NIOD Photography Fluid is one of those unassuming little bottles that you’d easily walk past while shopping without a second glance. Without online reviews, I genuinely wouldn’t have even heard of this so you gotta hand it to bloggers, they get the word out! I’d read very promising and then slightly cautionary tales, some saying this was like a real life Instagram filter for your face that photographed exceptionally well, others saying it was quite dry on the skin and didn’t make much of a difference. If it had cost closer to €50 I probably would have left it on my ever growing wishlist but when I read a glowing review from Adrienne of The Sunday Girl and then saw that it was just over €20, I figured it was worth the gamble.
I ordered off Look Fantastic and got it in about 4 working days which was grand. It’s not much to look at, a relatively plain brown bottle with a dropper to dispense a pale gold fluid. The dropper is instantly a dud because so much product sticks to it, meaning every time you put it absentmindedly back in the bottle the actual fluid overflows. So design is seriously lacking but there are other products that have crap packaging that have a gem nestled inside (Lush Emotional Brilliance Powder I’m looking at you).
The fluid itself is the palest gold, smooth and glitter free. You have a few choices with this when you use it. You can either substitute it for your normal primer, use it underneath/on top of a primer, mix it in with foundation or apply it like a more traditional liquid illuminator on top of a finished look. Fluid illuminators and I are normally on tricky ground as my skin is a little bumpy and poreous, so I figured I’d try it a few ways and see what worked best.
When this dries it doesn’t have a soft primer finish but blends to a semi matte finish. It’s best to use small amounts first and work fast. I was slightly cautious about it so I mixed it in with foundation first and used it on top of my normal primer. I could definitely see a golden sheen this way, similar to the Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow but more subtle. It was grand but my skin type didn’t really do it justice. With powder on the right spots, it looked nice but overall this just seemed to highlight the uneven nature of my skin a bit too much and I wished I’d stuck to my Guerlain Meteorites. I tried it with less and then it seemed to disappear. I even used it mixed with foundation subtly on one side of my face and then just used the foundation on its own on the other side of my face to spot any difference and to be honest I couldn’t see any. Next time I tried it underneath my primer. On bare skin once I worked fast and rubbed a small amount in like moisturiser it looked nice, glowy without sticking in my pores and it definitely dulled the redness in my skin (you can see this in the photos below). Once I stuck a primer over that and foundation over it the finished look was nice but the NIOD fluid was undetectable underneath. I then had to alternate for a few days to see if I could genuinely see any difference when I used this underneath my normal products or not. To be perfectly honest, it didn’t give enough difference. It was either too much or too little and like the three bears, I couldn’t get it just right. But, and it’s a big but, I absolutely know to my core that this will work amazingly for loads of people. Loads of bloggers I love adore this product and therefore this is simply a case of it just not working for my skin type.
My skin is a work in progress and although it seems pretty run of the mill to the naked eye, it’s a difficult customer with products. This is one such case. It’s not that it isn’t nice, it’s just not adding anything, it’s actually making my makeup slightly trickier. This is meant to be amazing in photos but, without sounding like an ass, my makeup normally looks decent enough in photos so that’s not why I would personally seek out this product. Mixed in with foundation, I feel like this slightly highlights my spots and bumpy bits or just seems to disappear. This just isn’t for me. For smooth skin, go hell for leather and you’ll probably absolutely adore it. I know a few people have found this disappointing but the majority seem to be loving it. I wish I was in the latter category but unfortunately I’m not.
If you fancy giving this a whirl, I bought the NIOD Photography Fluid from Look Fantastic here for €26.45 (I got it for cheaper than that as they always have discount codes on their site so keep an eye out!)
So girls, have you tried this or is it on your wishlist?
*No samples featured, no b******t either
6/10 Makeup Monster ScoreProsWell priced, will be amazing on another skin typeConsCrap packaging, didn't work for my skinSummaryThis will be a dream on someone's skin, just not on mine!PricePerformanceOverall Score