Thursday, 30 April 2015

No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation Review

Hey guys!
I'm writing this post on my phone today so it may look a bit different! I just wanted to review this foundation I have been using for the past month, as I've just re-purchased a new bottle of it. It's the No7 Beautifully Matte foundation, and I've been using it as my daily foundation when I'm in work. I was previously using a different No7 foundation, Essentially Natural, which I will also review as I've gone through about 10 bottles of it and I adore it.. However, the lab I am working on at the moment is experiencing difficulties with the AC. It's basically like a greenhouse, if the sun shines at all its above 30 degrees. The EN foundation is light/medium coverage and so even with a matte powder I found that this was just sliding right off my face and by the end of the day I was a hot mess. So I went looking for something with a similarly natural finish, but a bit more staying power. 

I decided to stick with No7 because all of their products are so kind to skin, they're hypoallergenic and I've never had a major breakout while using their foundations. As you can see on the box for the BM foundation it's recommended for normal/oily skin and claims to keep you matte and covered for up to 14 hours. The back of the box also boasts that this foundation will give you a natural look, absorb oil, keep you shine free, moisturise dry areas, cover pores and also contains anti-acne super ingredient salicylic acid which acts as an anti-bacterial. Sounds perfect right?

First off the packaging is great. The metallic box is fab, and the bottle comes with its own built in pump. I've included photos of my almost finished bottle and the full one, as you can see you can see how much foundation is left and as you use it, the product gets pushed up the tube ensuring that you get to use all of it. I think this is great because, for example, with Mac foundations the pump you put on yourself never quite reaches the bottom and I always feel like a lot of product goes to waste. The bottle is 30ml which is standard enough I think but I went through it in no time, 4 weeks I think using it almost everyday.

So they recommend you apply this with your hands or a damp sponge, it's up to you really. I also applied this using a real Techniques buffing brush and it turned out great too. I found the foundation had the best finish when I just used moisturiser underneath (I use Garnier Moisture Match for oily/combination skin, the green one). I used it with Benefits Porefessional one day and for some reason I just found the foundation didn't perform as well. 

In the first picture above, AKA my scariest selfie ever! (I literally woke up like that and had not even brushed my hair haha) I've applied one layer of the foundation to half of my face. As you can see I've got blemishes pretty much everywhere (cheeks, chin, forehead), giving me quite an uneven skin tone. But as you'll notice, on the side of my face that's covered my skin appears 10 times smoother, softer and more even. The coverage on this foundation is buildable so on areas where I don't need that much coverage I'll leave one layer, but on areas where I'm especially broke out I'll add another layer. The next photos show the finished product, the only other face products I used were the Stay Time concealer by Seventeen under my eyes to highlight and Mac Bao Bao Wan Summer Opal powder under my cheekbones. I did not conceal any of my spots or add any kind of extra coverage. As you can see there is the odd bump on my skin where I do have spots but the colour is completely even. The final picture is me at lunchtime in work, the foundation had set completely to give a gorgeous, soft, even finish and still looked flawless after 6 hours.

Overall this product is amazing and I would give it a 10/10 there's nothing I don't like about it. Once it sets it is literally there for the day! It provides full coverage without looking cakey, it blends easily and gives a really natural looking finish. I do suffer with my skin a lot and this foundation actually soothes it, it dries up angry spots and causes no aggrevation at all. It is available nationwide at Boots and is €17.50, the shade I use is called Cool Vanilla.

Bit of a lengthy review but at least it's informative, right? Let me know what you thought of it, if you've tried this foundation etc and don't forget to follow me on Instagram!
Thanks so much,
Caoimhe x

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