Foundation Review Masterlist

So I've tried a LOT of foundations and have reviews all over the place. I figured I should just put a quick and dirty review for all of them in one place so it's easy for someone to look up. I'll keep updating this as I try out new foundations! I've split them into these 4 categories:

• Love: Holy Grail status. I will fight you for the last one and risk jail time.
• Like: I really like it, it's really good, but my holy grails are better. It's not you, it's me.
• Meh: Ok.
• Burn in Hell: How the hell is this product in existence? The product designer must be a sadist who derives pleasure from people's misery.

Since foundations are very dependent on skin type, let me give a detailed review of my skin first:

• Cool, yellow toned, light shade
• Oily t-zone but dehydrated elsewhere
• Generally clear skin, but prone to breaking out in deep cystic acne around the jaw line about once a month
• Prone to discolouration from cystic acne and sun spots
• Starting to age and developing a slight fine line underneath my eyes and on my cheeks
• Broken capillaries around the nose area (don't squeeze like me)
• Slightly enlarged pores on and around nose
• Dark circles under my eyes

Items in each category are sorted in alphabetical order.

Love

• Maybelline's Fit Me Foundation Matte & Poreless (liquid): this is amazing quality.  The coverage is light-medium, and gives me such a flawless finish while still feeling and looking light. I'm dying to try out the dewy version, but my shade is always sold out.

• The Face Shop's BB cushion (cushion): my face looks so flawless and dewy. The coverage is light, so it's not for everyone, but holy crap everyone comments about how glowy I look when I wear this. The best part is that I can blot out my oil throughout the day, and as long as I'm careful about not moving the foundation, it still looks good. Easy to touch up too!

Like

• BCL's Skin Flat powder foundation (powder): Very heavy coverage, but doesn't look too cakey for the amount of coverage it provides. Makes me look poreless, and I barely need any concealer afterwards. My skin feels very velvety after using this, and like a lot of powder foundation, it's great for oily skin. The downside is that when your face starts getting oily, you can see the parts where you're oozing oil since they'll show up as dots. Power through this part and you get a really beautiful coverage that can pass off as dewy instead of oily. 

• Dior Hydralife BB Cream (liquid): This used to be my HG. The coverage is relatively thick even though it still looks like you're not wearing any makeup and I still will recommend it. The downside is that when I start getting oily a few hours in, the foundation swims all over my face and I look greasy. It also comes in very few shades of pale, and I have to pick between going too dark or too pink. For the price, I'd go with something more affordable AND has a better match.

Meh

• Bare Minerals powder foundation (powder): Used to really like this, but it does tend to look cakey. I thought all foundations were meant to cake, so finding out this shouldn't be the case was a revelation. Great for oily skin, since it becomes this really even, dewy cover when my face gets oily. Terrible for dry skin since it'll catch and flake. Couldn't find my perfect match either.

• Bare Minerals compact foundation (powder compact): Pretty much like the powder foundation (see above), but just more cakey. I'm leaning towards putting this in the Burn in Hell category, but it doesn't deserve that much hate. 

• BCL's Skin Flat CC Gel (liquid): the coverage is very light and has a matte finish. It feels like you're not wearing any make up, at the same time, the coverage is extremely light...to the point where I don't really see the point in wearing it. Tends to streak when you get oily.

• It Cosmetics' CC Cream (liquid): feels greasy on my skin, but it does have medium coverage. 

• Majolica Majorca Skin Remaker Pore Cover Foundation (powder compact): Got this after hearing great reviews about it and yes, the coverage is so thick that you can hide all your pores, BUT it definitely looks powdery and heavy. Shade ranges are very limited too, and I can't really find my perfect match, and it oxidizes like crazy on me.

• Stilla's tinted moisturizer (liquid): Used to be my HG when I didn't know any better, but after discovering Asian products, I find it too greasy & heavy without the coverage I'd expect for something that feels so heavy.

Burn in Hell.

• Dr Jart's Cushion Compact (powder compact): this is the shittiest product I've ever tried. I heard great things about the BB cushion, thought, bought this one accidentally online because I got it mixed up with the BB Cushion, and it was crap. I thought a compact powder type of foundation will be great for my skin but this one was just extremely powdery. It gives me that caked on makeup look without concealing anything! How the hell is that possible? It takes skill to create something this crappy.

• Smashbox's CC Cream (liquid): greasy, greasy gross. My face looks like a melting wax doll with this too. It looks greasy, not dewy. I kept trying to finish this, but eventually decided it was pure masochism to continue and trashed it.