I'm so angry at myself for spending the money on this! I looked at all of the product reviews on BB's website (which were all glowing reviews) and I wish that I had come here first. I have ultra oily skin and thought that this would be a nice fit. Turns out that not only does my face feel like it's suffocating, it melts off after less than an hour on my warm skin.
I love BB's stuff, but this was a mega bust!

It happens suddenly. One day you look at yourself in the mirror and realize that light-coverage foundation just isn’t cutting it anymore. It’s time to go into concealment mode. Starting from MUA reviews, I identified five medium-to-full coverage foundations for combination skin and likely to be suitable for women over age 50.

The products were:

Bobbie Brown Oil Free Even Finish Compact Foundation, $44
Chanel Mat Lumiere, $54
Estee Lauder Double Wear, $35
Makeup Forever Mat Velvet, $34
Mary Kay Time Wise Matt-Wear Liquid Foundation, $22 (or maybe $20 – can’t recall)
The Bobbie Brown is a crème; the rest are liquid.

I shopped at major department stores and with a Mary Kay consultant. In every case, after finding a good color match, I was able to obtain a sample to take home. (Nordstrom didn’t have a sample of my color, but the clerk said, “Buy it and take it home. If you don’t like it, bring it back. It’s Nordstrom.”)

Applying with a foundation brush, I tried all the foundations for at least a full day, over my usual moisturizer with just a spot of powder blush. I intently observed them in natural light.

None of the foundations completely prevented shininess. With each, at some point during the day I had to dab a little powder on my forehead, nose and cheeks. All of the foundations provided medium coverage with easy buildability. After about a half hour of settling in, each had a natural look. So, as I review them from my least favorite to my final choice, know that any one of them would have worked for me. Finding the best color will be your best decision factor.

5. Estee Lauder Double Wear. This liquid foundation dried quickly and was a bit difficult to work with. It looked slightly chalky.
4. Mary Kay Time Wise Matt-Wear Liquid Foundation. The lowest-cost of all the selections and, at $20, easily the best value. It was only slightly drier-appearing than the next two selections.
Tie for #2: Makeup Forever Mat Velvet and Chanel Mat Lumiere. Both these products went on smoothly and did not settle into wrinkles. They held matte finish equally well, but still had a little glow. The Chanel color happened to be the best color match of all the options I tried.
And the winner is: Bobbie Brown Oil Free Even Finish Compact Foundation. This was the only crème of the bunch and I was a bit skeptical, but it stays as a shine-free as any of the liquids. (I still need a touch of powder in the “T” zone.) It has a velvety feel and looks very natural which is, of course, BB’s signature.

While the Bobbie Brown is superior, you could be satisfied with any of the other four, especially if you prefer a liquid. Find the best color and let that drive your decision.

I am no professional makeup artist BUT i do work at a makeup studio and know the different fomulations that work for different skin types and so on. Having said that, i have used this foundation on other clients and I have to say..... no matter what skin type..... it just loooks.... horrible!!! Old, young, good sking, bad skin, it just sits on top of it... I have tried different application techniques but i just dont like it. It accentuates every line on your face. How awful....

Basically the worst foundation ever. Feel terrible saying this, though. In Bobbi Browns other formulations, the colour (3.5) looked lovely on - even the concealers matched well. The consistency of this product looks like glue, i can't quite understand how this is oil free as it is quite slippery. It has no staying power - (1-2 hours, then touch ups needed). Doesn't cover up any acne marks. The colour looked awfully orange on, even though the make up artist testing the product on me said it was perfect (it disappeared/blended into forehead) but on the rest of my face this looked terrible.

I would suggest trying her other formulations, I just wouldn't recommend this foundation our of her range. You also get very little product for the price, my mother has this in another colour and she went through it pretty quick (less than 2 weeks) even though she uses very little.

A big no no for me!

I had this product applied at the Bobbi Brown counter to "road test" before possible purchase. I found it uncomfortable to wear - it felt like my skin was covered by a plastic bag. It was not oil free as the make up started to melt straight away and made my pores look huge. Within a few hours had smudged my mascara badly under my eyes. Would not recommend this product.

If only I had joined this forum sooner! I used BB products in the mid 90s and never had a problem. Because I like to try new cosmetic brands, I tried other good makeup lines ( Iman, Clinique , Mac etc) for many years and finally in 2010 decided to try BB again as their colour matches were among the best. I had beautiful results at first. My skin -which has always been pretty much flawless - looked fantastic... Until three months later. I had the worst itchy rash on my face and could not work out why. I cut out certain foods, vitamin supplements and new skincare purchases. I never suspected the BB foundation and powder I was using, as the breakout had occurred months after I started using them. My skin still hasn't returned to it's former health, and now I see that it was the BB makeup doing the damage. I cringe to think how much money I have wasted, but it's a relief to finally get to the bottom of the problem. Btw, I had no idea that BB was bought over my Estee Lauder. They must have changed the formula significantly because BB was a great product back in the day...

For me the coverage was good, but after a while of using, I recognized the using of this make up with the sponge is unhygienic. By the time fuzzes and other particles on your hands or on your skin are getting through the sponge on the creamy make up and stay on it.
And I had the feeling that the cream didn't connect with my skin, I had to dab the sponge to get it on my skin that it looks naturaly

This product is excellent for someone looking for extra coverage. I used it when I had dark acne scarring and needed heavy coverage. I applied with a foundation brush and it blended perfectly into my skin. I am of Indian descent so I have a hard time finding foundation for my brown skin, in this line im a 4.25 which is Warm Natural. It gives a great natural finish but once my scarring cleared (thanks to Clinique's Even Better Skin Tone Correcting Moisturizer) I switched to Bobbi Brown's Illuminating finish Powder Compact Foundation because it was lighter coverage. This product did not make me break out but it was a little heavy on hot days, luckily a little blotting absorebd most of the moisture and the foundation remained intact.

Still on my search to finding my HD foundation. I purchased this due to the "oil-free" bit attached to the products name only to find it is far from oil-free. Bobbi brown seems to be the only brand which has my skin tone colour to a perfect match (Warm natural in winter and honey in summer) however when I put this foundation on my skin it goes on perfectly. After about an hour I seem to have an oily face and have to blot a lot more than I do without the product on my face. Also can set into really fine lines only to make them obvious and also can start to cake if you try to get medium to high coverage. Package is too bulky to carry around in the purse as well....oh well...still on my search.

What can I say? You've done it again Bobbi! This product is FANTASTIC. It gives gorgeous natural full coverage. How often can you say that full coverage looks natural? Amazing. And there are a number of ways you can apply it, so you can get different finishes and densities of application. I really love this product and I'd say it works really great with my oily skin, in all seasons too!
Ace product.