Barry M Flawless Matte Finish Foundation Review
I’ve been wanting to pick up a new foundation recently as I have been using The Body Shop Fresh Nude foundation for a couple of years now but recently a little while after I apply it, it keeps going really patchy on my forehead. I don’t know if the formulation has changed – or my skin has changed – but I’ve not really been happy with it lately.
I’ve used a lot of Barry M products but I had never really tried any of their base makeup until recently. I decided to pick up the Flawless Matte Finish Foundation in Boots, and for £5.99 I thought it was worth a try.
The packaging
This foundation is pretty standard, it’s 30 ml and comes in an air push up pump rather than having the tube. I’ve noticed a lot of matte, oil free foundations are like this. You are supposedly able to get slightly more product out of this kind of bottle but I think it’s marginal.
The bottle is plastic and it has a white pump and clear lid. I find that clear lids become quite messy overtime where some of the foundation stays on the pump but this doesn’t effect the usability or functionality. The labelling is just a pretty pink font with the Barry M logo at the bottom, I think it looks quite simple and nice.
Formulation
The Flawless Finish Foundation is oil free which makes it good for oily skin types. However, it’s good for normal/dry skin too as it contains soothing moisturisers so it’s not going to leave the skin feeling stripped of moisture.
The foundation also claims to have skin healing properties but it doesn’t describe what these are or how they work.
Application
This foundation is really blendable, I buffed it into my skin, after using the Barry M Original Primer, with a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush and it blended nicely. I picked the shade porcelain, they also have ivory but the porcelain was a little more yellow toned which matches my skin better.
The foundation offers light coverage, I thought as it’s called Flawless Finish it would be at least medium coverage, but it is buildable. I personally like the coverage, it evens out my skin tone but doesn’t mask it so my freckles show through but areas that are a bit discoloured are evened out nicely.
This foundation doesn’t oxidise to a crazy orange colour so that’s good. It lasts pretty well, and it feels light on the skin. It also smells really nice, it’s sort of a sweet, floral smell which I like. I was really happy with the finish and coverage, it looks very natural but really evened out my skin.
Summary
I really like this foundation. It’s cruelty free, affordable, looks great and it’s easy to apply. One major issue though is that there are not nearly enough shades offered. The darkest shade is ‘Tan’ which doesn’t look particularly well suited to darker skin tones. Although the porcelain is a really good match for me, it is so so so disappointing when a company comes out with a really nice product that’s available in just in six shades – and three of which look pretty much the same (Beige, Sand and Tan).
This foundation is great for lighter skin tones and normal/dry to oil skin types, but there needs to be a wider range of shades! I’m hopeful that Barry M will release this foundation with a wider selection.
This foundation is available from:
