I feel like for someone who doesn't wear makeup every day, I have a few different foundations on the go at any one time even after downsizing my makeup collection. I'm constantly searching for my holy grail of foundation.
On the go at the moment, we have:
Maybelline Super Stay in shade 03 True Ivory - this was given to me by a friend because I'm the most pale person she can think of, but this is to pale even for me! I usually use it to mix with darker foundations, or for cosplaying very pale characters.
Covergirl Ready, Set, Gorgeous in shade 105 - I tend to use this in winter when my (laughable) summer "tan" has disappeared. It's relatively cheap and does what I need it to do, which is cover small imperfections and even out my skin tone.
Estee Lauder Double Wear in shade 2N1 Desert Beige - I have a bit of a love hate relationship with this one. Great coverage but it feels kinda heavy on my face.
Maybelline Fit Me Dewy + Smooth in shade 120 - This one gets so close! But the Dewy formulation is for normal to dry skin and mine is generally pretty oily and the formula makes a massive difference. So while this has great coverage and makes me look nice and glowy, it soon turns to looking shiny and melting off my face.
Swatches! As you can see the Super Stay is too pale for me however had I swatched this on the inside of my wrist rather than the top of my arm it may have matched perfectly, haha. I do my swatches in this area as I have tattoos and other marks on my arm that just get in the way. The Estee Lauder and Fit Me foundations look completely different swatched.
Woo, excuse these really awkward photos. I didn't realise how bad they were until I had uploaded them to my computer.. I decided to compare Fit Me and Double Wear because they are the foundations I use most. This picture is pretty self explanatory - I have applied Fit Me with a stippling brush on the left, with no makeup on the right. It still shows my freckles a little, but I like that it looks so natural on! It's just really unfortunate that this foundation most definitely isn't for my skin type. It looks like a pretty good match but what you don't see in this photo is the awesome dark line going down the middle of my neck!
And here we have Estee Lauder on the right. I'd usually apply it with a sponge but for consistency, I used the stippling brush again. The amount of coverage is surprisingly similar, however in my experience Double Wear is a lot more buildable than Fit Me. The downside is that it can also feel heavy on the face and can get cakey easily if you're not careful.
I finished my face (okay, I popped some blush, highlight and lipstick on) and went about my day. I didn't take photos however in the afternoon/evening I found that Fit Me was wearing off, particularly on my cheeks and nose while Double Wear was clinging in place but starting to look a bit.. patchy I guess. Nothing too bad. I've since played around with the same brush and found that if I buff it into my skin, it doesn't budge and looks fresh all day.
All in all, if you are on a budget I'd highly recommend the Fit Me foundation, I feel like the only reason it doesn't work so well for me is because this is the dry skin formula so the oil content in it doesn't go down so well with my own oily skin. If you're after something that won't budge at all, Estee Lauder Double Wear is your best bet. I've heard of people even swimming with it on without it coming off, this doesn't surprise me as I need to use a decent makeup remover to get it all off.
