Sephora has summer saleeees!
This time of the year is just deadly to my wallet. I cannot stand sales without at least trying to find some good deal. This year, I had a lucky hand a picked up waaay too much stuff in Sephora. I also feel like their sales have never been the best and it felt like they were getting rid of old launches. However, this year products on sale are much better both online and in the stores. In the stores, there's actually a lot more on sale than on their website, so I recommend going to your nearest Sephora and check it out.
I will probably make posts about multiple items I got, but the first one is a foundation. I love me a good foundation and I managed to get the Ultra HD foundation by Make Up For Ever in a travel size format for 399 Crowns (regularly 590 Crowns). They had two shades on sale and one of them happened to be a pretty god match for me, so I bought it. It's the shade Y235 Ivory Beige. Looking at the swatches online, I would normally go a bit lighter, but swatching the shade at the store, it looked like a good match and since it's not full coverage, the color accuracy doesn't have to be as good. Here you have some swatches again, so you can tell, where the shade is between my other foundations. It's one of the darker ones that I can actually wear without looking like a floating head.
You get 15ml of product, which to me seems like a good amount, because I never go through my foundations anyway. According to Make Up For Ever website, the foundation is supposed to be invisible to the 4K camera and naked eye and have second skin effect. It should have medium coverage, look natural, make skin look flawless and moisturized. It is suitable for all skin types.
All the claims seem pretty good to me. Straight up, you can tell from the description, that this is not going to be you full-coverage, glam, super-beat flawless dream. And that's OK. Lately, I've been really enjoying wearing lighter foundations with less coverage and more lasting ability. There's nothing on how the foundation lasts or how should you apply it, so I just did it all my way. I read in reviews on Sephora website, that the foundation is water based and it doesn't work well with silicone-based primers, which is good to know.
I really like the packaging. I didn't notice I was buying the travel size foundation until I got home and looked at the amount you get. I don't mind it, because this foundation is pretty up there in price, so if it's good I'll be happy to find a good match. And if it isn't, well I can give it to someone and it didn't cost a fortune. It has a pump, which I really like. The bottle is (I believe) glass and seethrough, so you can at least tell how the shades look a little bit. The bottle is also very sturdy and good quality, which is maybe the reason I didn't notice that it's a travel sized foundation.
The foundation itself is very liquidy, which supports the fact, that it is actually water-based and when you swatch it, it has a decent coverage and lasting power. I had a hard time removing it at Sephora, when I swatched it. Hopefully, it will be the same on my face.
The shade range leaves a bit to be desired, but I feel like, this foundation has the potential of expanding the shade range even though the current shade range isn't horrible. At least, the undertones seem to be quite well placed, however I don't really get where do you have the neutral undertones. I tend to go for a neutral undertone and the shade codes seem to be just Y for yellow and R for I don't even know what but it feels like red, aka cool toned? I am a little confused.
Here is the foundation swatch next to other ones that I wear on regular basis.
It doesn't really translate in the picture, but it's quite a bit darker than foundation I wear everyday, but at the same time, the sheer coverage gives you a lot more space in the color selection than full coverage foundations. I like the undertone of it, I think that it matches me pretty well. Especially now in the summer, I feel like it's a very good summer foundation.
Now, let's get to the wear test.
Day 1
Day 1 is always a trial and error day for me, because every foundation applies a bit different and it's hard to ballance it all out and make everything work. I applied the foundation as I usually do. I did two pumps at the back of my hand, took my makeup sponge and got to bouncing it in.
The coverage is more light-medium, I have quite good skin, so it's fine by me, but in case you have any imperfections and scars, I'm not sure, how would it work. It is buildable, but to get to full coverage, you probably need quite a lot, because it's very watery. I managed to build it quite well in areas.
I really like the finish of it, it's really skin-like and light. You don't feel it on your face at all. I added a few dots on my face, where I usually build the coverage a bit more (around my nose and on my chin) and I used a creamy concealer instead of a super matte one. I managed to contour with my Fenty Beauty Match Stix in Amber, it blended with no problems and I set it with my Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Setting Powder in Butter. Again, no troubles there at all. So far, I am very impressed. The finish is beautiful, it's not too dewy or too matte, it looks beautiful in person and on the photos. I cannot wait to see how it lasts. I'm also happy to see that it doesn't cake when I set it. Sometimes, by the time I finish my eyeshadow, my base looks like a mess.
List of used products:
Lottie London Insta Filter Pore Eraser Stick
NYX Honey Dew Me Up Primer
Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation, shade Y235 Ivory Beige
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Magic Star Concealer, shade C3
Fenty Beauty Match Stix Matte Skin Stick, shade Amber
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Setting Powder, shade Butter
Benefit Browvo! Conditioning Primer
Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil, shade 2
Benefit High Brow
Catrice Brow Colorist Semi-permanent Brow Mascara, shade 003
Maxfactor Natural Brow Styler Sculpting Gel, shade Clear
Essence I <3 Colour Intensifying Eyeshadow Base
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Mini Breaker Pallete, shades Double Scoop, Orange Crush, Hot Fudge, Slice
Fenty Beauty Moroccan Spice Eyeshadow Pallete, shade Evil Genie
Lottie London AM to PM Eye Pencil, shade Mocha
Sephora Colorful eyeliner, shade N°06
Physician's Formula Eye Booster, shade Ultra Black
Eisenberg Le Mascara Noir, shade 01 Ultra Noir
NYX 3 Steps to Sculpt, shade Fair
Physician's Formula Butter Bronzer, shade Bronzer
Zoeva Oppulence Blush Pallete, shade Impossible to Move
Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector, shade C POP
Rimmel #INSTA Fix and Go Setting Spray
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick, shade Can't Relate
Wear time 11 hours
It wasn't too hot today, but I did a lot of face touching and some udon for dinner and my lovely boyfriend somehow got the udon sauce onto my glasses...fun times. Anyway, for the first day I am very happy with how the foundation looks. The only places that look a little worn off are between my brows and around my nose. I feel like I'm going to skin a pore filling primer tomorrow just to see how it wears without it because it may be disrupting the watery texture of the foundation. It's just my guess.
Anyway, it looks very nice and with a little touch up I could probably go for a solid few hours more. I'm impressed.
Day 2
List of used products
Maybelline FaceStudio Prime Hydrating Primer
Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation, shade Y235 Ivory Beige
Catrice Re-touch Light-reflecting Concealer, shade 010 Ivory
Catrice Liquid Camouflage High Coverage Concealer, shade 005 Light Natural
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Setting Powder, shade Butter
Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil, shade 2
Trend It Up Brow Gel Filler Waterproof, shade 020
Maybelline BROWdrama 12h Sculpting Brow Mascara, shade Transparent
Benefit High Brow
Essence I <3 Colour Intensifying Eyeshadow Base
Morphe 39S Such a Gem Artistry Eyeshadow Pallete
Physician's Formula Eye Booster, shade Ultra Black
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil, shade Slate
Maybelline Snapscara, shade 01 PITCH BLACK
NYX 3 Steps to Sculpt
Maybelline City Bronzer, shade 200 medium cool
NYX Ombre Blush, shade Mauve Me
Revolution Liquid Highlighter, shade Luminous Luna
Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb, shade How Many Carats?!
Rimmel #insta Set and Go Setting Spray
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick, shade Deceased
Wear time 11 hours
This was a good one. I wore the foundation for quite some time, I was buying some fitness equipment, so I ended up carrying kettlebell on my back for a majority of the day. I also went hunting into sales for a purple hand bag, that wasn't a success and I also went to Sephora to pick up a Benefit Work Kit, Girl! set which was a success. I am finally home and tired. Looking at my face...it isn't the greatest. The foundation is slowly separating around my chin and on my cheeks, and I feel a little dry, so maybe the Maybelline primer isn't hydrating enough for my skin in the summer. Primers are just so complicated. Except from that and a little budging around my brows, my face look pretty normal from a human-acceptable distance and I'm not giving up on this foundation because it feels so nice and light on the skin. The sensation reminds me of the Physician's Formula Healthy foundation, which is probably my favourite at the moment.
Everything I used on top looks very nice though, and doesn't look any worse than it normally would. The only suspicious thing is my contour, but my contour usually looks not too great, when I wear it for 11 hours. This only happens with the powder contour though.
Day 3
It's the cream product day! Yeeey. I like to do a cream base, it has a nice look and slip to it and I enjoy it since I don't do it every single day. I've been breaking out a little bit because I started trying too many new foundations and skincare products at once, but everytime I get something new I'm just too excited not to try it immidiatelly.
I used a cream contour pallete from Revolution to do my cream bronzer today and I am stoked at how good it looks. It's all so smooth and beautiful and not cakey and powdery. I'm really starting to like this creamy base. The blush was a little overpowering before I powdered, but next time, I won't sheer it out as much, so it can peek through the powder a bit more, because I really like the coral tone of it.
Looking at myself at work, I'll go harder on the bronzing next time, because it doesn't show up as much as in the morning in my mirror, but I still really like it.
List of used products
Maybelline FaceStudio Primer Protecting Primer
Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation, shade Y235 Ivory Beige
Catrice Liquid Camouflage High Coverage Concealer, shade 005 Light Neutral
Jeffree Star Cosmetics The Magic Star Setting Powder, shade Fair
Revolution Ultra Cream Contour Pallete
Dermacol Blush & glow Healthy Glow Cream Blush, shade 02
Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector - Spotlight, shade C-POP
Physician's Formula Brow Last, shade Medium Brown
Benefit High Brow
Maxfactor Natural Brow Styler, shade Clear
Sephora Universal Cooling Eye Primer
Fenty Beauty Moroccan Spice Eyeshadow Pallete, shades Spice Trip / Fez Up / Shisha Smoke / Mirage
NYX Cake That! Powder Eyeliner
Maybelline Tattoo Liner, shade 900 Deep Onyx
Too Faced Glitter Pop! Peel-off Eyeliner, shade Yes Way Rosé
NYX Worth the Hype Mascara, shade Black
Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector - Pressed, shade C-POP
NYX Bare with Me Multitasking Spray
Gabriella Salvete Matte Lips Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick, shade 104 dolce vita
Wear time 13 hours
Another long day. Smokey and sultry looks just don't look good on my eyes after 4 hours, so after 13 you can tell, that it's not ideal. I look hella oily for some reason, I blame my ringlight, but IRL it's not nearly as bad. Mind you, I had a burger for dinner and 7 beers with it, so I can tell, that I've looked worse in these conditions. Overall, I like that the foundation stays lightweight and breaths especially when you have a long day ahead and you cannot just take off your makeup anytime.
I also suspect that I may look oily because of the Jeffree Star Setting Powder. Don't get me wrong, I really like the powder but I feel like it melts into my skin a little too much and that it dissolves after some time and I need to powder again. In combination with so many cream base products, there could be some oiling up. But I don't mind that because the face still stayed in place.
Final thoughts
First of all, if you're looking for a light-medium lightweight foundation, you can probably find a dupe of this foundation somewhere, which is probably going to be a lot cheaper. I compared it to my favorite, Physician's Formula Healthy Foundation, which cost me the same and you get twice as much product. So I wouldn't say it's necessary to own this foundation and it's not a groundbreaking discovery for me. It wears nicely, it's a good match when I'm a little tan and I like the texture and the coverage of it for an everyday wear. Saying, I will make a good use out of this foundation, because I wear foundation every single day and sometimes I like a lighter coverage and a lightweight finish.
It's up to you to decide whether you need this foundation or not, but yes, I would recommend it, if you're looking at it wanting to buy it and not being sure. I like it a lot. But if you're looking for something which does the same job, I can probably give you some other good recommendations that won't break your bank as well.
Each to their own and if you like this foundation, let me know in the comments bellow and keep enjoying the summer!