Do the Darkest Cushion Shades by Innisfree Live Up to the Hype? A Review

Contributing editor Sheryll Donerson couldn’t wait to try a cushion — for the first time — when Innisfree came out with 14 new shades of their Matte Full Cover Cushion Compact. But would the darkest cushion shades by Innisfree live up to the hype? What you need to know if you’re considering trying them out.

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I’ve only had one tweet in my entire Twitter life (nearly nine years now) go viral, and it was my tweet about Innisfree’s announcement to expand the shade ranges of its cushion compacts and concealers. Girl, the whole world was SHOOK.

As well they should have been. Korean skincare might work for all skin types and tones, but Korean makeup has always been lacking in the shade department, diversity-wise. Most cushions, BB creams, foundations, and face makeup come in a maximum of three to four shades, but usually two. This is the reason why I’ve never tried a BB cream or a cushion. SAD TIMES. Innisfree picked up some of the slack by expanding their cushion shade range to 14 different shades, but do they live up to the hype? Let’s talk about it.

I finally got my hands on the darkest five shades of the Matte Full Cover Cushion: Chestnut, Golden Caramel, Golden Cinnamon, Golden Tan, and Chocolate. Here’s the breakdown:

Chestnut: “medium to tan skin with warm undertones”

Golden Caramel: “tan skin with warm undertones”

Golden Cinnamon: “tan to dark skin with warm undertones”

Golden Tan: “dark skin with warm undertones”

Chocolate: “deep skin with cool undertones”

Right off the bat, we can see that there isn’t much variety in the deeper tones for cool or neutral undertones. And out of the darker shades, only two of them are truly meant for dark skin: Golden Tan and Chocolate. The shades and product colors listed on the website aren’t entirely accurate — they look MUCH darker on the site than they really are. For reference, I consider myself medium dark with gold/warm undertones and I wear either Seychelles (medium dark with golden undertones) or Martinique (medium dark with warm red undertones) in NARS, depending on the season, or #340 Cappuccino in the Maybelline Fit Me foundation.

Unfortunately, I found that none of the Innisfree cushion foundations were a good shade match for me. They were all too light, even the Golden Tan shade, while Chocolate was too dark.

However, if I mix Chocolate and Golden Tan together, it does seem to be a relatively good match for me. It does apply very smoothly and definitely leans more full coverage. I would definitely purchase it if they had a more suitable shade for me. At $12 a pop, the cushions are super affordable and are definitely an option for women whose skin tones are a bit lighter than mine.

I do hope Innisfree continues to improve and expand their shade ranges (and I also hope other brands get it together and expand as well). It is a great product, despite the still limited shade range. Until then, my search for a cushion compact continues!

Have you had a chance to try the darkest cushion shades by Innisfree? If so, what did you think? And what shade do you think you are? Let's dish!