Looking for Drugstore Foundation and Concealer for Dehydrated Skin?

I think I’ve found it!

I tried out my first drugstore products in 10 years. I’ve always had it in my head that drugstore products didn’t perform as well as high end products. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because they didn’t used to? But I’ve seen so much hype over these two products that I decided I had to try them out for myself and see how they performed on my dehydrated skin. I was so impressed with the first application I wanted to try it out using a heavier application of powder over top to see how the products performed under pressure for you.

Maybelline Fit Me Dewy+Smooth Foundation

This foundation has quite a poor shade range. There are only 16 colours and I fall somewhere in between the lightest two (I’m not even that pale!). I struggled to get a good shade match, but luckily for me the tone match was great. You may need to get two shades and mix them which is annoying. Although at the price buying two still works out considerably cheaper than buying one high end foundation!

I hate the bottle. I’ve always hated bottles that you have to tap or pour product out of. I find them messy and I find that you tend to go through more product because you always pour out more than you need. I really wish this foundation had a pump on it.

As far as actual application goes, this foundation is a dream to use! It goes on well over any primer, it doesn’t cling to dry patches or separate on oily spots. It doesn’t sink into fine lines or accentuate pores. It is definitely smoothing and definitely dewy. It does dry down on its own but I don’t find it particularly long wearing if I don’t set it with powder. I wear most around my jaw and it wears quite fast here, even when lightly set, so I tend to set this area quite heavily to get the longevity I want (7-10 hours). The bonus is that it doesn’t seem to matter how heavily I set the foundation it never starts looking cakey, dry or powdery!

It’s a light coverage that can comfortably be built to a medium coverage and with a powder foundation over top I can easily achieve full coverage without looking cakey.

I would recommend this foundation to anyone with dehydrated and/or dry skin that was looking for a dewy, natural skin finish and didn’t mind a lighter coverage. I do find that this foundation can cause me to break out slightly in my oilier areas so for this reason I would not recommend it to anyone who has oily skin or is prone to breakouts and I would always give my skin a thorough double cleanse after wearing it to ensure all product is removed.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer

I have been using the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla for years now. It was the concealer I found that worked the best for me but during my pregnancy my under-eyes got considerably more dehydrated and I now have quite a few fine lines under there. I really struggle to find a concealer that looks smooth and doesn’t go dry and powdery throughout the day.

I am on the fence about the packaging of this product. Although I find the twist top and sponge applicator annoying to use it really does prevent you from using to much product under your eye and ending up with a cakey look. It gives the perfect amount of product and distributes it evenly. There has been a bit said about the hygiene of using a sponge like this that doesn’t get washes but realistically if you use a product with a doe foot applicator straight onto your skin it will also be picking up bacteria and depositing it back into the tube or bottle so really I think hygiene wise it’s two-one-in-the-same.

This concealer comes in 12 shades which I think is not too bad for undereye concealer as you tend to use lighter shades to brighten so one shade will work for a wider range of skin tones.

This concealer doesn’t settle into the fine lines under my eyes too badly but it does move if I don’t lightly set it with powder. As I work on hydrating my undereyes further I am liking this concealer more and more. I find it goes quite funny (both in colour and showing skin texture) if set too heavily with powder, so I just use a light hand with my powder. I definitely wouldn’t recommend baking with this concealer.

It is a light/medium coverage concealer and gives a smoothing appearance under they eyes. I get best results with it if I use it over the Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque. This gives slightly more dark circle coverage and seems to work as a really good primer to help hold the concealer in place for longer.

I would recommend this concealer to those of you who require a medium coverage under the eyes, have crêpey undereyes, fine lines, dehydrated undereyes and I would set it very lightly with a suitable under eye setting powder.

Products Used:

  • Too Faced HangoverRx Primer
  • Hourglass The Veil Mineral Primer
  • Maybelline Fit Me Dewy+Smooth (120)
  • Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer (Light)
  • Ilia Soft Focus Finishing Powder
  • Stila Illuminating Powder Foundation (30 Watt)
  • Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder (Ethereal Light)

Brushes Used:

  • Beauty Blender
  • XOBeauty Flat Face Brush
  • Mac 135

Look 1 Products Used:

  • Colourpop Cosmetics Yes, Please! Eyeshadow Palette
  • Dior Contour Lip Pencil (080 Red Smile)
  • Giorgio Armani Rouge Ecstasy (307 Tangerine)
  • MAC Blush (Modern Mandarin)

Look 2 Products Used:

  • Colourpop Cosmetics Yes, Please! Eyeshadow Palette
  • Dior DiorShow Pump’n’Volume Mascara
  • Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Bronzer
  • MAC Pro Longwear Blush (Stubborn)
  • Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick (Bacca)