Tuesday, February 4, 2014

BECCA Ultimate Coverage Complexion Crème Porcelain


Last night I Google searched to see if anyone had swatched or worn the new BECCA Ultimate Coverage foundation, specifically in Porcelain, of course.  I found nothing.  So I thought I would do my good deed of adding a little review on it.


Let me first apologize for less than awesome pictures taken in haste as I was rushing out the door. Secondly, I have to apologize for my messy hurrs and my forehead rash.  Umm.  Okay, that's enough apologizing for now!!


You can see that the foundation does have pretty good coverage.  Not enough to fully hide my rash or cover every single freckle or blemish.  But still, pretty darn good.  I was in such a hurry by the time I put my foundation on that I didn't even bother to spot conceal, save for a bit of Clinique Airbrush under the eyes.

I applied the foundation using my Make Up For Ever 108 brush.  I immediately noticed that it has a rather thick, almost sticky texture.  It really did not glide on easily.  My cheeks looked kind of awful after the brush application (every pore looking much worse than normal) so I took my finger tips and quickly patted and tapped over those areas, which thankfully seemed to help quite a lot.  I'm speculating that had I used my Beauty Blender, I would not have run into that problem.  Also, it's worth noting that I did not build up the coverage much at all.  I just put down as even of a base layer as I could.  I do not enjoy super full coverage, so I didn't even think about trying for it.

I set it with Nars Light Reflecting Loose.  The finish on its own is pretty matte, at least on me.  It did not feel heavy or noticeable at all on my skin, which is always awesome with fuller coverage formulas.

Color-wise, this Porcelain by BECCA is by far the best match for me of the BECCA Porcelains that I have tried (Radiant and Mineral but not Matte).  I dare say it matches my skin tone about perfectly.  It did not oxide on me.  I find the color to be relatively neutral and even a little peachy, to my eye.

And now for the part that is really the most important of all to me.  The wear.  I got complimented by a client who asked me what foundation I was wearing, so that's a good start!  But that was pretty early on in my day.  By the time I took my break, I noticed, much to my dismay, some signs of crap wear just around my nose.  It had been on for five hours.  I was able to blot my nose and gently apply some LM Smooth powder foundation to the areas that looked worn, which helped very much.  When I checked again at nine hours in, it looked a little broken down around my nose, yet again, only about half as bad as the first time.  It was an odd breakdown for me because it looked dry and a little shiny all at the same time.  Curses on my nose.

What else?  It did not feel moisturizing or drying in any way.  When I removed my makeup at the 12 hour mark, it was looking a bit dry and just slightly patchy on several areas of my face (cheeks and jawline for sure).  Overall, nothing too scary, though.

I think it's safe to say that this is probably not going to be a new favorite for me.  I'm too easily annoyed by my nose doing naughty things to foundations.  I would like to play around with it a bit more, though, to see if I can get a better result with different skincare products underneath, different primer, and/or different application methods.  I am for sure pleasantly surprised by the awesomely near perfect color and the really ample coverage.  I really didn't enjoy the application today, though.  I sort of felt like I was trying to apply glue.  I would say that the wear was average to slightly above average for me, overall.

Would you like this foundation?  Maybe!  It's worth a try.  If you have texture issues or don't do well with finicky application, then you can probably skip this.  Also, if you have dry or very dry skin, I can't imagine it being a good pairing.  If you do try it, let me know what you think.

If you are wondering about anything else on my face, I'll give you a quick and dirty breakdown!  Cheeks -  Illamasqua Naked Rose and Laura Mercier Baked Highlight 01; Lips - Urban Decay Naked Ultra Nourishing Lipgloss in Walk of Shame; Eyes - black kohl pencil, Fyrinnae Purgatory, RBR Sweet Dust Seriema, and MUG Shimma Shimma.

The Naked lipgloss basically tastes and smells like nothing, but not exactly nothing.  It reminds me of plastic and chemicals or something, if you can imagine.  It doesn't linger, though, thankfully.  It's a very smooth formula, not drying, but not terribly long lasting (needs to be reapplied about every two hours).