This is the latest foundation launch at Rimmel and I think it replaced their Stay Matte foundation, which isn't on the website anymore. It's part of their Lasting Matte collection, which also includes a primer and a concealer, but I haven't seen them here. I was sent a too dark shade and my skin currently is too unstable for testing, so I didn't give this one more than a few tries, so this is more of an early impressions type of review.
Texture: This is such a thick formula it's hard to squeeze it out of the tube, but it's one of those whipped/mousse-y textures so it feels thick, yet it's lightweight on the skin because it's dry to the touch immediately like a silicone primer. It's not easy to blend and you have to do it in sections, still I ended up with a patchy application which was more obvious due to not a perfect shade match. So far I find only fingers work with this on because it need some warmth to spread better.
Coverage and finish: Coverage is definitely not full, it's more light-medium, but closer to the latter. Finish is the promised matte one and not a heavy one like at foundations such as Deborah Extra Cover because it's so silicone-y feeling. I've tried this when my skin was normal and when it was dry. On normal skin I really liked it. It was a fresh looking matte finish that didn't look too much like makeup, it wasn't cakey, it filled out the pores, however, it looked terrible on lines. I might kept it if my skin stayed that way and the shade was right. However, as soon as my skin got dry, this was useless - it highlighted every dry patch, it did not blend into the skin and the application looked so uneven. So this is foundation only for oily to normal skin, but if you have any dry areas stay away from this.
Staying power and wear: I only wore it once the whole day and on that day it held up well, but it was not exceptional. My forehead stayed matte all day, but I don't have very oily areas.
Shade: I got the lightest shade here 103 True Ivory, which is the 5h darkest in the range, so obviously it's way too dark and considering it doesn't blend as nice as liquid foundations, you need a shade that matches you perfectly. True Ivory is somewhere around NC20. There are 20 shades in this range.
Packaging: This comes in regular tube and normally I love them, but this formula is so thick I'd prefer it were in a pot, though so might find it unhygienic in that case.
Price and availability: It costs about 7.50 € in DM.
Performance really depends on the skin type, it has the potential to look good and to look terrible. It's not full coverage as promised, but it is lasting matte on me without looking heavy. On dry skin it of course completely fails as expected, but on oily skin this will likely work a lot better, as on normal skin it ends up looking quite nice. I read very mixed reviews about this and I can see why. It's not easy to blend, you need a perfect match and it looks terrible on lines, but as pluses it keeps the skin matte and it hides pores, so it's a foundation that can go either way on different skin types.
Have a great day!
*PR product.
*PR product.
