Before the world started looking like a Walking Dead prequel, I actually managed to get myself some new makeup bits to try! How exciting... To get my mind off everything going in the world right now, I'm just making all the posts I can. It makes me busy, I like doing it and hopefully someone reads them and it makes them busy...busy is my happy these days.
I usually don't purchase a lot of makeup by Maxfactor, just because sometimes their products seem a little overpriced and noone really talks about them. The brand has a vibe of makeup worn by your mom of grandma, so it wasn't exactly attractive to my makeup eye. However, the last things they brought up really caught my attention. I will probably make separate posts about the other, but this hybrid foundation? It sounded dreamy and weird and I love me a weird foundation, as we all know.
The Maxfactor Second Skin Hybrid Foundation is supposed to live on the edge of makeup and skincare. It does remind me a bit of a tinted moisturizer or a serum foundation, but let's get to the claims. It claims to hydrate, renew and protect the skin. It contains SPF 20, which is great, and also coconut milk and pre/pro-biotic complex. According to the bottle, it's supposed to provide healthy-looking and visibly perfected skin. Formula is clinically proven to support skin renewal. And it's infused with the pre/pro-biotics to help skin's natural defences and with the coconut milk for all-day hydration. It's also formulated without talc.
Speaking of the ingredients, this is probably not a product for everyone. I couldn't check it at the store, but now that I'm doing my research, this is not great. There's coconut oil, alcohol denaturat and fragrance in this product. It's just a headsup, some people may find this a complication. If you wear this everyday the coconut oil may clog your pores and the alcohol dries the skin out and perfume irritates some people. I switch my foundations a lot and I cleanse and take care of my skin the best I can. So I don't mind these, just be aware, that they're in the product.
According to the website, it has natural finish and should provide longlasting undetectable coverage and hydration. It comes in 13 shades, which is not a lot. But at least the range is somewhat evenly distributed. I assume it has very light natural coverage, which usually means smaller shade spectrum, because one shade fits many different skintones. However, it's not always true, because the undertones can be really of in these case.
Anyway, I picked up the shade 02-Fair Light, which has more neutral-peach undertone. In fact, all the undertones seem very similar to me from the pictures. Same undertone, just different depth? That's not a way to do this Maxfactor. Since it's sheer, it will probably work well for me, but the shade matching in the drugstore wasn't easy.
You get 30ml in of product, which is standard amount. It comes in a plastic tube with a pump. I don't really like these, but it's fine. I still don't know if the stripe on the bottom actually says the shade or if they're all the same. Part of me thinks they are all the same and part of me just thinks that I'm blind.
Compared to my other skin tints and tinted moisturizers, it looks like it fits so I assume it's going to be a good shade after all. It does have hydrating dewy finish on the arm, so we'll see how it works with powders and creams. It also has a subtle smell, it smells a little like a skincare product and a little like an artificial fragrance. It's not too strong and it doesn't linger, but I thought I'd mention it.
Wear test
For the wear test I will be doing a one day testing, since I am still sitting home, home-officing and trying to practice social distancing as much as I can. Which we all should do. That doesn't mean I cannot test foundations properly, so I will try to give you as much information as I can in this one day wear test.
I tried using a brush first to apply this foundation, but it's super streaky. I couldn't get rid of the streaks so I went over it with a sponge and it certainly helped a lot. I wouldn't recommend using a brush for this one. It blended very well and the coverage is so-so. It's enought for me, I would say it's a light-medium which can be built. For me that would be a great everyday option for a lighter foundation. It feels like nothing on the skin, but the smell lingers for a little bit after you apply it.
I went in with a cream contour, which blended beautifully and I did powder the T-zone with loose powder and the rest of the face just a bit with pressed powder. I don't like overpowdering foundations, which have natural finish, like this one for example.
Overall, I like the look of it after everything is applied. It looks very smooth, still very skin-like. The only negative thing I'm noticing is that powder bronzer I applied on top looks a little crazy. Maybe the texture is grabbing on the product a little bit, making it seem more pigmented than it is. But overall, I like how I'm looking right now.
List of used products
Benefit Porefessional
RL de Young Fresh & Dewy Primer
Maxfactor Mirace Second Skin Hybrid Foundation, shade 02-Fair Light
Maybellibe Fit Me! Concealer, shade 05
Maxfactor Miracle Sculpting Wand Contour, shade Light Medium
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Magic Star Setting Powder, shade Fair
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, shade 001 Transparent
Maxfactor Real Brow Fiber Pencil, 001 Light Brown
NYX Control Freak Eyebrow Gel, shade Clear
Sephora Universal Cooling Eye Primer
Nabla Soul Blooming Pallete
Lottie London AM to PM Eye Liner Pencil, shade Mocha
Maybelline Falsies Lash Lift, shade Black
Maybelline City Bronzer, shade 200 cool medium
Physician's Formula Butter Blush, shade Nude Silk
H&M Illumination Lustre Powder, shade Delicate Pearl
Revolution PRO Supreme Hold Finishing Spray
NYX Suede Matte Lip Liner, shade Helsinki
Flormar Silk Matte Liquid Lipstick, shade 05 Autumn Timber
Wear time 9 hours
Except from the slightly crazy bronzer I've got going on, I am happy with the look of my base. I did a HIIT workout and all over had a pretty busy day so I wasn't slacking when testing this foundation at all. My skin felt a little tacky right after the workout, but the foundation dried back somehow. It looks a little disrupted around my chin, because that's where I usually have problems. I don't look oily, my foundation is not budging up anywhere and I look very smooth. I also like that I don't look dry or cakey. The natural finish of this foundation is just surprising me, it looks very natural and still very much like perfect skin even after 9 hours. It's a little worn in after the 9 hours, but not really in a bad way. Sometimes makeup can look a lot more natural and better when it melts into the skin. I would say that that's the case with this one as well.
Final thoughts
There's not much I don't like about this foundation. Besides from the ingredients we talked about at the start of this post, it's been making wonders for my skin. The SPF protection is something I look for in my everyday summer foundations, it's not heavy, doesn't look cakey, lasts well, looks natural, works with powders and creams and doesn't move or budge too much. It melts into the skin through the day and looks more and more natural.
The only issue I saw was the overly pigmented bronzer which was probably caused by the foundation being too wet, so I would be careful about that. But other that this I had no issues whatsoever. I would absolutelly recommend this foundation if you're looking for a lightweight, lower coverage, natural finish foundation which lasts well and doesn't look too much like you're wearing makeup. If you don't have problems with SPF or any of the ingredients I disscussed before, I would go for it. Instead of buying multiple poorly matching BB creams, you can get this hybrid foundation and be good to go. Trust me, I am the person who owned multiple dismatching BB creams at one point of my life.
Would you give this a try or are you an everyday full glam type of person? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!