Review: Rimmel London Stay Matte Clarifying Matte Foundation

Believe it or not–oil glands actually do have a beneficial purpose to the skin, even though for some of us they are more than a curse than a blessing!  According to expert dermatologist, Dr. Audrey Kunin,  the sebum they produce helps protect the skin from dehydration and helps protect the skin’s acidic environment from allowing bacteria where it’s not supposed to be.  That’s all fine and dandy, right?  But what do we do when our sebaceous glands are working overtime instead and turn our laborious makeup jobs into vats of Crisco half-way through the day?  Mattifying foundations  are one way to help combat the issue at hand, so I tested out Rimmel London’s Stay Matte Clarifying Matte Foundation to see if it was up for the challenge.

At first, I was a little scared of the shade selections to be perfectly honest.  I’m extremely fair and I’m almost always the lightest or second lightest foundation shade for every brand.  Ivory (#100) seemed a little too yellow for me, so I was reluctant!  Once I blended it in, it was a nice balance that helped tone down the pink in my skin a little.  As far as the texture goes–it feels almost more like a tinted moisturizer and doesn’t offer a whole lot in terms of coverage.  In my opinion, it offers slightly more coverage than a tinted moisturizer but definitely less than a traditional foundation.  So that may be a hit or miss right off the bat for some of you gals.  I personally like having it as a coverage option, but maybe I wouldn’t have called it a true “foundation”.  When I think of what traditional mattifying foundations offer in terms of coverage and texture, this isn’t a carbon copy of those formulas we’ve become accustomed to.  If you know that going in to it, you might be more forgiving of the formula!  If you desire a little more coverage, you could lightly brush some of the Stay Matte Pressed Powder on top if it’s not too much trouble.

The most important thing here we’re all dying to know is if it really stays matte…and my answer is yes and no.  The back of the tube says that it offers shine control for 12 hours, and that wasn’t the case for me.  While I did still have some break-through shine in the afternoon like I do with almost any foundation regardless of mattifying primer or no mattifying primer beforehand–it helped lessen the appearance of shine for about 3 hours before I decided it was time to dab a little pressed powder on top.  For something that doesn’t offer a whole lot of coverage right out of the tube, I didn’t think it was bad.  It’s an oil-free formula that’s also fragrance and paraben-free which is a huge plus, and it’s also got a little bit of kaolin clay to absorb some shine with salicylic acid for pore clarifying benefits.  But here’s my take on that–I couldn’t find out a specific percentage of the salicylic acid in the formula and I wouldn’t imagine it was enough to try and take the place of any skincare product you may be using already containing the beta-hydroxy acid.  My educated guess due to the positioning of it in the list of ingredients is that it’s more of a little “booster” than anything.  It’s not listed as an “active ingredient” like on most other products with salicylic acid so if you’re not expecting that to make some major life-altering difference, it performed well for me taking that into consideration.  I didn’t experience any skin irritations or breakouts, my skin didn’t develop any abnormal dryness, and overall it did provide shine control for a few hours at a time.  For $6.99, I really like it for what it does accomplish.  If I could change anything, it would be the range of shades available, and maybe I would increase the coverage.  I like the idea of a lightweight base, it totally makes sense when you’re trying not to clog the pores but this one does not offer true coverage on my skin.

Have you ever tried the Stay Matte Clarifying Matte Foundation?  What did you think?  Check out what other beauty-savvy gals think about Rimmel London products!

An editorial sample was provided by the company and evaluated to determine my opinion of the product in this post.  Please see the Disclosures page for further information regarding my policies for using editorial samples.