MAC Matchmaster Foundation Review

 

The newest foundation from MAC Cosmetics, Matchmaster is:

A virtually "invisible" foundation with coverage influenced by your own skin tone. A breakthrough patented formula technology with a spectrum of 14 light to deep dark shades. Discover shade intelligence!
New Foundation technology using translucent pigments to enable a fully personalized finish influenced by the subtleties of your own skin's undertone.

Normally when these types of foundation say things like, "influenced by your skintone" it really means, "so sheer that it basically provides no coverage" which I don't find is the case at all with matchmaster.

Heavily swatched

Lighter dry swatches

It comes in 10 shades, ranging from 1.0 to 10.0. According to MAC, 1.0 is a match to NC15 & N18 and 10.0 is a match to NW58 or deeper. I bought this in shade 1.0 and when I first put it on it looks a tad pale, so I think MAC's shade reference might be a little bit off. (I'm a NW10-15, for reference.) You can find swatches of all the shades on the always helpful Karla Sugar's blog.

It dries a bit faster than SFF so working in sections is a must. It goes on at about medium coverage, but it is easily buildable. If I don't use a green corrector on my red spots I have to go back and add more coverage after the first application. I use a bit more product with this foundation, even before adding the extra coverage to my cheeks. Using concealer with it is a must, both under eyes and on blemishes.The finish is demi-matte and doesn't get cakey or chalky as I build it.

Direct sunlight

One of the greatest things about this foundation is how light it feels on my face, almost weightless. It has a slightly powdery finish which made me want to touch my face all day long at first. It feels so very soft on the skin.

Now most importantly, does it do what it claims? Does it match? Hell to the yeah! I don't think I've ever had a foundation match this well before. It goes on the slightest bit pale but within an hour it looks perfect.

Natural light

I normally try to use foundations with neutral to slightly yellow undertones to combat the pink in my skin since most foundations with pink undertones end up oxidizing to an orange shade on me, and that's just no bueno. This is more neutral with just a tad bit of pink in it. YMMV with it though, since it will change a bit on everyone.










I have to say that it fares wonderfully on my oily skin as well. I gave it a real test run when we had a 84F day and I applied it sans primer, without setting powder and went the whole day without blotting. The end results surprised me. You can watch the day progress on my cheeks.

It lasted up until the 7 hour mark before it really started to settle into my pores and wear off. Any oily skinned gal can tell you that's pretty darn good!

Creepy too close after picture with flash- it had gotten too dark outside and I did not know it.

The only bad thing I have to say about this foundation is that it will emphasize any dry spots on the face. I've been getting a touch of dryness under my eyes from my retinol cream and it will clearly show when I use this foundation.

Needless to say at this point, but I am a fan of this foundation! It's become my "everyday" foundation for picking my son up from school, running errands, etc. I would recommend it to anyone with normal-to-oily skin but if you have any dryness I would make sure to moisturize well before application.

If I were to give this a grade, it would score an A- for me. ;)