Maybelline Dream Blender Sponge & Dream Velvet Foundation

I'm always on the lookout for new products and recently I came across two new Maybelline products; the Dream Velvet Foundation, £7.99, and Dream Blender Sponge, £5.99.  

 The Maybelline Dream Velvet Foundation claims to be a 'soft matte and hydrating' foundation and I have the shade 10 Ivory. There was a good colour selection in store with this foundation ranging from light to dark. This has an innovative gel-whipped consistency with a hydrating formula making this product ideal for normal to combination/oily skin types. I was really excited about this as I have oily skin and to be able to try a foundation that is matte AND hydrating is brilliant.

I really like the packaging of the foundation. The product is dispensed through a hole so you can squeeze out the right amount of foundation.

The consistency of the foundation is quite thick but it is really smooth to blend out. On my arm it looks quite orange but once it I applied to my face it blends in a lot nicer. Once it has been blended out it feels soft and velvety.

I started with a clean face and I had moisturised my skin a few hours before applying this foundation. I hadn't applied a primer because I wanted to see the difference in how long it can last with and without a base. There isn't many imperfections that need to be covered, my under eye circles, a blemish on the forehead, the shine in my T Zone and my pores on my nose are what I want to conceal the most.

I love how this foundation makes my skin look effortlessly flawless. You can see such a difference; the shine has been eliminated, the slight redness on my cheeks have been counteracted and my blemishes and dark circled neutralised. I also noticed how the foundation evened out the texture and tone of my skin making it look a lot more perfected and that included concealing my pores too. From a distance my complexion doesn't look overly dry or dull and looks quite flawless. I think I would describe it as having an airbrushed effect to the skin. However, close up I did notice a few major problems on my complexion.

 While this foundation claims to be hydrating, and my skin did feel hydrated, it isn't moisturising as it clung to dry patches and made them really noticeable close up. This included on my forehead between my eyebrows and on the crevices on the sides of my nose. This let me down a bit because I really excited about the fact that is was 'hydrating' but you need to keep in mind that your skin needs to be freshly moisturised for it to actually avoid clumping up in dry patches.

The only thing I didn't like about the foundation was that it did gather up in dry patches which makes me think that it isn't ideal for dry skin types. However, applying and blending the foundation with a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush was fairly easy, it took a little bit of buffing in with the brush to blend it in for a more natural, un-cakey finish but overall my complexion doesn't appear dull or dry and it has evened out the tone of my skin too. I'd say this has a medium coverage but because of the consistency being so thick, I'm not convinced that it has a buildable coverage without it looking cakey. However, once it has set, it feels lightweight on the skin and has a velvety matte finish.

As for the Dream Blender sponge, I found it quite pointless. I thought the idea of the sponge on a stick was really unique and it would make it easy to use, but I don't think it can be compared to any other foundation sponge such as the Beauty Blender or the Real Techniques sponge. With foundation sponges I like to dampen them and usually they expand. This one, however, doesn't doesn't absorb water and it is such a stiff sponge that it doesn't blend in foundation, it just spreads it round the skin. I like the shape of the sponge, it has a precise tip ideal for getting into the hard to reach facial areas such as the under eye and sides of the nose and the rounded sides are designed to apply foundation. I tried to use it to apply and blend the foundation in but I got as far as dotting it around my face before giving up and switching to the Expert Face Brush.

There are so many other foundation sponges on the market far better than this one and that retail at roughly the same price so I'd recommend picking one of them as they just work a lot nicer than this. Overall, I'm disappointed with the sponge, however I am impressed with the foundation. The next day when I applied it I had a freshly moisturised and primed face and application and results looked so much better. Throughout the day I did get oily so I reapplied a bit more powder which I do during the day at least once anyway.

The Maybelline Dream Velvet Foundation and Dream Blender Sponge are part of the Spring 2016 Collection from Maybelline.

 

What are your thoughts on these products?

 

Beth x