I am the leader of the pale people.
Okay, so that may be an exaggeration. But I am pretty darn pale, it is almost guaranteed that if I go to buy a new foundation, I will be the second lightest shade in the range.
I also have oily skin; so you may feel my pain when it comes to finding a foundation in the finish you want (i.e does not melt off face/does not make you look like a human oil slick), in the shade you need, and within your budget constraints (I have only recently convinced myself that higher end foundations can most certainly be worth the price tag)
Maybelline NY has recently released a new addition to their FITme range; a foundation stick that is touted as “shine free”. Of course, the USA has had it for far longer than we have, and I actually grabbed one while I was over there because I liked the shade range of the FITme concept, but found that the liquid foundation just would not last on my skin. I wasn’t intending to review it, but lo and behold, IT CAME HERE (Now, can we have the baby skin too please?)
So, for my last few days out and about I have been rigorously testing this foundation (and risking melty/flaky/patchy/oily/orange disaster)
On each day, I followed the same routine, but changed up the primer each day. (See, rigorous!)
Primer, paint on foundation so I had whiskers/camo stripes, then used my Real Techniques expert face brush to blend my lovely stripes out onto my whole face (Note: The “official” Maybelline FITme page suggests blending in a circular motion with the fingers, but I am really starting to prefer my brushes over finger blending) blush and bronze, then set the whole shebang with Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder.
The primers I used were: Benefit Porefessional, Napoleon Set calming pre-foundation primer (green tube), and Face of Australia’s Face Base primer.
So, how did it shape up?
I found that all my primers yielded similar results, the major difference being that porefessional reduced the appearance of my pores slightly more under this particular foundation. Staying power, and oil levels were both fairly similar.
Now here is the scary part, picture of my face. The horrifically funny bit of this is, that when I went to do facial photos, I realised my skin is horrifically dry today, so these are not the best shots I could give you (forgive me, I’m sick)
My naked skin 😦
One hasty coat of foundation, hence the streaks, but it has obviously evened out my skintone here.
Final finish, set with Stay Matte.
You can see on the dry patch near my eye how it can cling.
Of all the days I get dry skin, it’s the day I’m reviewing a product based on my oily skin
For comparisons sake, here is the MNY FITme swatched against several of my foundations (How some of these were “matched” to my skintone, I will never know)
From the top down; MNY Fitme (110 Porcelain), Mac Studio Fix Fluid (NC15), Rimmel Match Perfection (081 Fair Ivory),MUFE HD Foundation (N117), Face of Australia Lasting Looks Natural Foundation (Natural Ivory), Australis Fresh & Flawless (Nude)
Positives
For me, the FITme stick foundation provided medium coverage for my entire Uni day (About 8 hours) without the need to touch up, the “Shine free” claims certainly held up their end. I found that this foundation didn’t pool in my pores, and it didn’t flake off or change considerably during the day. The coverage was quite natural, and can be built up to a medium coverage level. . It didn’t feel heavy or greasy, and wasn’t sliding around on my face. The recommended RRP isn’t too steep for a foundation I like this much, so I will probably repurchase this.
Negatives
I did find that I was becoming a little oily in my T-zone towards the end of the day, however I have been wearing my glasses, which tends to stimulate oil production in this area. It was easily fixed though, I applied Australis Matte Me underneath my primer in my T-zone, and the oiliness was significantly reduced. On the opposite side of the scale, I found that this foundation did cling to the one dry spot on my face, so if you do have drier skin, this could be an issue.
Also, the amount of product in the tube is a little less than one would expect (its a big tube, and the product stick within is quite small), the stick is just over 1/3 of an Ounce, whereas a standard foundation bottle is 1 ounce so you may not get as many uses out of this as you would a traditional bottle.
Overall
I think that the shade range is great, that shade 110 is a good mach for my skin and that this is potentially a good day to day foundation for those looking for a medium coverage foundation that is going to last through your work/school/uni day. If you have dry skin, you may need to play around a little to get it to work for you, but it is definitely worth a shot.
Have you tried this as well? Let me know how you fared!
-Miss A
Mind Over Mattifier 