REVIEW: Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation

I don't review drugstore base products all that often. This isn't because I'm a "high end only" sort of person, nor is it because drugstore foundations and concealers and powders and whatnot all suck. It's because I have a lot of difficulty finding something that's pale enough for me, isn't Pepto-Bismal pink, and comes in a formulation that's suitable for dry skin.

"Now wait a minute," I can hear you saying. "'Suitable for dry skin'? This is a matte foundation! It's recommended for 'normal to oily skin!' Aren't you setting yourself up for failure here?"

Not really, my friends, not really. You see, I tried the original Fit Me foundation a few years ago and I kinda liked it. But I had a problem with the longevity: it would transfer if I didn't powder it down, and it didn't seem to last very long on my skin. So I assumed that the matte version would be longer wearing. And at $6, I figured: why not try something that might work for people who are oily skinned? All sorts of people read this blog!

 Natural light on top, flash on bottom. From left to right: Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless in 110 Porcelain, NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly, Paula's Choice Sheer Matte Tint in Level 1, and NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia.

I also hoped that the "Matte and Poreless" version would have the same shade range. The original Fit Me foundations in shades 110 and 115 were quite pale, and in the bottle, the M+P shades look to be about the same. They're actually a tiny bit different, as these swatches show: 110 in the Matte and Poreless Version is around the same shade as NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia, though it's slightly more neutral.

On the skin, M+P 110 darkens up and "pinkens" to around N10 on the MAC scale. Compare that to the original Fit Me 110, which was NC5-10 and stayed that shade after application. It's a very minor difference, though, so if you had a decent shade match in the original line, you can probably wear that same shade in the M+P version.

I normally have pretty good skin. However, I'm fighting one of my Time of the Month cystic chin breakouts, so we can use that delightful redness as a coverage marker. I applied the first layer with a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, working in sections and buffing the product in to my skin. It had a soft matte finish, not chalky at all, and it blended very easily. One layer gave me light coverage: much of my redness and unevenness were covered, but my nose still looked a bit "off" and my chin zits were still visible.

I added a second layer with the Real Techniques brush to get more coverage. This evened out my entire face, though a few particularly nasty chin cysts were still shining through. This may have something to do with the texture of my cysts: they're kind of rubbery, for lack of a better term, and that repels most foundations. No big, I just dotted on some concealer.

Even with two layers, this foundation feels incredibly lightweight, like there's nothing on the skin. It also looks relatively seamless and natural. No surprise, given how thin this formula is.

Here's my face about 20 minutes after I applied the foundation. You can see that this product is definitely matte, but not a chalky matte: it doesn't look too horrible on most of the dry portions of my face. It did cling to a bit of dryness on my chin and inner cheeks, however. This foundation could work for slightly dry skin if you wanted a matte finish, but people with truly dry skin will want to steer clear. (Again, not surprising.)

Interestingly, this foundation does seem to help with pores. I don't have very large pores, no, but I do have sebaceous filaments on my oil slick of a nose that foundation just loves to gather in. Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless kind of glided right over the area and applied very smoothly.

I am so sorry about the drastic differences in lighting. Pennsylvania isn't the best at giving me consistent sunshine. :/ Additional redness in the last picture was caused by a warm bedroom.

After about 2 hours, the foundation had softened up on my skin and looked very nice, albeit too matte for my usual tastes. At the 5 hour mark, I noticed quite a bit of shine on my nose. However, the actual foundation was holding fast: it hadn't faded and wasn't sliding in to my pores. I noticed some fading/wear on my entire face at the 7 hour mark, primarily on my nose. This makes me think that truly oily-skinned people will either want to prime their face before applying this foundation, or will want to add the matching powder to their routine to prevent oil breakthrough.

With this said, 6-8 hours of great wear is perfectly reasonable for a product like this. After all, Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless doesn't claim to be long-wearing. It claims to have a "natural, seamless finish" (check, provided your skin isn't super dry), "match natural skin tone" (check, though that's not hard to do when you're a light-coverage product), and "mattify and refine pores" (check minus). I can actually see myself wearing this in the summer when I want something less dewy and slightly more "made up" than MAC Face & Body. And I'm tempted to try the powder and give the original Fit Me another go.

As it stands, I would recommend this foundation to people with slightly dry to moderately oily skin, and anything in between, who want an affordable, light-to-medium coverage, soft matte foundation. The color range is impressive and should suit a good range of skintones.

My one final bitch? The bottle just has an open lid with no pump. C'mon, Maybelline! Spring for a pump! I'll pay the extra couple bucks!

As a sidenote, I did most of this Face of the Day with affordable products. The only two exceptions? My Shu Uemura brow pencil and my NARS concealer. (I actually don't have any drugstore concealers or brow products on hand.) Proof that we love makeup from all price points here at BOGL!

RATING: 4 out of 5