Urban Decay 'All Nighter' Foundation Review

After wearing this foundation for a week (yes, a sample lasted that long!), I bit the bullet and bought the full size - (30mLs, $65 from Mecca Maxima). Initially I was excited about this foundation as it is: a) is full coverage

b) has a broad range of shades for fair and deep skinned gals (I'm shade 0.5)

and c) it lasts 'all night' (however, I'm not willing to test that theory).

What I like:

I couldn't have found this foundation at a better time; in the last week, I've been getting more blemishes than usual (thanks to Aunt Flo), and more sore/cystic blemishes that are usually difficult for me to cover. I found that this foundation gave a lot of coverage without caking up on my blemishes - instead it worked to disguise and blur them. It lasted all day without any touch ups, didn't seem to transfer (badly) and let my natural oils come through as time went on. Its' 'oil absorbing' claims are true - I'm not an oily-skinned person in general, but with most foundations I'm looking pretty shiny at the end of the day. This was definitely not the case; from application to the end of an average day for me (about 10 hours total) it stayed matte the whole time. I do like a little bit of a dewy glow, so I found myself applying liquid illuminators underneath this foundation a lot of the time. One thing that I often take for granted is good packaging - this foundation has a pump that disperses the perfect amount of product (as a little goes a long way), which I find rare in higher end foundations.

I also found that this foundation pro-longed the wear of other products on my face (my contour, bronzer, highlighter, blush, etc). By the end of the day my blush has usually faded, and my bronzer and contouring powders have mixed with the oils of my face and have turned into a muddy mess. With this foundation, other products on my cheeks looked like they had just been freshly applied even after 10 hours of wear. In the end, this is was one of the main reasons I continued to use this foundation day after day.

What isn't so cool:

I wouldn't say that this foundation is 'natural' by any means - It's obvious that you're wearing makeup, but it doesn't look thick. Given the amount of coverage it can provide, a natural/skin like finish cannot really be expected. I did find that without using 'pore-filling' primers that the pores around my nose and cheeks were emphasized, so it's definately something to look out for.

In comparison, I'd say that this foundation is about as heavy as Revlon 'Colourstay', and about as mattifying as Estee Lauder Double Wear (pretty mattifying).