First Look| Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation

The Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation launched earlier in this month of July, and I snatched up my color match as soon as it appeared on Sephora.com. It's a reformulation and expansion of the color range of the original cult favorite "HD Foundation" which has mixed feelings from me.

The old version was great when I had young skin (think 17 or 18) with more sebum production and not many textural issues. It would glide on and look great for hours and hours with 120 being my perfect winter color (NC20-25) and 123 or 127 both matching me well. Since 123 was a perfect match for very olive skinned me at NC30, I decided that the new conversion in Y365 would be similar. I found that the Pixiwoo sister's blog review here was really helpful in determining what my color match would be without stepping foot into the store.

As you'll see later, it's not the MOST olive foundation I've ever found but it strangely is the perfect match once on the face for me. It seems to be a neutral yellow with a tinge of peach that doesn't appear peachy on my skin. It matches my chest area very well if I blend down onto my ultra pale/cool yellow neck. It's a very minimal shade difference that isn't stark. 

I appreciate the pump bottle. Below are ingredients for you to review. 

I use one drop for medium coverage all over the face. This foundation is fluid and not too thick and I can easily blend out using a dense face brush from Bobbi Brown. I'd think that the BeautyBlender and fingers work as well. It's pigmented and can be layered again.

Here it is swatched next to other olive foundations in my stash: Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 6, Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation in 4.0, Maybelline Better Skin Foundation in Warm Nude, and the MUFE #123= Y365. 

This is indoor lighting. 

Flash.

Outdoor, direct sunlight. 

Outdoor, natural lighting in the shade. 

Keep in mind, I was wary of this not being a total departure from the first formulation which could not work with my dry and dehydrated skin once I moved back into the Bay Area. It would pick up on the smallest of flakes and dry patches, sink into pores around the nose and upper lip, and look generally "cakey" on the skin as if it sat on top and could not be blended in. I purged both old bottles to my oily skinned mom who loves them for flash photography.

The new version, I'm glad to say, is VERY photogenic, VERY natural looking and skin-like in real life (and up close!), and does NOT emphasize any bad skin texture. In pictures my skin looks almost airbrushed! The end result is so skin-like, however, that I can't be mad. It's luminous without being greasy, plays nicely with powders and primers, looks great in pictures, and gives me great coverage in one drop.

And another one for reference. 

I used Guerlain Meteorites in the second picture to highlight the cheekbones.

My biggest gripe? I have normal skin at the moment and it gets VERY shiny after 4-5 hours and fades completely after 7-8. It's not a long wearing foundation by any means and transfers easily onto white shirts (yackkk!) if you don't powder on top of it. The foundation doesn't do the usual patching or clumping on oily spots, but it gets shiny and then slowly fades out on you like a bad friend. Unless your special event lasts for only a few hours, I wouldn't recommend this foundation as a long-wearing one. And yes, it does fade even after my DRY skin has set with a mattifying powder!

 If you have dry skin, you'll find that it's very friendly to textural issues. If you have combo to oily skin....powder like mad!

I would be even more impressed if it lasted longer throughout the day, but it's a small price to pay for very good looking skin in photos.

xo Be