This is taking a lot of guts, but photos of me with no makeup (sans brows and mascara). Excuse the brows, I had to redo them after getting into a cuddling battle with Rob, so they had rubbed off weird. I will leave them smaller to reduce the horror.
As you can see, I don't really have any blemishes, but instead have a lot of hyperpigmentation, freckles, and redness in my cheeks. I also have scarring from teenage acne on my forehead.
I normally use Mac Studio Fix Powder or Cover Girl's tinted moisturizer and am generally happy with the coverage. That being said, I've never used a liquid foundation or anything with anything near a fuller coverage. Therefore, I was wary of this product.
The product is housed in a plastic bottle, very sturdy and definitely worthy of the price tag. It has a pump, which pumps out just enough product. I usually do 3-4 small pumps to cover my entire face. For applying, I use the EcoTools foundation brush.
The foundation dries quickly, so you do have to work quickly to get it even on your skin. But, it applies very easily and glides on almost on its own, so there isn't too much work there. I do find that it dries on the back of my hand, so you are technically wasting a little bit of product on each pump.
In this photo, I applied the foundation to half of my face (my finger indicates which side):
As you can obviously tell, especially if you blow up the picture, the foundation is on (my) right side and (your) left side. You cannot see too much of a difference until you look closer to the sides of my face... notice the lack of freckles and redness. Yet, it looks quite natural.
Full foundation:
I think that the color match is spot on. MUFE is known for having a range of colors, and my shade is #115. I believe it has cool/pink undertones. I am a little surprised, as I wear NC in Mac... this doesn't look ruddy on me, somehow. It blends in nicely with my neck and I feel comfortable wearing it.
It photographs wonderfully, and honestly looks even better in person. The finish is definitely matte, but there is a slight powderyness to it... it's not noticeable except on certain areas, such as a side profile on my nose. That could be my application, however.
More coverage photos... in the first, I had a blemish on my temple that is decently covered just by the foundation:
The foundation feels perfectly weightless on my skin... and this is coming from a girl who is used to wearing powder or what amounts to a tinted lotion; or even more often, nothing at all!
I don't detect any sort of overpowering smell.
As for coverage, I would describe this as a medium coverage. I do like that it conceals my undereye circles pretty well on it's own. The only downside is that if you do have severe dark circles or even blemishes/scarring, there is a point where this is just not buildable, even with concealer. I'm demonstrating this here:
Can you tell in which photo I have just foundation and in which I have concealer over the foundation? Exactly. I put on a usual amount of Mac's Select MoistureCover and got no additional coverage. Again, the foundation covered sufficiently on it's own, but it may not be good for those with heavier concealing needs. I think that you would get to a point where you're just packing on more product, and not getting any additional coverage. For those with heavier undereye circles and wanting to try this, I would suggest a peach or pink corrector UNDER the foundation first.
Wear time is very good, even when not setting with loose powder. I don't have any powder at the moment, as the cheap bottle I had broke me out in an allergic reaction. When I wore this a few weeks ago, I simply patted a little Studio Fix under my eyes and around my nose... to test the wear of the foundation on it's own.
While it's good... it's definitely not amazing. Of course, MUFE recommends their HD microfinish setting powder to go with this. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not okay with dropping $30 after spending $40 on the foundation. You have to ask yourself if it is really worth it... would it make that much of a difference? I, unfortunately, cannot answer that... but can merely submit pictures of my makeup after 7-8 hours of wear, 2-3 of them in 90+ degree heat:
The foundation is still going strong on my cheeks, chin, etc... but notice the darkness under my eyes. This look was done with the Urban Decay Naked Palette, and I've never had an issue with the shadows creasing under my eyes, but it did it with this foundation. More than likely, the foundation had creased at some point throughout the day, and when I touched up 7 hours after initially applying (I darkened the look to take it from day to night), the shadows got caught in the creasing. It's a little disappointing for a $40 foundation... but I love the foundation enough to look past it.
If I had the money to spend, I'd test out the powder. But the truth is that I don't!
Would I recommend this foundation to anyone? Yes, especially if they prefer to have really flawless skin on a daily basis, or are having photographs taken. It really does look beautiful. For every day wear, however, I'm not 100% sure that it is worth it unless you're someone who prefers full foundation every day. I'm just not one of those people.
Wendy's Rating: A
