Essence All About Matt Oil Free Make Up Foundation: Review, Swatches

Review, Swatches, Price, Buy Online Essence All About Matt Oil Free Make Up Foundation shade 20 Matt Nude

By Contributor: Vaidehee

Hey you guys! So I have a series of reviews on a few products from essence that have so far been amazing for the price point, and continuing with that , I will review and swatch the Essence All About Matt! Oil Free Makeup Foundation, in the shade 20 matt nude, and not to give out any spoilers , but for anyone who can find a shade match, it’s sheer perfection! You can expect more reviews on their brow gel, lash gel. Read about the prettiest red lipstick called Adorable Matt from Essence.

Essence Claims: matt and flawless! the all about matt! oil-free make-up gives your complexion a matt effect to make it smooth and silky-soft. the longlasting formula lasts up to 12 hours and the oil-free texture won’t block your pores. the foundation in the successful all about matt! range comes in a matching cool matt packaging.

Shades Available: 10 Matt Beige, 20 Matt Nude, 30 Matt Sand, 60 Matt Mahagony

My Review:

Price: The foundation retails at Rs.399 or the standard 30ml of product , which is very reasonable for a foundation.

Packaging : The all about matt foundation comes in a squeeze-tube with a terribly tiny nozzle to dispense the product. it’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it’s convenient and travel friendly . But the one con here is that because of the slightly runny texture, very little pressure will accumulate and settle the product into the nozzle.

Fragrance: The fragrance for the all about matte makeup is slightly synthetic, but nothing that will bother someone with a sensitive sniffer.

Texture and Consistency : The texture is slightly runny , and the oil free makeup foundation is supposedly not oil-based, but light and water based. (in general, those tend to be a much better alternative for my acne-prone skin) It does blend in beautifully, but if you are heavy handed, it will cake up easily. On a similar note, it also sets very quickly, so you need to work with it in sections and blend it out quickly. It doesn’t morph in terms of oxidation to the point that it is orange, but it does settle as slightly more pink than it goes on.

As for how it feels on the skin, it goes from liquid to powder, and feels rather rubbery at first until it works itself in, after which it feels really light and almost non-existent with a flat matte finish .

Coverage :  The coverage is somewhat between light to medium, but i do not recommend building it up after it sets. That gets very very cakey, and pastry is not a good look !  If you want a slightly higher coverage, just go in with a bit more product initially and blend it out.

Shade : The shade i’m reviewing is matt nude no.20, which is the second lightest shade, with a pink undertone (p.s i did not pick this out which is why it isn’t an exact match, it was sent over by the lovely people over at VNA ) . The entire shade selection is limited at 3, a light pink undertoned shade,  and a medium -pink undertoned colour and a warmer yellow undertoned shade. For reference I am around MAC NC30.

It isn’t excessively pink, thankfully though and doesn’t end up having a whitish cast on my face inspite of it being slightly lighter.  I do love having this blended in under my eyes (although you might want to seriously moisturize because of the matte texture) , since the pink helps with the dullness.  (p.s in the pictures, it looks a tinge more yellow than it is. )

Longevity: The claim is that it lasts around 12 hours, which isn’t really accurate, unfortunately. At a 3 hour mark, in the summer heat, it will tend to morph into a “not-so-matte” finish.  But the coverage is still pretty much there for an entire working day, with some slight bunching up around my dry patches .  All in all though, it’s very impressive.

How i like to wear it : The texture is not something that blends out very well with your fingers. It tends to get a bit cakey if you blend it in with your fingers (but if you have oily skin, i think it might work out better than with my horribly arid dry skin)  . It doesn’t work well with makeup sponges either and the coverage ends up sheering out way too much for any real coverage, given that it’s supposed to be a water based product.  So the only way i’ve been able to manage to get it on with some decent coverage is with my vega buffing brush.

What i love about Essence All About Matt Oil Free Make Up:

• They don’t test on animals! And i like furry things, so that’s probably my favorite part about the brand, other than the price points.
• The price. For a foundation (yes, it’s technically a foundation and not a BB Cream or tinted moisturizer ) , this is very reasonable.
• The matte finish. I’m all about matte, with everything.
• It didn’t break me out, which is generally a problem with just about any drugstore foundation i try , bar a few.

What i don’t love about Essence All About Matt Oil Free Make Up:

• It’s pink undertoned, even though the matte nude is supposed to be a neutral undertoned shade , and didn’t exactly match my jaundiced yellow skin , but that’s a personal error on my part.
• The limited shade range , from what i can find online, there are only 3 for Indian skin, matt sand, matt nude and matt beige. (so i’m assuming sand is yellow undertoned and deeper, nude is suppsedly a neutral one size fits all, and the beige is slightly pink undertoned and is the “fairest” of them all )
• The packaging is slightly messy if you aren’t careful with the buid-up of product around the nozzle.

Price in India: Rs.399

VNA Rating: 3.5/5

Where to Buy Online in India: amazon.in

Verdict? If you can get an exact shade match, for the price, coverage, formulation and longevity, it’s a better alternative to some of the BB Creams out there.

Have you used Essence All About Matt Oil Free Make Up? Share your reviews with us.