Rant or Rave: Boots No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation

Hello Sugarplums! Next up in the seriously lacking series is the Boots No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation. Now, I don't know about you...but I love my face looking matte over looking dewy. Don't know what it is...I just...don't do the dew (hehe) So I naturally gravitate towards things that claim to be mattefying, but not without researching first. While I don't let other's experiences sway my decision too much, I do tend to scour through makeup alley, just because that site lets me down. In this instance, I'm very, very glad that I didn't listen to what other had to say.

Okay, not even gonna live, I've been wanting to try out things from this line for SO LONG, but I was always super skeptical....and then cartwheel had a coupon for their products, so I had to indulge. They sell this brand at Target & Walgreen's (in the USA) as far as I know...if you know any other places let me know hehe. This foundation retails for $13.99 and is the standard 1fl oz, pretty standard size, but it is on the more pricey side of the drug store, BUT it comes with a pump, so I'm already sold, hehe.

So does it live up to the claims? Kind of. While it does leave your face extremely matte, it doesn't last very long. I work a 8-430 job.....so whenever I have a new foundation I like to test it on a work day to see how it holds up...and after about 4 hours, I found that my T-Zone was wicked shiny and my the foundation clung to my dry patches on the edge of my nose...which is typical for any foundation really haha. I do have to say though, 9/10 times....foundation makes my nose area itch like crazy, and I had no itching from this, HIGH FIVE!

I used moisturizer as well as a heavy primer with this foundation, but I'm finding even that didn't work. It also has a REALLY, REALLY strange fragrance......and not in a good way. Think Revlon Colorstay + Studio Fix from MAC...mixed together. It's stronnggggg. when you're applying the foundation around your nose...it gets rough.

Now, on the website there are A L O T of different shades....but when I went to Target there were only like 5, and if you have yellow undertones, it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find a shade, all of the shades are heavily pinky under toned and I couldn't find a shade for me, this one is way too light, but the next one was wayyy too dark..... So what I'm trying to say is....the shade selection is terrible. It's not even that the shade was too light, it's that it was SO SO SO pink that it's hard to correct. It can be done, but it's an extra step in the grueling morning process haha

So as you can see, I got the shade cool ivory which was the second lightest shade, which I only chose because the other ones were WAY too dark. I'm contemplating mixing it with another foundation because I really really like the consistency of this foundation, but the color of it....I can't.

Like I said, it comes with a pump, so gold star for that. The packaging is plastic, so it doesn't weigh down your travel case if you're going to be taking it along with you. It's sleek, it's classy, it's simple.

Not too Shabby, I actually like the packaging a lot. I like that it's long & skinny and not like...wide & bulky

It's definitely medium coverage with the potential of full coverage but layer it carefully cause it can cake up, being that it's a thicker formula. I usually only use one pump for my face, but for some reason, this foundation requires me to do a pump and a half, which is strange because the formula is pretty creamy.

So this is one pump, you can kinda see how thick it is

As you can tell, it's like 43094802 shades way too light for my skin, haha

So my fingertips are PRETTTTYYY light and this foundation is still light. Anyway, I took this with flash, so there's not an ashy grey hue to the foundation, which tends to occur with many mattefying foundations, it actually photographs well.

Some advice if you're going to try this?

Wear concealer under it. I know it sounds silly but I lightly covered my face with my MAC concealer, because it is matched for my current shade, and it helped A LOT.

Also, use a brush or a beauty blender. I don't advise applying this with your fingers, at all.... I used my OhGee flat top kabuki blending brush and it worked magically, my beauty blender did okay, but I still prefer the brush.

Let it set! This foundation doesn't really oxidize, but it does take a few minutes to fully set. When it's finally set, you can see just how light or pineky it is and how you need to contour accordingly.

KEEP YOUR POWDER WITH YOU, especially if you have an oily t-zone, such as myself. Touch ups are necessary throughout the day.

So would I repurchase it?

If I could find an appropriate shade, most definitely. I like the formula it's self, I can deal with touching up through out the day, because I'm used to it. I just really wish they had all the shades that they offer online and overseas, but you know, first world problems hehe.

Do you or have you used any products from this brand? What do you love what do you hate? I wanna know!

I wore it all day, and this is what my face ended up looking like haha. I put the foundation on at around 6am and these were taken at around 5pm, so quite a long while.

What I used on my face:

Ahava Dead Sea Mineral Moisturizer
Benefit POREfessional primer
MAC concealer, I think it's the pro longwear one (I'm about an NC25 apparently)
Maybelline lumi concealer pen thing... OOPS
The foundation, obvi
Almay loose powder
Stay Matte by Rimmel powder
Too Faced chocolate soleil bronzer
Jane Pink Bouquet Blush
On my eyes I used the "Eyes on the 60's" palette from BH Cosmetics

OHH & I thought this was pretty effing cool. aka I fangirled for about 10 minutes. oops

BEFORE I FORGET!

From the same brand, I got their "Beautiful Skin" towelettes aka make up remover wipes...and I.Am.In.LOVE. I swore by my ELF make up remover wipes, but these are perfect. They're not as moist, so they don't make your face feel wicked wet. & I like the plastic closing on it, it stays locked and doesn't leak all over the place, and you get 2 packs of 30 for $10! Stellar steal. PS if you have the cartwheel app, you can get all boots no7 products for 10% off!

***Everything mentioned in this post was bought by myself with my own funding. Boots or any other mentioned brand did not send me these products nor am I affiliated with any company (except in my dreams haha).

All opinions are my own and are 100000% honest, pinky swear.