Hot on the heels of my recent Five Best foundations roundup, I hear about Sisley’s foundation for $190. Now, I am not much of a makeup junkie. But even if I was someone who believed that a good foundation is essential to create the “perfect canvas” for the face, would I stretch to nearly two hundred bucks – my top budget for the best serum I can find? Well, Skinleya is an Anti-Aging Foundation and supposedly it harnesses “all the Sisley skincare expertise”. So perhaps this justifies the price by being a foundation and anti-aging serum in one.

Skinleya Anti-Aging Foundation seems to have been formulated for the 1% with the starting assumption that this demographic has more money then sense. There is nothing that I can see that justifies $90 let alone $190. After wading through a lot of silicone and thickeners, there is a handful of ingredients that could be associated with anti-aging and skincare – and even those are not all terribly convincing.

For example, tourmaline is first up (the 13^th ingredient on the list). Its proponents say that it will revitalize the skin, making it appear more radiant and youthful. How it achieves this though requires a stretch of the imagination. Tourmaline crystals supposedly warm as they are rubbed onto skin, they become positively charged on one end and negatively charged on the other. This then increases the absorption of nutrients into the skin or, according to one anti-aging product, the warming effect triggers an increase the production of new collagen.

Physalis is a Sisley favorite and you can also find it in the $750 Sisley Suprema. It has radical scavenging polyssacharides, according to one  study. Rhodochrosite is a mineral that is also supposed to provide UV protection.  You can find that in Mineral Fusion’s shampoo that costs less than $10. It is also in Skin Nutrition’s Cell CPR, which is a serum for $170 (along with about 70 other ingredients most of which are actives) The remaining actives in Skinleya’s Anti-aging Foundation are serviceable but hardly standouts. Oat kernel and wheat have some antioxidant properties, there’s vitamin E and B and exfoliating salix alba. But there on in, its back to bulking agents, silicone and preservatives.

Sorry Sisley, but not even the “professional foundation brush” you’ve thrown in would persuade me to buy this.

Ingredients: Water, cyclopentasiloxane, caprylyl methicone, dimethicone, isodecyl neopentanoate, glycerin, lauryl peg-8 dimethicone, methyl methacrylate crosspolymer, dicaprylyl carbonate, hydroxyethyl acrylate/sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer, dimethicone crosspolymer, tourmaline, panthenol, tocopheryl acetate, bisabolol, oat kernel extract, physalis alkekengi calyx extract, prunus serrulata extract, retinyl palmitate, adenosine, salix alba leaf extract, wheat seed extract, rhodochrosite extract, dimethiconol, isostearyl sebacate, stearalkonium hectorite, tetrasodium edta, propylene carbonate, citric acid, disodium stearoyl glutamate, caprylic/capric tryglyceride, aluminum hydroxide, sodium citrate, fragrance, phenoxyethanol, methylisothiazoulmone, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, tocopherol, may contain titanium dioxide, iron oxides