Thursday, December 11, 2014

Foundation festival part 4: some average drugstore foundations

I own few drugstore foundations that I feel like that they perform the same, the average, so I regrouped them in this post and reviewed them really quickly. I’m not going to keep any of these.

(Just a little bit of information about my skin: I have mostly dry skin with occasionally oily T-zone. Some acne here and there, acne scars, large pores and few wrinkles. Colour shade NW20 in MAC foundations.
What I expect from a foundation: medium coverage, good longevity (more than 7 hours), smoothing my skin texture (hiding pores and acne scars) as well as not accentuating dry patches.)


Photo Finish foundation by Catrice, HD Studio phtogenic foundation by NYX, Fit me foudation and Affinitone foundation by Maybelline 

PHOTO FINISH 18H LIQUID FOUNDATION BY CATRICE

Price: 30ml costs under 7€, you can buy it in DM drugstore (Germany, Slovankia) or in Kruidvat in Belgium.

Scent: it has nice light floral scent.

Shades: only 3 shades are available, I have the darkest one called 030 Caramel Beige as the two lighter shades were totally pink and pale.

Texture and finish: it has thick cream texture; it is best applied with fingers or sponge. It is very visible on the skin, more you wear it more it becomes visible. At the beginning it smoothes out the skin and it looks flawless but when it starts to break on the nose and sink into the large pores you have to take it off.

Coverage: medium, evens out the skin tone and covers quite a lot of imperfections.

Longevity: it lasts about 6 hours and then breaks on the nose and sinks into the pores. From the distance it looks ok for another few hours but when you look closer it is a total mess on the face.

Photo Finish 18h liquid foudation by Catrice

Photo Finish 18h foundation in colour 030 Caramel Beige by Catrice

HD STUDIO PHOTOGENIC FOUNDATION BY NYX 


Price: 30ml costs 17,99€ in Douglas (Germany) or 18$ on NYX website.

Scent: it has make-up scent.

Shades: 8 shades to choose from, mine is in shade 02 Soft Beige, which is slightly darker than what I usually wear in winter but it is doable (with little bit more highlighter and good blending).

Texture and finish: it has creamy consistency, it is easy to apply, use your fingers, brush or sponge. It gives luminous finish; you can get semi matt look if you powder. It doesn’t set well on the skin; if you don’t powder it, it will remain sticky all day. It is visible on the skin and transfers easily when you touch your face.

Coverage: almost medium, evens out the skin tone and covers smaller imperfections.

Longevity: it lasts about 8 hours if you have dry skin (but powder it), if you are oily girl you won’t get more than 6 hours out of it and you’ll still look like a shiny star.

Concealer alert: on the other hand, the HD concealer by NYX is my Holy Grail concealer from the drugstore that I always repurchase. It covers well and lasts very long time. It is comparable to verz famous Double Wear concealer by Estee Lauder.

HD Studio Photogenic foundation by NYX

HD Studio Photogenic foundation in colour 02 Soft Beige by NYX

FIT ME FOUNDATION BY MAYBELLINE 

Price: depends where you buy it, it can go from 7€ to 12€.

Scent: it doesn’t have any scent.

Shades: 18 shades in US, 12 in Belgium, 10 in Slovakia. My make-up is in colour 120 which is my summer shade.

Texture and finish: it has creamy consistency, easy to apply (fingers, brush or sponge). It gives semi matt finish (although older version that I bought in US gave me luminous skin).

Coverage: medium, evens out the skin tone and covers some imperfections.

Longevity: it lasts only 5h, afterwards it breaks on the nose and everywhere on the T-zone. I don’t recommend it for girls with oily skin; it is more suitable for normal to dry skin.

Concealer alert: on the other hand, Fit me concealer is great, it lasts well, and it doesn’t dry under eyes area and has good coverage. It is one of the best concealers in the drugstore. The only negative is the colour choice, at least in Europe, even the lightest colour is darker than what I use under the eyes (it actually almost matches my skin tone so it doesn't brighten my face).

Fit me foundation by Maybelline

Fit me foundation in colour 120 by Maybelline

AFFINITONE FOUNDATION BY MAYBELLINE 

Price: under 6€, only available in Slovakia.

Scent: it has make-up scent.

Shades: 6 shades, mine is in colour 14 Creamy Beige which is darker than my skin tone, so I can use it only when I selftan. Lighter shade was just too pale for my skin. If I’d like the foundation I would purchase it and mix it with the shade I have.

Texture and finish: is has very liquid consistency, it is best applied with fingers. It gives matt finish and looks like you powdered your skin. However you should powder it otherwise you’ll get greasy quite soon. It doesn’t smooth the skin texture as it is very liquid foundation. Moreover it sticks to dry patches and accentuate everything that has 3D dimensions (acne for example). If you don’t exfoliate, it will look just bad. It is most suitable for normal skin without imperfections that just needs to even out the skin tone.

Coverage: medium, evens out the tone and covers colour imperfections.

Longevity: it lasts approximately 5 hours and then it gets greasy on the T-zone and starts to fade away everywhere else.

Affinitone foundation by Maybelline

Affinitone foundation in colour 14 Creamy Beige by Maybelline
Final verdict: As you can see, these foundations are nothing special, they don’t last long time and that is the main reason I’m getting rid of them. Plus, after 5-6 hours they don’t look very nice on the skin so there is no reason why I should keep them. On the other hand as you could read above the concealers which come with those foundations (HD concealer by NYX and Fit me concealer by Maybelline) are great drugstore options (another one would be Instant Age rewind also by Maybelline).

Related articles: 
Foundation festival part 1: Yves Rocher foundations
Foundation festival part 2: Dermacol foundations

Foundation festival part 3: L’Oreal foundations

Foundation festival part 5: some better drugstore foundations (but not my favorites)
Foundation festival part 6: my favorite drugstore foundations