Purchased
After more than a year of using mostly high-end foundations, I decided to reach out for more affordable but still bestselling drugstore options. I've found many high-end foundation dupe posts all over Pinterest and I thought to myself, why not give them a shot and see how well they will perform on my skin.
When it comes to foundations, I feel like it's always challenging to write a "good" per se review because we all have unique skin and we battle different skin issues. I used to have combination skin with the very oily t-zone area but with age, my skin turned into a more normal-to-combination type, so I still struggle with some oiliness but it's not as heavy as it was a few years ago ( I am 28 years old currently and MAC NW20-25). The three foundations I decided to get and review offer either full coverage or matte finish, something that I used to avoid in the past, especially with drugstore products.
Milani Conceal + Perfect 2-in-1 ($6.99) foundation is said to be a dupe for Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation ($27), L'oreal Infallible ($11.99) for NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation ($48) and Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless ($5.99) for MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation SPF 15 ($27).
I haven't tried all of the high-end foundations mentioned above but what I would like to focus on in this post is how the drugstore ones all performed against each other and which one worked the best because they all gave my skin very similar finish and coverage.
And I guess that was something I wasn't expecting at all before trying them out. All three actually performed great and lasted all day on me without the need of using a single blotting sheet (and that is so rare to me!). We have to count in that it's winter now, but I am more than excited to be using these products during hot summer months and I have a feeling I will be very happy with the results as well.
Now let's talk about the biggest differences between them which I can definitely say is the application process itself.
Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless has the most watery texture out of all which speeds up the application and makes it quick and easy. It does offer the least amount of coverage with the first layer, comparing to the others, but it is buildable and overall covered everything that needed to be covered. Shade 220 Natural Beige matched me just right.
L'oreal Infallible has the thickest texture and I have to be very quick with blending it out because it dries fast and once it's dried it won't move anywhere. I seriously had to scrub my hand hard to get rid of the remaining product. I did pick up a bit too dark, or should I say too yellow-orangy shade for me right now which was the 105 Natural Beige so I had to use my face self-tanner to match it but this foundation lasted on my skin the entire day looking absolutely flawless.
When it comes to Milani Conceal + Perfect 2-in-1 foundation it was definitely easier to work with when it comes to the application than with L'oreal Infallible and I loved the finish. This is the full coverage foundation that also works as a concealer so I was worried that it will be too heavy or cakey, but it actually isn't. 03 Light Beige shade is more on the beige side without too much yellow or orange to it, which is great. I really like this foundation and it gives my skin very similar coverage as well as flawless finish as L'oreal Infallible.
Unblended swatches from left: Milani 2-in-1, Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless and L'oreal Infallible (looks the lightest here yet on my skin looked the most yellow-orange comparing to the other two)
Overall, I was expecting to not like at least one of them but I ended up loving all three. I guess there is a reason behind their popularity. I love the lightweight feel, flawless finish, and great coverage. Also, you can not beat the price, seriously. I will also make a confession here, all these three drugstore foundations I mentioned in this post absolutely beat my Makeup Forever HD Foundation. I would totally pick them over MUFE HD. I am very impressed and I can't really say anything bad about them especially considering the price range.
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