Review of MAC Face and Body Foundation by franzvonstuck
I was searching for a light water-based foundation as I stumbled upon Macs face and body foundation.
I try to give you the most accurate information on my skintone, skintype and skin issues, so you can make a guess, if this foundation could work for you.
Skintone:
Iīm a quite pale-toned girl with slightly yellow undertones in my skin. Not too warm-toned, but definitely not cool toned. Neutral leaning towards yellow would be the closest description.
Like everyoneīs skin, my skin is a mixture of colours: I have some redness in my skin, especially around my nose, which can make my skin look ruddy and uneven. Some brown spots from too much melanin in my skin and some red-purple scars from pimples. And the smallest bit of pink in my skin as I lean more towards yellow-olive-beige pigments. My skin usually looks dull and lifeless.
Donīt get me wrong my skin is not that bad, itīs just that the mixture of all this results in a very uneven skintone.
Iīm Mac NC 15-NC20, BB sand, Bourjois Vanilla 52.
Skintype: My skin is basically combo skin, which is sensitive, dehydrated, acne-prone and getting dry when wintertime arrives. And I have dry patches sometimes, which are really annoying because itīs so hard to make your foundation work with these.
Skin Issues: Besides the general discoloration in my skintone, I have a melasma on my upper lip, pigment spots and lighter pimple scars from hormonal break outs.
My skin is acne-prone, but I never broke out from foundation. I never even knew I could react towards a foundation until I tried the Bourjois healthy mix and got major pimples.
Generally, my skin suffers from a lack of glow and healthy appearance as my skin looks dead, pale and dull. When I wake up and look in the mirror - OMG. I look ghostly with this skin.
What do I want from the foundation:
The foundation should get the redness out of my skin and even out my skintone. Should make my skin look more uni-coloured and not like the usual mess of redness and pigmentation. Also should not cling to dry patches, not make me break out or even dry out my skin. And I like the most natural finish thatīs possible for my skin with the most accurate colour match I can get.
Thatīs a lot to ask for.
But the f&b did it!
Surprisingly, I got the perfect colour match for my skintone with C1. I was surprised as MACs NCs were always too yellow for me and I couldnīt wear NW. But this seems to be more neutral toned.
I looked at the foundation in daylight, artificial light and sunlight and what can I say: Itīs undetectable in the best way.
I even applied it only on one half of my face and the only difference I saw was that the redness was eliminated and my skin looked like "my skin but better".
Thereīs no difference in the colour of my neck and the colour of my face when Iīm wearing this. Famous MUA Mary Greenwell suggested, that you check the colour of the foundation on the side of your neck. I did test it on my face AND my neck.
My skin gets that dewy look I always long for and looks fresh and healthy.
But I will not lie to you, this may be buildable, but itīs a very sheer foundation to start with.
My approach on foundation is to use the lightest formula I can get away with to even out my skintone and then cover up blemishes, spots and remaining redness with a heavier concealer like BBs face touch up stick.
I donīt see the need to totally cover my face in heavy foundation, when the major part of my skin is alright and only small areas in my face need more coverage. Cloaking my skin 100 % with full coverage foundation while only 2 % of my skin needs extra coverage would make me look unnatural and cakey. This minimalist principle even works with acne skin, if you want the proof, check out Lisa Eldridges video on acne/blemish covering make up.
You must give the bottle a good shake before you apply this, otherwise, you get a greasy mess out of the tube.
Before I put on foundation, I always apply a hydrating serum, moisturizer and a spf 50 sunscreen.
I apply this with my clean fingers to really massage it into the skin and make it even more natural. The warmth of the fingers and the massaging makes it look like skin.
I wear no powder on top, because powder takes the lovely glow of the floundation away.
It lasts 8 hours on my skin and doesnīt settle in the dry patches and fine lines.
I cannot tell yet if this breaks me out, but the MAC foundations I used never broke me out. So I hope, this will work for my skin too as I would be devastated, if this broke me out.
Right now, Iīm happy to have such a light and fine foundation with the best colour match I ever had.
I dare to say, my skin looks gorgeous with this foundation.
Sorry for the long review, but hope, this was helpful.