'NYX - Stay Matte But Not Flat Foundation' - Review

Hello Readers,

This week I have challenged myself to try new products everyday. Have I stuck to it? No, I haven't! I have been using this 'NYX - Stay Matte But Not Flat Foundation' as my base, and I have not been disappointed. Here is yet another foundation review, (I promise I will do a different type of blog next week).

[Image 1 : NYX - Stay Matte
But Not Flat Foundation]

This foundation by the title is a matte foundation. It lives up to its name with that. It is available in 28 shades. For a drugstore foundation this is amazing. Retailing at a reasonable £7 per bottle. You get 35ml amount of product. It is also cruelty free. 

The formula of the foundation is very thin, and can be quite watery. I would personally recommend giving the bottle a shake before use.

Onto the coverage. As a matte foundation I thought that this would give quite a medium to full coverage. On the NYX official website it is described as a full coverage foundation. Once first applied I found it to be very light, which being a watery liquid foundation is expected. I did have to go in with at least two layers to get medium finish. I wasn't really mad about that as I only wanted quite medium coverage anyway. The 'Stay Matte But Not Flat' is build-able, and you could easily get full coverage if you wanted it. It did manage to cover up my redness and blemishes which was a great help.

[Image 1 : NYX - Stay Matte 
But Not Flat Foundation]

I was very happy with the way it lasted throughout the day. As my skin can become quite oily, this did live up to its name of a matte foundation. I did get some oily bits on my nose and fore-head which is expected, but it managed to hold on my other facial parts. 

The shade of foundation that I use is the shade Ivory. When I first picked this up in the shop and swatched it, I thought that this shade would be perfect. Obviously it has been in my draw for a little while and I did forget about it. When trying it this week, I did find the color of the foundation to be very yellow undertoned and very bright, almost borderline whitish yellow. I have managed to make this work by adding some drops which have pink undertones in to almost match it to my skin. This is my fault and not the foundation, but on asking my friends who have tried this foundation, have said that they wish they could have gone a shade darker. So bare that in mind when selection your shade.

[Image 1 : NYX - Stay Matte 
But Not Flat Foundation]

The best way to apply this foundation, in my opinion, would be to drop some of the product on the back of your hand (just so the foundation can get used to the heat of your hand) and then apply with a brush. Personally I found that a beauty blender, whether wet or dry would just soak up the product and make it hard to use. I did try using a brush first and then a beauty blender to even the surface, but I find that again to almost soak up the product. Again this could be down to personal preference, as I like using a brush. I am however going to try using a silicone blender and see what that is like. 

[Image 1 : NYX - Stay Matte 
But Not Flat Foundation]

As a drugstore brand, 28 shades is reasonable. Most brands are now increasing with shade ranges, and I believe that their new 'Can't Stop Won't Stop' foundation collection now comes in 45 shades. Massive improvement. I am going to go back into my local drugstore brand and see if I can find one that will match me perfectly, but in the meantime, I am happy to mix with my drops. 

I did find this foundation to work better using NYX products with it. For example, to prime, I used 'Angel Veil'. For concealer I used their 'Photogenic HD Concealer Wand' (be a tad careful with this as I did find this to dry my under-eye a bit). I also used their 'Studio Finishing Powder' over the top to set (again, be careful with this as it is a super matte foundation, this can make the skin very dry and can look cakey). 

My only negative about this foundation is it can get quite cakey if you apply a lot of concealer and powder over the top. I may have applied a bit too much matte powder to set, which caused it to cake up, so be weary of that. But apart from that, I can't really fault it.

On the whole, this foundation is very good. It is worth the money, only retailing at £7. You get a good amount of product for the price. The coverage is build-able. I would only recommend this to people with oily skin as it can be very drying on the skin, but it will last all day. 

S.H.E. Beauty