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

As soon as I looked at the Fenty display. I spotted my shade right away. Shade 290 was listed as a neutral olive, and sure enough, it had that muted, subtle green undertone that is unique to olive skin. I cheer the cosmetic chemists who are getting better at foundation colors. When I was a girl in the 1980s, foundations at the medium and dark end of the color spectrum were very orange and bright.
I apply this foundation over a moisturizer with sunscreen. Without moisturizer, the finish would be too dry. It does take some skill to blend quickly before the foundation dries. The foundation dries to a smooth, matte finish that requires little setting powder. The finish lasts all of my 12 hour shifts at work. The coverage is moderate but buildable. I am 45, so any foundation applied to thickly looks terrible, so I apply thinly and it looks fine.
The price is in line for a Sephora buy, the packaging is a tidy pump of the kind I prefer.

I love Rihanna, don't get me wrong and when this first ever came out I was desperate to try, so I did - the price is reasonable and the packaging is nice and classy.

However, the foundation just doesn't meet the match. As soon as you put on the foundation on your face, you have to instantly blend blend blend or it dries up in patches around your face, it also tends to oxidase majorly throughout the day, which is a hassle.

The foundation, I would say is light - medium coverage, as my skin was quite oily when I purchased it, it didn't have a smell to it but when it was on your face it felt - very matte? although it broke around my t-zone.

The foundation really isn't worth it, especially just because its RiRi.

I’ve been waiting some time to write up a review on this product since I wanted to see how well it wore and how my skin reacted to it over the space of a few weeks.  Some background on my skin: I have normal skin with a slightly oily t-zone. My skin is fairly even except for the slight demarcation lines near my upper lip (a lot of darker-skinned people have this problem) and my skin tone is NC 40. That being said, I can’t speak for this product’s coverage capabilities since I go over the demarcation lines and also my undereyes with concealer (the foundation does boost the coverage though). I wear the Fenty in 290 and it starts off a bit pale but oxidizes quickly enough and matches me so perfectly that even my own mother had no idea I was wearing makeup.  I like to apply it sparingly (for regular work days) with a dome shaped brush in buffing and stippling motions, starting from the center of my face and working my way outwards. If I apply it with a beauty blender, I don’t like to dot it on since it dries so fast; instead I take a pump on to the back of my hand and press it in well into the sponge and then dab it on to my face. This foundation lasts all day, looks like my skin but oh-so better and blurs pores. The formula is on the dry side; I like this for my skin type but I could see someone with a dryer skin type mixing this with a facial oil.     I feel like the oxidization issue along with the dryer formula are the two reasons there are such mixed reviews for this product. The girl at Sephora had actually sold me shade 310 which I ended up returning once it made me look like I’d gotten fake tanned. I highly recommend testing out a couple of shades before buying anything, that’s for sure! Shade 290 matches me like a dream and I’m totally hooked on this product now.         

Very dry looking, accentuated my acne scarring and texture. The coverage was very sheer too.

I bought this foundation when it first came out and loved seeing the variety of colors and undertones offered in this collection. However, I know many people had difficulty finding their shade because of this. I first looked on the website to see what was being offered and tried comparing it to foundations I currently have, mainly the MAC studio fix and Prolongwear foundation which is an exact match to my skintone. I went into Sephora with a few options to see what would match and also had one of the staff members at Sephora match me. Based on that I started off with a sample and wore it for a few days to see if I liked it and bought the full size.

pros:
- If you're oily like me, this is definitely a matte foundation. I read some reviews and watched various YouTube videos that mentioned this foundation is semi-matte. Don't listen to them, it's definitely matte and perfect for all the oily gals out there!
- The lasting power of this foundation is wonderful. Typically I reach for this foundation for special occasions such as weddings because of the finish and lasting power.
- There's a pump and a lid for the pump! You don't need more than one pump of foundation for your entire face.I also like that the packaging has a lid for the pump because I've purchased other foundations with a pump (and no lid) and have had accidents with them especially during travelling.

cons:
- Not a fan of the frosted container. This makes it a bit difficult to see how much product you've used/how much product is left.
- Can look cakey if you apply too much or don't blend properly. I personally use my Real Techniques Complexion sponge to blend evenly. I also add a few drops of my Farsali Rose Gold Elixir to my sponge prior to blending to ensure that my face does not look to cakey. Even though I'm oily, I still manage to stay matte using a combination of this foundation and a few drops of the Farsali Rose Gold Elixir.
- Quite thick for an everyday foundation. I mainly keep this foundation for special events.
- Clings to dry patches on skin. Make sure your skin is hydrated and moisturized prior to using this foundation otherwise it can look patchy in some areas.
- Dries very quickly if it's not blended right away.

This foundation required a lot of trial and error on my part but it was absolutely worth it in the end. For reference, I’m nc20 with neutral undertones and have dry skin with some acne scarring. Here are a few things to consider when trying this foundation:

-It oxidizes like crazy. More than any other foundation I’ve tried. I started with 190 neutral and had to switch to 150 neutral because it oxidized so much very quickly.150 is a perfect match. When first applied it looks too pale, but within an hour it matches my neck/chest perfectly. I would definitely go lighter than you think on this foundation.

-It sets very quickly and is quite thick. I tried using a brush but found it works much better with a damp fenty bb sponge (which I love more than the original BB). I work in small sections and use the damp sponge to blend it out, bouncing it on my skin.

-the fenty primer makes all the difference for me with this foundation. Without the primer it goes into my creases and looks kind of cakey. With the primer it doesn’t crease and looks like second skin. I highly recommend using the primer.

-the finish is a beautiful matte that is a medium-full coverage. I barely need any concealer to cover up my acne scars and undereye circles (I use nars soft matte concealer in vanilla)

-it lasts all day and keeps me matte. It transfers some, but setting it with KVD lock it powder with the Laura mercier powder puff helps with that. The only fdtn I’ve found that is transfer proof is ELDW and it was very masklike on me. This is what I wanted ELDW to be on me.

All in all, I do recommend trying this foundation as the shade range is incredible. It’s not the easiest foundation to work with, but the finish and lasting power is worth it in the end. I also absolutely love the smell. It’s slightly sweet. Hopefully this helps someone who is considering trying this foundation!

Cette fondation me donne une finition impeccable. Très facilement assemblable pour donner une couverture désirée. Avec une couche seul, il est une couverture complète . La plage de l'ombre est absolument phénoménale, je serais très surpris si vous ne trouvez pas une nuance pour correspondre à votre couleur de peau.je le Recommande fortement

I like the transparency of naming the undertones when choosing shades as well as the availability of yellow shades, but that’s about it. I did a 48 hr wear test without primer and I couldn’t get this to work for me.

1) I have combo/oily skin with texture and this accentuated the heck out of my pores. Like oh my god made ‘em look like craters! Would definitely need a primer with this.
2) It dries down to a soft matte but this quickly becomes shiny within 3-5 hours (in Hawaii with humid, sunny 85F weather).
3) I can’t stand foundations that change shade. Now this may not “oxidize” into a terrible orange like some foundations, but it does get darker as it dries further down. The Sephora rep who helped me color-match recommended I get a shade lighter than what I see in the bottle or swatched. No thank you! I don’t want to be playing color guessing games.

So I was walking around Sephora just browsing when I asked the sales lady to help me pick out my color from Fenty Beauty (btw I never considered this product coz I hate rihanna). Once the lady finished blending out the foundation she asked me to look in the mirror and we both said WOW! at the same time. Everyone looked at me and stared coz IT WAS FLAWLESS!!!! I cannot emphasize enough how well it blended with my skin without primer or setting powder!! AND IT LASTED HOURS!!

I'm surprised at all the negative reviews but I guess different ppl have different skin right. Btw I'm oily combination.

NONE of the other higher end foundations had such amazing finish. Not Bobbi brown, not Estee Lauder, not shu uemura. NONE OF THEM. I'm sooooo happy coz this was just a chance encounter coz I was bored. Definitely will repurchase.

although it has beautiful packaging, i was so let down by the product. i was expecting big things but on my combination skin, it clinged to dry patches i didn’t even know i had! had next to no coverage either.

also, it started creasing in my smile lines about ten minutes after application. prior to applying, i had exfoliated, moisturised and primed with porefessional!

so disappointed:(