Let me welcome you to Wet n Wild Wednesday! For the next few Wednesdays I’ll be reviewing some of the latest launches from the brand that brought us the ‘Petal Pusher’ palette, and my personal fave, the ‘Walking On Eggshells’ trio.
After attending the 2017 launch, and seeing all the great reviews about the PhotoFocus Foundation, I was super pumped to get my hands on it and try it out.
To me, Wet n Wild is like a fine wine – only gets better with age. Every time Wet n Wild releases new products, I always think that they’re better than the last bunch of releases. As they improve their formulas, and expand the variety of products, it’s easy to see how Wet n Wild is climbing up the ranks when it comes to drugstore brands.
Today we’re talking about the PhotoFocus Foundation and Concealer. The PhotoFocus collection went through rigorous testing. The 700 Selfies test, to be specific. People wore products from the PhotoFocus line, and took a total of 700 selfies, under 7 different lighting conditions, with top smartphones models, with and without flash, in order to make sure that there was no flashback (white particles in face makeup reflect light released by flash photography, creating a white cast in photos). The lighting conditions included: clear blue sunlit sky, outdoors PM, indoors PM, electronic flash, fluorescent light, bathroom light, and nightclub light.
The PhotoFocus Foundation ($7.99 CAD) contains a standard 30 mL of product, and comes in 20 shades. And to help you find your right shade, in addition to the shade name, there is also a short description of the undertones, beneath the shade name (Ex: ‘Classic Beige’ is described as a medium tan).
It comes not with a pump, but with a spatula applicator. This is my first time trying a foundation with a spatula applicator, but I actually love it. Usually when I do my foundation I pump it onto the back of my hand, dot it onto my face, then blend. But with the spatula I can skip the back of my hand step, and dot it right onto my face.
I applied one layer of foundation in the shade ‘Rose Ivory’ and achieved light coverage, so I went in for a second time, to achieve medium coverage (applied with a damp Real Techniques sponge). It has a nice satin-y finish (not totally matte, but not completely luminous – somewhere in between, but closer to matte), and gave me the coverage that I look for, while still allowing my freckles to poke out and say “hello”. The foundation held up quite well during the day. After 5 hours I saw a bit of oil showing up on my T-zone, but nothing too noticeable. I’ll definitely continue to wear this foundation – what a gem!
The PhotoFocus Concealer ($5.99 CAD) comes in six shades, and contains 7 mL of product. It has a classic doe-foot applicator, and has a mousse-y texture.
I applied the concealer under my eyes, down the centre of my face (to highlight), and to cover up a blemish, although I don’t think it did an amazing job highlighting and fixing blemishes. I used the shade ‘Light Ivory’, which still seemed a bit dark, so it wasn’t my usual concealer shade (my concealer shade is usually much lighter). My face didn’t appear as brightened as it usually does, it just seemed more neutral – it did a decent job at covering up darkness around my undereyes, but I could still see blueness near the centre of my eyes pop out every now and then.
I don’t think the formula lent itself well to the doe-foot applicator. The mousse-y formula was a bit dry, so when I applied it with the applicator it was a bit streaky, and I had to dip into the tube a few times to get the right amount of product. As far as wear time, after about 5 hours I did see a bit of creasing begin, even though it was set with a powder.
The Wet n Wild PhotoFocus Foundation and Concealer are available at select food, drug, and mass retailers, as well as online.
My big takeaway from this review is that the PhotoFocus Foundation is an absolute win – I’ll definitely be buying backup bottles. Stay tuned for the next Wet n Wild Wednesday – any guesses as to what I’ll be reviewing? Let me know in the comment below.
Press samples featured
