As many of you know, I have become a diehard MAC Studio Fix fan over the last year or so. After years of being fed up with the way liquid foundation looked on my face, Studio Fix quickly became my one and only foundation of choice.

Recently, I received several email inquiries from readers wondering what I thought of Prescriptives Virtual Skin liquid foundation. Of course my first reaction was "Liquid foundation? Are you crazy!" I decided to accept the challenge anyway and give the product a proper test.

Let me interject here to say that I have used Prescriptives cosmetics before and found the color printing system to be a joke. I have been colorprinted three times now, each with a different result. How can I believe anything they tell me if they can't even get my color family straight? For those of you who aren't familiar with "color printing", let me explain. A Prescriptives makeup artist looks at your skin color, chooses a suitable foundation from each of their four color families (yellow/orange, red/orange, red, and blue/red), and puts a stripe of each color on your cheek. They believe the color that "disappears" the best into your skin is the right color family. The problem with this system is that it is subjective. Each makeup artist can, and will, have a different opinion about which color she thinks looks the best. If she thinks a more pink-toned foundation will liven up an olive complexion, then that's what she chooses, whether it is really the best or not. Not exactly fool-proof if you ask me.

My first colorprinting said I am yellow/orange (Prescriptives believes most women fall into this category). The second time I was blue/red, because they said I have more cool undertones in my skin than warm. The third and most recent time when I tested Virtual Skin determined that I am red/orange. Which one should I believe? It really all comes down to what looks the best. The makeup artist I worked with this time was very knowledgeable and understood my confusion. She explained that some people, myself included, just don't fit exclusively into one color family over another. While I did have the best luck with the Virtual Skin red/orange color called "Real Vanilla", all of the other red/orange colors (eye shadows, lipsticks, blush) looked terrible on me.

What does this all mean? No matter what line or formula of foundation you choose, make sure it really matches your face. It is the most important product to get right.

So what did I think of Virtual Skin? I think it is the best liquid foundation I have found for my skin type. After using my sample for four days, I found that Virtual Skin is best for someone with normal-to-oily or combination skin; the product is a gel cream and contains no water, so if your skin is dry, you will probably have terrible time getting it to spread and blend properly. I also found that it looked much better either with a very light dusting of loose powder, or no powder at all. Too much powder made the coverage cakey and dry. The coverage is more natural, sheer-to-medium, and does a so-so job of concealing dark under eye circles by itself. I think I would prefer a separate concealer for that purpose. Overall, I think Virtual Skin is a good product that I would seriously consider as an alternative to powder-based foundations.