Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation

My skin in a nutshell: oily on t-zone with combo skin but dehydrated. Clear skin but there's texture/some scarring on chin, jawline and sides of face from hormonal acne. I've always been slightly darker around the mouth.

Color reference: NC37-40 (depending on the time of year)

Shade matching: Initially I thought the warm shades would be my calling but they turned out to be very orange. First I tried 300 (medium to tan skin with neutral undertones), which was slightly too dark and a touch warm. Then I tried out 290 (medium to tan skin with neutral olive undertones), which was much better. 260 (medium skin with neutral undertones) was too light.

First trial: I haven't worn a medium to full coverage foundation that was this matte for a very long time. When I read that it was a soft matte with a filtered kind of look, I thought I could try something new (I go for a glowy look despite that I'm oily in some areas). Wearing this foundation with the Fenty primer made me look totally flat matte and emphasized every fine line I had around my mouth and between my eyebrows. I worked in sections to apply it with the Fenty foundation brush because it dries quickly. I found that the more you brushed over it, the more patchy it looked. I didn't set with powder but used setting spray to try to take down the flat matte look. The oil control for this foundation is great, however, my office's forced air environment sucked whatever moisture from my face. By the early afternoon, it was starting to look matte AND dry with all my fine lines coming through. By the end of the day, patches of foundation had worn off around my nose, which made it look weird because the rest of my face was still covered. My chin was looking creased and the areas around my mouth. When I got home 10 hours later, it began to pill off. However, there was no oxidization the entire day.

Second trial: I used a glowy, moisturizing primer underneath. I also used a beauty blender, which did sheer out the coverage and made the blend more seamless. However, there's a point where you have to stop bouncing or else it starts to look patchy. This time I set the foundation with a glowy-blurring powder and setting spray. The added glow products softened my fine lines and took down the super matte look to make it look a bit more skinlike. From afar it looks decent. In the office, my skin began to dry out and my fine lines became more pronounced but not as bad as the first day. I still saw creasing on my chin and around my mouth by mid-afternoon. Trying to blend the foundation a bit to help the creases makes it patchy. No oxidization.

I really wanted this foundation to work for me because of the shade range but the finish doesn't do my 33 year old face any favors. I have skin texture and fine lines that I usually camouflage with glowy products but this foundation just makes those flaws more stark.

I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I like this! One of my favourite foundations is the Estee Lauder Double Wear because of how well it controls oil and just lasts allllll day, but even on my combo-oily skin it can feel too heavy and tight and drying sometimes so I don't like wearing it for day to day wear. I feel like the Fenty Beauty foundation has everything I like about Double Wear but without the cons.

It doesn't control oil or last as long as Double Wear (I would say after about 8 hours it starts to look kinda oily and patchy), but it has the same matte finish (if a bit softer) and very good coverage and the best part is how comfortable it is to wear. I honestly can forget that I'm wearing foundation, it is that lightweight, plus I don't feel like this dries out my face at all. I think you build coverage more quickly if you apply with a brush, but I find that I get a nicer finish with a sponge - you do use up more product this way though. For best results I would recommend pumping some on your fingers, spreading it over half your face and then pressing it into the skin with the sponge - repeat with the other half. Put more on the places you feel like you want to build coverage. The product does dry fairly quickly so I wouldn't recommend trying to do your entire face all at once as you may have some difficulty blending it in. The shade 260 Medium Neutral is also an excellent match for me - I am usually around a MAC NC30-35. Although I have surface-yellow skin (am Asian), I have more neutral undertones and this is one of the rare Neutral undertone foundations I've tried that still has enough yellow in it for me that it doesn't make me look weirdly pink.

BUT. I WILL say that if you have significant amounts of texture on your face - dry patches, acne bumps, very large pores - I would suggest looking elsewhere, because this one's a clinger. I don't have much texture (most of my skin issues are hyperpigmentation-related), but what little texture I DO have (I will sometimes get dry patches around my nose) it emphasises like crazy (this is why I have taken one lippie off my rating). I have however heard of dry-skinned people who love this foundation and didn't think it made their texture look worse, so I guess different strokes for different folks. Though I would hands down recommend this for oilier skin types, I would be more cautious about getting this if you have dry skin.

Conclusion : If you've traditionally had issues getting a match in other foundation ranges because you have tricky-to-match undertones, the Fenty line's range of shades is one of its best features, so I would highly encourage getting colour-matched. Oilier skin types with little texture on the face are more likely to enjoy this as it provides a comfortable soft matte finish that does a good job with oil control and lasts pretty well.

This is my favourite foundation of all time and I am super picky. My skin went from oily to dry this past year. This blurred out my pores and didn't accentuate my dry skin. I have super acne prone skin and I had a few breakouts when I applied this but this never broke me out even after over 12 hours of wear (this is super rare for me, everything makes me breakout!) and covered my acne naturally.

I've tried all the Dior foundations, Lancôme, Giorgio Armani, prescriptives, tarte, urban decay, MUFE, nothing compares to this. I can see why some people say it's drying but I make sure I moisturize my skin really well before applying this and the finish is absolutely beautiful, very natural with a slight glow (I've only used it with a beauty blender so far and I'm shade 130, yellow undertones)

I feel bad for the people that wasn't able to love this foundation because I have never found a foundation I'd purchase more than once in the last 20 years but I will repurchase this one forever. Love love love!!

Props for the color range!
I'm into soft focus matte foundation kick atm but am a bit leery of celebrity beauty lines as well but I was so overwhelmingly touched by all the shades offered, I had to try it out.

Just for the record, I am about NC25 at the moment and #210 seemed like the best match though a bit too peachy and a shade too dark. I also used the Fenty primer and without for a couple of days to see if the pairing was necessary. I usually use Hourglass Mineral Veil or the YSL d'Or depending on the condition of my skin. The foundation accentuated my pores and wasn't too kind to my textured chin. The coverage is medium and the longevity was good. The primer didn't really do anything noticeably different either.

My verdict? A solid so so if you have oily skin with no textural issues.
The search continues...

So far, so good. I have to admit that I'm impressed. I was expecting this foundation to be bad. I thought all the youtube reviews had to be hype because Rihanna stamped her name on this product, but I was wrong. I applied this and all my imperfections were blurred; my face looked airbrushed. I applied this about 8 hours ago and this has not settled into my fine lines, separated, or become dry. It still looks almost as good as it did when I first applied it. I deducted one rating, because this foundation did oxidize and it smells slightly like men's cologne. Other than that, I'm very impressed. For reference I'm an NC40 in MAC and I purchased the shade 300.

Update on 11/15/2017: I returned this and won't be buying it again. It oxidizes and smells like men's cologne. It also wasn't very flattering the last time I wore it.

This is the first time that I bought a product because of its bad reviews here. Why? It is because a lot of people ranted about the product being too dry. Well, this for me and other oily gals is not a bad thing. Let me go a bit deeper. When your face, with or without makeup, turns into a grease pan, you would appreciate a bit of oil control. This product reminded me of the Chanel Double something or another that has been discontinued close to a decade. This also reminded me of the original Revlon Colorstay before its few reformulations. Unlike those old foundations however, this product is watery which I like. It provides good coverage and it is buildable. I suggest a bit of moisturizing concealer under the eyes. The product dries fast so I suggest good old fingers in fast action. I think sponge and brush would eat up this product and can cause waste. Of course, I did not use the Fenty brush so my testimony about the brush can be negated easily. The shade 260 was a perfect match for me. Although MAC considers me NC30, I have more neutral skin tone. Last, but not least, although I wouldn't buy makeup just because of the celebrity whose name is on it, I make an exception this time. I love Rihanna and her work so once again, she made me proud!

This foundation retails for $34 US, it contains 1.08 oz of product (standard is 1 oz), and it is housed in a heavy weight frosted glass bottle with a pump.

I have this in the shade 290- medium neutral olive which is a spot on match for me. Probably one of the best foundation matches that I have used. The other foundations that match me well are NARS Stromboli, GA Luminous Silk in #6 ( to get a perfect match I have to mix 2 parts shade #6 with one part shade #5.75) and Cover FX G50+.

I currently have oily-normal skin. My skin is well hydrated and exfoliated. This foundation has a soft matte finish and I believe designed for oily or normal skin. I can see why it wouldn't work for people with dry or skin texture issues. For me, it doesn't dry out my skin but it doesn't moisturize it either. On my skin, it gives me medium coverage, feels light on the skin, and a soft smooth matte finish. It is buildable to full coverage on me. It takes 1.5 pumps to cover my entire face and I go in with .5 pump to spot conceal. I don't feel the need to add additional concealer.

The true color of the foundation is after it sets on the face. In it's liquid form it is about a 1/2 shade to 1 shade lighter. After it sets I didn't notice is getting any darker. Something to keep in mind whem choosing a shade.

The foundation itself is very liquidity buy well pigmented. The foundation sets really fast so I found it best to work I sections or use a big foundation brush that will allow you to blend quickly. My favorite brush to use with this is Sigma 3DHD Max Kabuki.

I don't feel the need to set this with powder. It looks matte enough for me. It last about 6 hours before my skin gets oily. I just using blotting sheets or powder to get rid of the shine. My foundation is still in tact after I blot the oil. I can get about 10 hours of wear with this foundation. I am sure I can prolong the wear if I used setting powder or spray but I am lazy.

I am acne prone and have been using this for 5 days straight with no issues. At this point if a foundation were to cause me to break out or clogged pores it would have shown up by now.

Overall, I love this foundation. It works really well with my skin type. It's a huge plus that the shade match is perfect.

The Pro Filter Soft Matte Longwear Foundation is a dream for those that have more oily skin. I also LOVE the range of shades- it seems like they have almost made a shade for everyone. This is definitely a long wear foundation. My skin is overly dry so this mattified it to the point where dry patches appeared on my skin. If you have more oily or even normal skin you will find that this works much better for you. I do wish this had spf, but I'm sure there are many people who prefer not to have spf in their foundation. If you have darker skin tones, oily or normal skin this is worth checking out.

I usually have the worst luck finding shades because beauty companies think darker skinned women don't exist or are just red-toned but I found my shade in this line which was absolutely amazing. Like my skin in a bottle!! I used with the Fenty primer and it lasted all day for me (9-10 hrs) on my dry/combo (oily tzone) my tzone got oily after the 6 hr mark but it looked more dewy than greasy. I absolutely love it and will purchase again!!!

I've had a good 4 day to wear out of this foundation and I love it. My skin type is normal, minimum texture, and a few acne spots.

Coverage: It is a good medium and buildable to full. I like to use both a brush and a sponge blender. I first go in with the foundation with a brush after my primer has time to set then lightly pounce with damp beauty blender to give it a not so matte look.

Skin Prep: I don't use it with the Fenty primer since I didn't want a completely matte look. I prep my skin with Charlotte Tilbury magic cream then mix a teeny bit of Mac Strobe redlite cream and the YSL blur primer.

Finish: It looks amazing and doesn't set into any fine lines. And with the right prep you can go matte or with a soft dewy look.

Wear: It does wear well for 5-6 hours before I need to blot. I Iive in Houston so that's pretty good. Overall the foundation will look great for the most part even after 9-1 hours. However it doesn't break down around my nostrils but all foundation does that too.

Overall: Very impressive light weight long lasting foundation. A+ for me.