Hey everyone, it’s week two of my affordable beauty series and this week is all about foundations.
When it comes to foundation I have two must-haves; good coverage and longevity. I usually apply my foundation early morning, like most people and want (and need) it to last all day. I also like my foundations to be transfer proof, but if they’re not, it’s not the end of the world, I can get over it.
Most of my affordable foundations are by Covergirl. I love Covergirl foundations because they are great quality, long wearing and inexpensive.
The only downside is that they are unavailable in Ireland. You need to buy Covergirl from Amazon UK, Beauty Joint or from the USA, which can make their products slightly more expensive, but even with that, they are not high-end prices.
They have great shade ranges too, which is a big plus for me. I often find that with affordable brands the shade range is quite limited. I have three of their foundations in my collection; Ready, Set, Gorgeous, Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 and Outlast Stay Luminous foundations.
The Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-In-1 Foundation is my absolute favourite affordable foundation, it gives its more expensive counterparts a run for their money.
It’s full coverage, long lasting, doesn’t emphasise dry patches and doesn’t dry down to a fully matte finish.
It gives a beautiful finish to the skin and once it’s on, it’s on and goes nowhere.
It can be sheered out to medium coverage. I’ve never gotten light coverage from this, no matter how little I apply.
One pump is enough for medium coverage, 1 ½ pumps for full coverage without looking heavy. Any more than that and you will get the heavy, cakey look.
This foundation does settle into lines, but I can get over that.
This foundation is very thick so I find a beauty blender is the best way to blend it out seamlessly. A brush will work too but it can look heavy so I prefer a beauty blender for that reason.
This will last for hours. On occasion I have worn it for 12-15 hours and it has lasted well. Around the 12 hours mark I do need to powder/blot but other than that I don’t need to touch it. It comes in a thick glass bottle which has some weight to it and it’s quite bulky so it’s not the most travel friendly.
The other foundation I love is Ready, Set, Gorgeous. This is beautiful. It has a semi-matte finish, its very lightweight, it has a nice creamy consistency and like the 3-in-1 foundation, it is long lasting, it looks beautiful, it applies nicely, blends out beautifully, easily and quickly.
You can get sheer, medium or full coverage with this foundation. One pump will give sheer coverage, 1 ½ pumps for medium coverage and 2 pumps for full coverage. I prefer wearing this in the warmer weather because it’s so lightweight and has lighter coverage.
It’s travel friendly too as it comes in a slim, lightweight plastic tube so it takes up very little space and not heavy like the 3-in-1 is.
I’ve used both a beauty blender and brushes to apply it and in my experience a beauty blender applies it better, it doesn’t leave streaks when blending the foundation out. I find with a brush I am left with brush strokes so I need to go over again and smooth them out either with my fingers, beauty blender or a brush.
Both of these foundations retail for around $10 (USD) but they are available on Amazon UK & eBay too (linked above).
My third foundation from Covergirl is their Outlast Stay Luminous. This is very like the 3-in-1 foundation, but with a more dewy finish.
It’s a gorgeous foundation and I love everything about it. Consistency, finish, how well it lasts, my only dislike is the smell of it. It smells like stale biscuits.
Wear time is about 8-9 hours on me and by which time it starts to separate on me and when I tried to fix it, it looked worse.
It has full coverage that can be sheered out to medium, but not light, certainly I have never gotten light coverage from it.
It has a slightly thick consistency and in my experience it’s better blended out with a beauty blender rather than a brush.
I’m not as big a fan of this as I am of the 3-in-1 and RSG but nonetheless it is a good foundation it’s really the smell that puts me off.
My fourth foundation is the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation. This is one I have a love/hate relationship with.
The formula, consistency and finish are gorgeous, the colour what is what I find off-putting. I wear the lightest shade and can just about get away with it.
It’s quite a creamy consistency that’s not too thick or thin, it has just the perfect consistency.
You can get sheer, medium or full coverage with this. I personally prefer to wear it with light to medium coverage. The few times I built it up to full coverage I didn’t like how yellow it was, how it looked or how it wore.
It didn’t look as nice as it does with just one or two light layers.
After about 2-3 hours I looked oily. Sometimes it would separates around my nose and mouth when built up to full coverage.
I’ve only noticed the separation a few times, not every time so it could be the primer, moisturiser or another product that I used before applying this and not the foundation itself.
At full coverage it also grabs onto any peach fuzz and settles into fine lines emphasises it like no other. With lighter coverage this doesn’t happen.
I don’t find this to be as long wearing as the Covergirl foundations, this lasts around 6-7 hours on me (with one or two light layers) and by that time it starts to break up and separate, it looks oily too. If I am going out, I bring a powder with me because I know I will need to powder at some stage.
It applies nicely with both brushes and a beauty blender, I prefer a beauty blender because it gives a nicer finish but if I’m stuck for time, I will use a brush and it works well.
Another foundation that is nice is the NOTE Cosmetics Luminous Moisturizing Foundation.
This is a gorgeous foundation. It has a beautiful, soft radiant finish which is just gorgeous.
My issue with this foundation is the colour and that for me is the only downside to this foundation; it is horribly yellow. I look like my liver is failing when I wear this. I look jaundiced.
It is an incredibly yellow toned foundation as you can see in the below photo where I swatched it on the back of my hand.
This foundation ticks all the boxes except for the colour. It’s long wearing, smells nice and has a nice coverage. You can get light, medium or full coverage with it.
If you do want to purchase this foundation it is available online from Sam McCauley’s Pharmacy.
It’s a beautiful foundation and honestly if it wasn’t for the yellowness this would be up there in my top favourites.
The Luminous Moisturising Foundation also contains SPF15 and it does have some flash back which you can see in the below photos.
My final recommendation is the Collection Illuminating Touch Foundation. I’ve heard a lot about the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer and I noticed that they have a matching foundation and also this Illuminating foundation.
Boots say that this foundation has a radiance boosting formula with a ‘your skin but better’ finish and that it has long-lasting, medium-full coverage. I fully agree that it is medium to full coverage, it absolutely is.
I personally prefer to use half a pump I feel it looks better. It doesn’t look heavy or dry and I don’t look caked in makeup either.
You won’t get light coverage with this foundation. One full pump will give full coverage and ½ a pump gives medium coverage.
It has a radiant/luminous finish which is beautiful. It’s best applied with a beauty blender because it has a slightly thick consistency a beauty blender will blend it out more seamlessly than a brush.
Any time I have used a brush to blend this out it has looked heavy and I’ve had brush strokes.
It lasts well too. It lasts around nine hours by which time it starts separating around my nose and mouth.
You could try meshing it back together but it will look heavy so I just don’t bother. Chances are I’ll be taking it off around that time anyway.
The downside is that it’s only available in ten shades, which is poor.
I use shade 810 in the Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1, 105 in Ready, Set, Gorgeous, Vanille Clair in Bourjois and in the Note Cosmetics Foundation I have the shade 02 Natural Beige. I am between NW15 and NW20 in MAC Cosmetics.
My skin is dry and none of these foundations to grab onto any dry patches or emphasise dryness etc. They don’t oxidise, go patchy or fade unevenly. Any other products I apply over them apply really well and without issue.
One thing to note is that none of these foundations are transfer proof, which I can get over.
They do come off around where the nose pad of my glasses sits, but every foundation and concealer does that.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful.
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