Before I get started on this post, I have to address the elephant in the room that is the name of this product. I cannot, for the life of me, believe that Clinique decided to name their foundation STICK “Chubby in the Nude”. Call me immature, call me whatever you want, but I cannot stop giggling at the name and shape of this product. Was it an intentional penis joke? Cuz if so, well played. But if it wasn’t, then it’s even funnier.

MOVING ON!

Much, much earlier this year, Clinique launched their Chubby in the Nude foundation stick. I received this item in Intense Ivory and held off testing it out for several months because it was not the right shade for me (I’m somewhere around a MAC NC/NW 20).

As you can see from the swatch above, Intense Ivory looks a heck of a lot darker than the inside of my forearm and yet this shade is labelled as a “neutral pink beige shade for very fair skin tones with neutral undertones”. Very fair skin tones?? I’m fair, but I’m nowhere near alabaster. This shade looks far more suited towards someone with a light-medium skin tone.

Since it’s now July and my face has a bit more colour to it, I decided to leap back into testing Clinique‘s foundation stick. Despite the arm swatch, you’ll notice that it didn’t darken my face too much. Maybe a touch, but not much more. You’ll also notice that it didn’t really do much in the way of covering anything on my skin. My freckles are shaded down a touch, but that’s really about it. Any darker moles are still showing through loud and proud.

When I apply it to my face it is definitely not a colour match, however, the product itself provides sheer coverage so it blends in enough with my skin. The product did not layer well – when I added a second layer to build up the consistency, I ended up with patchy bits and “clumping” in areas where my face has curves (like my nose).

This product retails for $29 CAD/$24 USD and contains 0.21 ounces of product. Since I’ve only ever used one other stick foundation before, the Make Up For Ever Ultra HD, I decided to pull that out for comparison. The MUFE Ultra HD stick retails for $52 CAD/$43 USD and contains 0.44 ounces of product.

If we break that down, per ounce, the Clinique is $138 CAD/114 USD, whereas the Make  Up For Ever is $118 CAD/98 USD. That’s really pricey for a brand that isn’t billed as high end as MUFE.

My Thoughts

I don’t like giving bad reviews (who does??), but I really do not like the Clinique Chubby in the Nude foundation stick. The texture was dry and bizarre to work with – blending it on was fine during the first layer, but as soon as I tried to add another layer it kind of balled up/got patchy. Although you may be someone that likes a sheer coverage (I sure do!), this one was uncomfortable since the stick was so dry and it really didn’t seem to do enough to warrant even wearing it.

I also found that it lifted off my skin so easily that I was left wondering what on earth would actually get it to stick to my skin. I tried multiple different primers and none of them worked. Just to give you an example of how easy this was to accidentally remove: I touched a tissue to face (not heavily pressing) while at work and I managed to coat the tissue with my foundation colour. I wouldn’t trust this thing near any pale shirts whatsoever since I’d be sure to end up with foundation transfer. Sadly, this item is a total pass for me. 🙁

The Clinique Chubby in the Nude foundation sticks can be purchased on sephora.ca for $29 CAD or on sephora.com for $24 USD.

The product featured in this review was sent to me for consideration.