I picked up the newest of the Physician's Formula foundations last week as I had seen some reviews on blogs and wanted to try it out.
Youthful Wear boasts an SPF 15 and the potential to 'look 10 years younger instantly!'. It claims to fill fine lines and wrinkles and firm and lift skin in 3 weeks (for 94% of users). The ingredients list is quite long and is as follows:
Active Ingredient: Zinc Oxide 1.960% Inactive Ingredients: Water, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Hydrogenated Didecene, Lauryl PEG-8 Dimethicone, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Tribehenin, Nylon-12, Polyamide-5, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Laminaria Digitata Extract, Ceramide 3, Glycerin, Aluminum Dimyristate, Disodium EDTA, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Magnesium Silicate, Olive Glycerides, Propylene Carbonate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexyl Glycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, May Contain: Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides
The first ingredient is water, which made me assume that this would be a lighter foundation. It does also contain silicones (and a lot of them), so if you are sensitive, be wary of this foundation.
The foundation comes housed in a lovely metallic purple squeeze tube that is lightweight but not flimsy. It's quite compact so it would be good for traveling. You get 1 oz. of product in the tube, and the regular price of this is $14.99. I found the brush that came in the box to be soft and pliable, but not the right texture to apply this foundation with, which I'll talk about later.
The foundation comes in 3 shades: Fair, Light and Medium. I tried Fair.
Fair would be a good match for NW/NC15 in Mac, and possibly an NW/NC20 if you use a light hand. The color of this is pretty light for a drugstore foundation, but will be way too dark for those that have a very fair complexion. Alternatively, with this only going to 'Medium', those darker than an NC/NW30 are going to be out of luck! You can see from my swatch that it does indeed fill the fine lines in my hand, so I feel like the claim that PF makes for that part of the foundation is very true!
The foundation's texture is a little unusual to me. For a water based foundation, it feels quite thick, but I don't feel like it has a lot of coverage. I'd classify this as a light coverage, bordering on medium if you powder it afterward. I feel like the foundation takes a few minutes to settle on my face, as it tends to look a little oily in the first 5-10 minutes. Once set and powdered, it's a much more natural finish... I'd say a satin finish. I don't get shiny or oily when wearing this but then I tend to have dry to normal skin, so that's not usually a problem for me. I feel that around the 6-7 hour mark, the foundation definitely needs a touch up.
The easiest way to apply this is with fingers, by far, as the brush that comes with it is too soft and fluffy and ends up absorbing most of the product. The warmth from your fingers also helps to distribute the product around more evenly as again, it feels a little on the thick side.
I'm going to show you before and after pictures, just be warned that I am showing you my naked face! My bare face will be the first two pictures, and then my face with only the foundation on will be under those.
With the foundation:
As you can see, it doesn't completely cover the discoloration around my eyes, nose and in general around my face. On the closeup shot, you can see my skin imperfections, acne scarring and freckles. I don't have a problem with a lighter coverage foundation, but I wouldn't recommend this to someone who prefers more coverage.
One final picture to show it with powder and concealer (full makeup face):
Overall, this is a decent foundation but not spectacular. I'm jaded by using BB creams, I'll be honest. I got this at a discounted price because I had coupons, but I feel like $14.99 is too much for how little coverage it has! If you're looking for a light coverage with some fine line filling properties, you would definitely like this. It also reminds me of the Cover Girl NatureLuxe Foundation, so if you liked that, check this out. Otherwise, skip this and save your pennies for a BB cream.
