a little hole for the liquid to pass through or the lid can be screwed off completely. Either way, you can't squeeze product out when running low. It's also hard to control the amount you dispense, you ended up with a handful or barely anything. Non-squeezable foundation bottles (such as glass) tend instead to come with a pump, allowing control over the amount you dispense and meaning you can get most of the contents out easily as you work your way through the bottle. UD's famous Primer Potion was packaged similarly back then and there were countless tutorials on how to hack into the bottle to get more product out and shock at just how much extra is inside that you can't reach.

As for the formulation, there were mixed reviews.  A lot of pale skinned people praised the shade selection, I had Illusion here.  This was an oil-free foundation with SPF, but this had an obvious chemical type smell that many disliked.  It could look flawless one minute then cakey the next and didn't have a particularly long wear time.  

I've compared it below to other foundations (Lancôme Teint Miracle, Bobbi Brown Intensive Skin Serum Foundation (another opaque bottle I dislike) and The Ordinary Coverage Foundation), just so you can see the size.  It's something that looked good on a dressing table (it was pictured on Blair Waldorf's in Gossip Girl), but it wasn't the most practical to use.  

Do you remember this one and the UDPP bottle drama?