CoverGirl Matte Made Foundation | Foundation Friday

Foundation Friday

Feb 26

Hello and thank you for joining me! Today I will be sharing a new entry in my Foundation Friday series and we will be covering the CoverGirl TruBlend Matte Made Foundation! CoverGirl claims this foundation is a matte foundation best suited for normal to oily skin and it has a matte finish and light coverage. After last week’s foundation review, I felt like my expectations for a matte liquid was set pretty high and I felt like this foundation wouldn’t be able to compete with the YSL All Hours Foundation – all I can say is that I am shocked! If this sounds interesting then keep reading for my favourite application, companion products, and who I think this will work best for.

Base Layer

Skin prep is usually one of the biggest factors in what makes or breaks your foundation application and this foundation really surprised me in how well it performed over my daily skincare and sunscreen routine.

I will mention that I tested this foundation over five days and I used a makeup primer on only one of those days; the other days I tried it with different sunscreens. The reason behind this was that my collection of affordable primers is much smaller than my higher-end primers and all of my primers that are more affordable are also more mattifying. Needless to say, I’ll have to add a few more primers to my collection!

Foundation Overview

I have really loved wearing this foundation this week! CoverGirl claims this a matte foundation with light coverage; I feel like this foundation is a natural matte finish with a solid medium buildable coverage.

Where the YSL was more matte than I preferred for my day-to-day wear, this CoverGirl Matte Made was the perfect level of matte for my taste and I feel like it’s a more wearable matte for more people compared to the YSL foundation.

Application Tips and Preferences

My favourite way to apply the foundation was by dotting it around with my fingers and then using a brush to blend; the result of blending with just the fingers did not look as smooth as it did with a brush. I found that trying to apply it with a damp sponge caused the product to lift; however, a dry sponge was useful for blending out areas that felt heavy.

After initial application, I would apply more foundation on the back of my hand and then apply it to my face using the brush. The product layered well over itself, allowing me to build coverage where I wanted with ease, taking this foundation from medium coverage to full coverage where needed.

If you read last week’s post, then I mentioned that I was struggling with some topical skin irritation. Luckily, this week the irritation had gone away so no special steps were required.

Brushes

When it comes to coverage, you want to look at the brush you are using: The denser the brush, the higher level of coverage you will achieve. The brushes I used this week for different levels of coverage are:

ELF Putty Primer Applicator, for light to medium coverage,
ELF Precision Airbrush Blender, for medium to full coverage.

Wear Test

Day 1 – La Roche-Posay Anthelios Dermo-Kids Lotion SPF 50+, No Primer, Pixi Hydrating Milky Mist, ELF Makeup Mist & Set

On the first day, I started with a damp sponge and the product was lifting instead of adhering to my skin; so I switched to the ELF Airbrush Blender, which worked well! I applied two layers and ended up with a full-coverage look. At first, the product looked heavy, but after 45 minutes, the product warmed up and meshed with the skin for a more skin-like appearance.

At the six hour mark, I noticed minor settling in the smile lines and the chin looked slightly dry. The product looked more “makeup-y” than it had any other day, however, this may be the result of starting application with a sponge, as this was the only day where I experienced this issue. I also noticed that my concealer appeared to emphasize under-eye texture and looked dry, I’ll talk more about my experience with the CoverGirl TruBlend Under Cover Full Coverage Concealer in the Mini Reviews.

At the 16-hour mark, I noticed slight wear around my nose, but the foundation still looked nice. The product looked less makeup-y and looked more like skin. The concealer again looked slightly dry, especially at the outer corners of my eye, where I layered a lighter shade to help “lift” my eye.

Day 2 – Coppertone Pure & Simple SPF 50, No Primer, ELF Makeup Mist & Set

For Day 2, I used the ELF Putty Primer Applicator’s brush side and the foundation applied like a dream. Initially, it was a natural matte, with a slight makeup-y appearance. However, at the 2.5-hour mark, I noticed the foundation had melted into the skin and looked great!

From there, there were no changes observed until the 9-hour mark, where I saw some slight settling around the nose. At 14 hours, the coverage had sheered out across the cheeks and nose, but still looked skin-like, with slightly more settling around the nose.

The concealer looked slightly dry all day. Again, I layered lighter concealer over the foundation and the base layer of concealer; this layer of concealer began to emphasize texture immediately after application, especially between eyebrows.

Day 3 – La Roche-Posay Anthelios Dermo-Kids Lotion SPF 50+, Live Clean Sport Mineral Sunscreen Lotion SPF 45, No Primer, Pixi Hydrating Milky Mist, ELF Makeup Mist & Set

For this application, I applied the La Roche-Posay Anthelios Dermo-Kids sunscreen as normal, and then used the Live Clean sunscreen around the eyes: as it’s a thicker consistency that’s more hydrating than the La Roche-Posay, I thought this would combat the dryness I experienced in the previous days. I’ve mentioned this sunscreen before as having a strong white cast and being too heavy for regular wear, but in this case those same qualities made it seem like the perfect candidate.

For the foundation itself, I used the ELF Airbrush Blender; for the concealer I used the ELF Putty Primer Applicator’s brush side again. Upon application, I though the foundation looked perfect and the concealer had a smoother, more creamy appearance. Overall, I was ecstatic over how well it looked!

I didn’t notice any change until the 9-hour mark, where I saw the foundation wear off the bridge of my nose and the middle of the cheeks where my face mask had sat for about four hours.

After 13 hours, the product looked slightly dry on the chin, but I didn’t see any other significant changes in the foundation; though at this point, the concealer around my eyes was starting to look somewhat dry. All things considered, the concealer wore exceptionally well over the Live Clean SPF! As with other days, I applied both shades.

Day 4 – Live Clean Sport Mineral Sunscreen Lotion SPF 45, No Primer, ELF Makeup Mist & Set

The Live Clean SPF worked so well on the previous day I decided to try it over my whole face. The application went well, but the SPF left such a strong white cast that I needed two layers of the foundation to cover it! That being said, the foundation layered exceptionally well, and it had more of a natural matte finish. The concealer looked nice, if very light. I could definitely feel the sunscreen on my face. However, my husband said that the makeup was only detectable upon very close inspection.

I didn’t notice any change or shift in the product until after I took off my mask at the 6-hour mark, where I saw minor wear along the bridge of my nose and my cheeks, after having worn the mask for a few hours.

From there, I didn’t notice any change until the 12.5-hour mark, when my forehead and cheeks felt slightly dry. The under-eye area felt slightly drier than my face, especially at the outer corners.

Day 5 – La Roche-Posay Anthelios Dermo-Kids Lotion SPF 50+, ELF Hydrating Face Primer

Although the Live Clean SPF performed well, it just felt so heavy on my skin, so I wanted to see if I could recreate the results with the La Roche-Posay SPF. After letting the sunscreen thoroughly dry, I layered the ELF Hydrating Face Primer over top and proceeded with the rest of the application, using the ELF Airbrush blender for the foundation, and the ELF Putty Primer Applicator’s brush for the concealer. The look of the foundation and concealer was perfect and felt weightless!

Checking the mirror after two hours, I noticed that the products looked smoother than they have all week, especially the concealer. Even after 12 hours, things still looked very smooth, though the coverage had sheered down on the cheeks to about 50%, my chin looked slightly dry, and there was some noticeable settling at the corners of my nose. However, I did not notice any tightness on the cheeks or forehead, compared to previous days. Also, the concealer under the eyes still looked perfect.

Safe to say, the ELF Hydrating Face Primer did its job!

Mini Reviews!

CoverGirl TruBlend Undercover Full Coverage Concealer in L150 Porcelain (too light) and L400 Classic Ivory (a tiny bit dark)

This concealer wore well all day, and I did not experience any creasing. I found it to be slightly drying at times; however, this feeling was not consistent. The lighter shade (L150) seemed to emphasize pores and fine lines; the darker shade looked nice on my skin.

CoverGirl Clean Fresh Pressed Powder in 100 Translucent

A gorgeous translucent pressed powder! This powder is very powdery in the compact, but when applied to the skin, it doesn’t look like powder at all. Great for subtle mattifying, and blurring texture.

CoverGirl Cheekers Blush in 120 Soft Sable

This blush is a classic in the CoverGirl lineup, and for good reason! This blush has a warm rosy-bronze colour with a moderate level of shimmer. I underestimated how much colour payoff this blush would have, so proceed with a light hand when applying.

CoverGirl TruBlend Pressed Powder in 003 Translucent Honey (as Bronzer)

An excellent bronzing powder for fair to light skin tones! This product’s application starts quite sheer, but it can be layered to create a healthy flush of bronze.

CoverGirl Clump Crusher Water Resistant Mascara by LashBlast in Black Brown

The perfect “no makeup” makeup mascara! This mascara gives great separation and length, which look almost like they are almost impossible as your natural lashes! For an in-depth review, check out my January & February 2021 Favourites.

CoverGirl Clean Fresh Tinted Lip Oil in 100 Juiced (clear)

A standard lip oil, it left behind a sheer lustre to the lips. There was also some inconsistency with how much product the applicator would pick up each time I dipped the wand. It’s not a bad product by any means, but there are better ones out there.

Note: I removed the stopper with pliers because I got annoyed with how little product came out. Don’t do this – so much product ends up on the wand it ends up removing underlying lip products.

EcoTools Full Powder Brush

An extremely soft, lux-feeling brush. It applied powder like a dream. However, it did not last the week. I began using this brush on Sunday and the bristles fell out of the ferrule on Thursday, after only using Cinema Secrets Makeup Brush Cleaner and a dry microfibre cloth to clean it throughout the week. I’m replacing the brush to see if it was just a fluke, and I’ll provide an update once I test the replacement.

Is the CoverGirl TruBlend Matte Made Foundation Right for You?

The CoverGirl TruBlend Matte Made Foundation was very impressive and held up extremely well. It is long-wearing, gives a natural matte finish, holds up well to mask wear, has no fragrance nor drying alcohol, minimizes the appearance of pores and texture, does well with holding back the shine, and is buildable. In short, just an excellent product that does exactly what a foundation should do.

This foundation could work for all skin types with proper prep, medium buildable coverage, more of a natural matte than a full matte.

The CoverGirl TruBlend Matte Made Foundation compares quite favourably to the YSL All Hours Foundation I reviewed last week: The CoverGirl Matte Made comes in 40 shades, while the YSL All Hours comes in 22 shades. You get 1 fl. oz for $10 with the CoverGirl vs 0.84 fl. oz for $74 for YSL. The YSL All Hours Foundation also contains denatured alcohol and fragrance, while the CoverGirl Matte Made Foundation does not. The YSL does, however, offer slightly more coverage and sits closer to the skin for a slightly more skin-like finish.