Mac Studio Sculpt Foundation - Review

When this foundation came out it was hailed as a bit of revolution in the world of make-up.  It is designed to have more of a gel formula which hydrates the skin without being too greasy or dewy.  Sounds perfect...so I purchased.  Again I bought it in NC25 which was a good colour match.  But generally I just cannot make my mind up about this foundation.  When I first bought it, I merrily applied it over my face, and then about 10 minutes later I passed a mirror and was like oh. my. god. (and not in a good way).  The foundation was sitting on top of my skin and had worked into my pores, fine lines, dry patches etc.  It almost looked like the layer of foundation was crumbling on my skin.  I immediately consigned it to my makeup box with a grump.  But it kept coming up on blogs and make-up sites with good reviews.  So I got it back out again and decided maybe it was one of these products where it is all in the application.

To some extent, this is true.  The gel consistency of this means a little goes a long way...a really long way.  I literally use a pea-sized amount to do my whole face, and I rub it in, a lot.  I also tried mixing it with tinted moisturisers or lighter foundations to increase their coverage, and it did sort of work.  But for some reason I just still am not sure about this.  It still looks quite uneven on my face.  Even when I squeeze it out of the tube, the foundation looks a bit like it is starting to separate.  I’ve tried shaking it, but it doesn't seem to make much difference.  I also can feel this foundation on my skin when I am wearing it.  It is the type of foundation where you are too scared to hug anyone as you think you’ll leave a big orange grease patch on them.  I also feel I could scrape it off quite easily, as it feels like it is just sat on your skin.  It is the kind of foundation where it is a joy to wash it off when you go to bed.

I keep persevering with this, mainly because I want to like it because it is Mac and it is highly thought of by other reviewers, but also because I spent a lot of money on it (!). I’m hoping it is all in the application...but I’m not so sure.

Without any make-up you can see my spots and redness especially around my nose.

With the Studio Sculpt foundation and with some powder dusted on top.  You can see it is still quite 'dewy' even with the powder on.  It does a good job of covering the redness but you can still see my spots a bit.