To much fanfare (and terror, I might add), Make Up For Ever recently launched their UltraHD foundation. Designed with 4K technology in mind, the new UltraHD foundation is intended to be completely invisible  under the latest, ultra-magnified resolution while looking natural on camera and in person.

Now, I said this was met with terror, and I meant it – there are a LOT of people out there that swore up and down that Make Up For Ever HD foundation was their holy grail. With the new launch of UltraHD, it’s totally wiped out their range of HD foundation. Despite wanting to try it, I had never gotten around to trying the HD foundation, so I have nothing to compare it against except other foundations in my collection.

As is typical for a foundation, it comes with 30 ml (1 fluid ounce) of product and will cost you $50 CAD. The new liquid range comes in a whopping 40 shades! Is there another range of foundations out there that comes in that many shades? (If there is, educate me!) That seems ENORMOUS to me. Kudos to Make Up For Ever for appreciating the fact that there’s a lot more than 10 shades of skin out there!

The liquid foundation has light to medium coverage and is buildable.

And, blissfully, it comes with a pump. <3

I wasn’t even expecting it, but the UltraHD range also comes in a cream stick formula as well. It’ll also set you back $50, but there are only 15 shades in this formula. It comes up a little short on the product side with 12.5g (0.44 ounces).

The UltraHD stick foundation provides medium to full coverage.

I was colour matched to Y225 which is apparently shade 117 in the original HD formula. (For reference, I am typically colour matched to NW20 in MAC shades.) There is a very definite difference between the same colour in the two different formulas though. On the left is the stick foundation in Y225 and it is definitely leaning more pink than the Y225 in the liquid formula on the right.

A handy thing (or so I thought) was that each bottle tells you what the current shade of the foundation is called (in this case, the real name is Y225), but it also tells you that if you were 117 in the HD foundation, then Y225 would be your shade in the new lineup.  However… the shades don’t quite line up that well. Chelsea of Olive & Ivy has a comparison of the previous HD shades in her review here and the colours do not line up exactly with the previous line. So definitely make sure you get colour matched for this!

Anyway, on to the actual product. The liquid foundation feels incredibly lightweight. It’s one of the most comfortable foundations I’ve ever worn, which makes it an absolute pleasure to wear. It does look good on camera (as seen above) but it doesn’t cover everything on my face – my freckles are definitely still shining through after a first layer. I’d never add a second layer of foundation since I don’t like the feeling of it, but I imagine you could build it up to a thicker opacity.

With the stick foundation, it’s definitely creamier and thicker. It evens out my skin tone, but again, my freckles are still showing through although I do feel they’re a bit better covered up with the stick.

Final Thoughts

Edit 2016/01/07: Please read after my original summary below for another take on this foundation during a different season.

I’m having a tough time writing this review because I do really like the feel of the foundation. I love how it looks on my skin in person and how it appears on camera. It’s incredibly easy to apply (in both formulas) and blends into the skin seamlessly.

BUT, and this is a giant one, it doesn’t last a whole work day on me. I’m not an especially oily person, but I find I start getting oily patches on my skin halfway through my work day (~5 hour mark) and it starts to break up the foundation. I’m not the only one experiencing this issue either – Steph of Fun Size Beauty also had problems with the foundation unless she powdered or touched up.

Overall, I think the UltraHD foundation is great for camera work (where touchups are constant and necessary), but I don’t feel that it’s a foundation that can last you through a work day without touchups. It’s a bit too high maintenance for me in that regard. That being said, if you’re a YouTuber or on camera a lot? Go for it – it looks and feels amazing!

2016/01/07 Edit:

I went back to using the Ultra HD foundation during the cooler months to see if maybe the wear had changed on my skin. And (thankfully!) I found that to be the case! During the fall (and now winter), I discovered that the foundation doesn’t break up on my skin like it did during the warmer months. This will last now last me a whole day without having to worry about it. So for me, this is more of a winter foundation than a summer one. I still love the weightless finish of it, so I’m really glad to be able to use this foundation on a regular basis now!

Both the liquid and stick formula are available for $50 each on Sephora.ca.

This post features press samples sent for consideration.

I don’t think I speak often about bronzers, although I’m not sure why, because I FREAKING LOVE THEM. If you’re a regular reader that goes through my “What’s On My Face” volumes, you’ll note that I’m always wearing some kind of bronzer. Even if I don’t have lipstick on, I’ve still go some kind of healthy glow going on my face. There’s something very, very satisfying about taking a big ole brush, swirling it in a compact and then dusting it onto your face in select areas!

Make Up For Ever recently launched a whole whack of new bronzers – Pro Fusion Bronze – that feature a shade range intended for everyone. And they didn’t half ass it either. Boasting six new compacts, the range of shades gives you the option to choose from two finishes – matte luminous or softly iridescent.

Made out of the same firm gelee type powder as the Sculpting Duos, the Pro Bronze Fusion bronzers promise “no trace, no powdery finish, only mistake-proof colour”.

Being the bronzer addict that I am, I was like “oh hell yes, bring on the darkest colour you’ve got, let’s see what this puppy can do!” So I opted for shade 30M, the deepest shade they had in a “matte luminous” finish.

And then I swatched it and it terrified me. I mean, holy shit, look at that! The underside of my arm might as well be alabaster to that intensely chocolately-bronze shade! The bronzer does promise to be “lightweight, [with] buildable coverage and effortless blendability”. So with that in mind, I went to town.

This is my face with only foundation on it for my comparison.

And here we are with the Make Up For Ever Pro Bronze Fusion bronzer in 30M. I applied this to the outer edges of my forehead, the very back, top area of my cheekbones, along my jaw line and on top of my nose (because hey, that’s where you tan right?).

And you know what? It works, it really, really works. I have a relatively pale skintone and I can make the darkest of these bronzers work for me with little to no work at all! It is buildable, so even though it may look like I went lightly, rest assured that you can build this up and get a pretty intense bronzed look. For the sake of my own skin tone though, I kept it to how I would normally wear bronzer: apparent, but not overdone. (Or so I think, anyway!)

Final Thoughts

Due to the nature of the gelee powder, you don’t find yourself kicking up a lot of powder (and consequently getting WAY too much product on your face) which helps immensely with application. I love that the 30M shade has a slight reddish hint to it, which is something I *really* like a bronzer since I tend to look more red than orange when I get a natural tan.

This bronzer is highly foolproof. It doesn’t look powdery or unnatural at all. It claims to be waterproof, but I don’t ever wear makeup around water so I’d have no reason to test that. However, I have worn it on some ridiculously hot days here in Toronto (looking at you “feels like 37C”) and it’s neither faded nor worn away.

I also am hugely appreciative of the fact that there are a whopping SIX SHADES in this range. This gives everyone the opportunity to find something they love, or find something that they feel comfortable wearing. LOVE.

This post features a press sample sent for consideration.