Product Review & Swatches: New Foundations

Being fair, I have an extremely difficult time finding foundations that don't make me look orange. This whole situation started because I finally realized the Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation in 103 True Ivory is not the right shade for my skin-tone, even though it is the second fairest of them all. Because I loved the matte finish it gave my skin, I decided to try out the lightest shade they have to offer... That's when I went on a foundation rampage.

Clinique Stay Matte Foundation, Rimmel Lasting Perfection Foundation, Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation

Lo and behold, the Rimmel foundation in 100 Ivory was very orangey as well. I spotted the Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation when I purchased the previous foundation, and its shades seemed like the were fair enough for my face. I hadn't even planned on using it all over my face, I mostly just wanted to mix it with the other Rimmel foundation in order to lighten it up a bit more.

It even came with a nice little spatula applicator, which was nice.

But my main problem with this foundation is that the colour in the bottle is A DIRTY LIE. I don't even know how the finish of this foundation looks on my skin because as soon as I blended it on to my face, it turned into an extremely tanned colour that I could never pull off. I was so offended by this that I haven't worn it since.

This leads me to my last foundation purchase. Because of my bad luck with drugstore foundations (namely Rimmel), I've kind of sworn to try out more higher-end products. Caroline, one of my favourite people on tumblr, also has a problem finding foundations that suit her skin tone and she recommended Clinique foundations because of their large colour ranges. 

I picked up their Stay Matte foundation because it's oil-free and I have fairly oily skin. It is light-to-medium coverage, so I wouldn't recommend this if you have problem skin but I find that if I apply a second coat about ten minutes after the first I can get a relatively good coverage all over my face.

The colour of this foundation is amazing, but there is one drawback; it seems to wear off throughout the day, mostly on the part of my cheeks closest to my nose, my forehead and chin. I find that applying Benefit's That Gal primer to those areas does the job, but it somewhat takes away the matte finish so it's an either-or situation. I haven't tried it on top of silicon based primers like The Pore-fessional or Too Faced's Primed and Poreless, but I'll report back to you if they do a better job.

To give you an idea of the colours of these foundations, here they are before being blended.

Clinique Stay Matte Foundation, Rimmel Lasting Perfection Foundation, Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation

As you can see, the Rimmel Clean Finish foundation appears the be the lightest and of course the Rimmel Lasting Perfection appears to be the darkest. However, once blended that's a different story...

Clinique Stay Matte Foundation, Rimmel Lasting Perfection Foundation, Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation

It may be a little hard to tell, but the proof is in the pudding. The two Rimmel foundations are definitely a no-go, for my skin-tone at least. If you're fair like me, I would definitely recommend you check out Clinique's foundations. They are a bit pricey, the Stay Matte having cost around $30 CAD, but I see now that it's definitely a good investment in the long run.

Please leave any recommendations down below for foundations you think I would like!

I hope you're having a lovely day,

- Tess