- A higher price tag in makeup doesn't always mean
higher quality, I'm about to be presented with pairs
of mystery foundations
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and we'll have to try to guess which one is more expensive.
To do this, I'll be conducting a series of tests,
it's pure chaos and we'll see if the standards I have
for quality matches their price tag.
Let's try some stick foundations,
foundation A first appearance it has a nice creamy texture.
There is some very slight separation on top,
not sure if that is sweating or the technical term
is syneresis where you see some of the liquid
pooling on top, we don't want sweating
because if it's sweating that means your formula's
kind of breaking down and that's not a hallmark
of a quality foundation.
So this stick is a little bit more homogenous or uniform
but I already noticed some cracking, kind of gives me
the impression that when I apply this it might be dragging
on the skin because there's not enough emollient
or cushion in the formula to keep it together.
First watch is pretty good, it feels like a very soft crayon
going across the face, ideally when you're blending out a
stick foundation you want to use a stiff brush.
When I'm evaluating a stick foundation,
what I'm looking for is to see how well
it melts into the skin and blends in,
the more smooth and even it is, the higher the quality,
so this one blends out pretty well.
This one fills a bit stiffer upon contact with my skin,
still soft but not quite as smooth and it blends out
pretty well, but there's a little bit more drag to it.
If the foundation is draggy, then the foundation is
in control instead of you and if it's too draggy
and it's gonna look patchy at best or cakey at worst
and nobody wants a cakey or patchy foundation, it's 2022
we can do better.
So far they both look pretty good, I like the slight glow
of foundation A a bit more not quite as matt,
but it doesn't have to be, you know this is a
stick foundation you get different finish options.
Foundation B is a bit more matt and again it's a
it was a slightly stiffer to apply had to work it
in a little bit more, but still pretty good.
So now we're going to do a melting point test,
the purpose of this test is to evaluate how well
these foundations can hold up in a hot car.
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So we are spending good money on a foundation,
last thing you want to do is it to be flushed
down the drain and sitting on your seat
when you come back home or get off of work.
It should be able to melt, punt contact with the skin
but also it shouldn't melt to the point of
it melting in your car and according to some studies
a hot car can exceed 130 degrees Fahrenheit
on a hot summer's day.
So now I've taken it off the hot plate because that's
all the heat that was needed to get it to start melting,
so let's check the temperature 120 degrees fahrenheit
foundation B.
It is at the same temperature, 120 but it isn't
completely melted even though foundation A
didn't hold up as well under the melting point test
I still think it's a higher quality foundation
because it had had the smoothest application
a gorgeous finish and it still withstood
high temperatures that most cars get on a hot summer's day.
The 130 fahrenheit threshold we were going for
is for extreme conditions as if you are in Phoenix
or in the desert, now let's look at the price.
$48 for foundation A and $30 for foundation B,
so these are both, I would say mid-tier foundations
because you can get of course far cheaper ones,
it ultimately comes down to the performance and this one
performed better, had the most beautiful finish
and I can see why this one won out in the end.
So foundation A is actually silicone based
and that's worthy of note because silicone is known
for having a silky spreadable finish on the skin.
The main ingredient in foundation B
is caprylic/capric triglyceride which is known
for having a draggy finish and that shows
in how it applied to the skin.
So B had a higher melting point but that doesn't mean
it needed to be draggy, the draggyness is mainly comes from
the first ingredient being a very dry filling emollient
on the skin compared to A using silicones that feel nicer
they have a better glide and they have a nice
silky finish to them.
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So these two appear to have the same type of finish,
just looking at the brush first impression it's a relatively
creamy formula which is pretty rare for powder.
This one seems to have a little bit more coverage
and still has a creamy application again,
not too powdery or dry where where it's clinging
to any dry patches or fine lines.
This lets me know that both of these formulas have
a good amount of emollients or oil-based ingredients
that helps it glide on the skin and it also helps it
when it's being pressed so it doesn't crumble too much
when you drop it or if you hit it against the surface.
What I'm looking for in these types of foundation is
how durable the compact is because with press powders,
you're carrying it around in your purse
because it's convenient or in your car and oftentimes
it can break.
So now for some fun, we're going to first start off
with what's called a drop test, now this test is usually
done on all types of press powders, it's done to ensure
that the product can withstand shipment
or you accidentally dropping the product.
To do this test, we drop the product from 12 inches
two to three times, if it breaks the first time
it's considered a failure of the drop test,
meaning it's not a durable product and if we're looking for
a high quality powder we don't want it to break,
you're spending good money on this product still intact.
Drop test number two, so as you can see there is some
slight breakage along the perimeter but still largely intact
which is pretty good for two drops at 12 inches
and now for drop number three, which is usually used
as a worst case scenario, there is some slight cracking
towards the top, but the center is still largely in place,
this is a very usable powder, even after dropping
at three times at one feet height.
Now let's play with foundation B, again here's the
first drop, it looks largely intact, the compact itself
is still completely intact.
Oh, it didn't break, it actually looks pretty good,
I don't see any large separation besides a few speckles
of powder that came off and the perimeters are still intact
without a doubt I feel like foundation B
is the higher quality between the two because even
upon initial application it had the creamier consistency
and finish.
In addition, it would stood the most number of drops
compared to foundation A that still had a nice coverage
and finish, but a little bit more basic and it failed
after drop test two where it started to crumble a little bit
more at the center.
Now let's see the prices, $35 A is $11,
now I will say they're both worth their price.
A still gave you good coverage it still gave you
a creamy finish, not as creamy but really good for $11,
you just have to be mindful about dropping it.
So this is one of those cases where you actually
would get what you're paying for $35 is still
a really good price point because it feels
luxurious when you're spending more than $20
on a foundation, you should also get a good experience
when applying it.
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The next category we're gonna test our blurring foundations,
so first thing I noticed is that B is soaking up
all the way into the brush, A is kind of
just sitting on top.
Now when it comes to blurring foundations, the hallmark
of a quality one is one that can blur the appearance
and minimize the appearance of pores and wrinkles
without causing flashback, when you're using your
camera's flash, does it cast back a white cast
or ashy look on your face, that usually comes from
the optical blurring pigments in the foundation
usually made of silica.
Now I'm going to try both on my face to see how well
it blurs any imperfections and so far
I don't see much blurring, even if the coverage is sheer
it should still have enough of the optical blurring pigment
silica or something like it and it works
by diffusing the light around the skin so it looks blurried.
The application of this one isn't as smooth and it seems
to blur the area around the skin a bit better
than foundation A, so far it's too soon to tell defensively
which one I would say is the higher quality,
but off of the swatches alone, it seems that B
has slightly more blurring power than foundation A,
B is also a bit more matt that tracks
because silica the main ingredient that blurs
foundation tends to be mattifying.
Now we're going to evaluate the quality of the formula
by performing a flashback test, we live in a digital age
where we're constantly using our phones and there's always
a flash on it and you might have seen pictures
of celebrities on the red carpet with patches
of white powder under their eyes or on their chin
and that's from either setting powder or blurring foundation
that wasn't properly blended in or just a bad formula.
So I'm not noticing flashback from either
of these two foundations, which is a great thing,
but as far as blurring the blurring effect is a little bit
more prominent when there is flash photography on the photo
and judging off of that, it looks like foundation A
is a little bit more ashy gray.
Foundation B has a softer focus, meaning you can see less
of the pores, less of the ice pick scarring,
I believe foundation B is the higher end
and the more expensive because it offered a little bit more
soft focus and blurring qualities that comes from
the light diffusion of its ingredients.
Foundation B is $89 and foundation A $20,
not surprised just from the flash photography alone
you can see foundation B blurred any wrinkles
and hair follicles a lot more than foundation A
and ultimately you want a blurring foundation to fill
like a in-person filter.
Once you have a hard flash of light on your skin
every imperfection is like magnified and this is why
it's often used in like a studio setting for movies
that are shot in 4K because you need that type
of foundation to soften any imperfections that might
be magnified with the HD or 4K camera.
So the second ingredient in foundation B
is the soft-focused microsphere powders
whereas the only light diffusing ingredient I can point out
in sample A is trimethylsiloxysilicate glass sand like
surface and glass is very shin, sand can also blur pores,
that's where silica comes from, it comes from sand,
but it's not quite silica and it's further down
on the ingredient list.
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Next we're going to evaluate longwear foundations,
foundation B is definitely a thinner formula,
foundation A has a thicker consistency to it.
Let's do a smudge test with some cotton rounds to
see how much product each cotton round can pick
up foundation's A and B with one swipe.
The most important characteristics of a good quality
longwear foundation are whether or not it's smudge proof
or smear proof as well as how water resistant
or waterproof it is.
This comes in handy if you live in a hot, humid,
muggy environment or if you just sweat a lot,
because sweat can cause some foundations to roll off.
There is some slight transfer but the coverage is still
largely intact on my wrist, foundation B has less
transfer still going across with my finger.
There is far less pickup compared to foundation A,
foundation B appears to have outperformed foundation A
regarding transfer resistance and this still offered
more coverage in general than foundation A.
Now I'm going to apply both foundations to my face
and then tested with a facial steamer that's going to
gauge how it could perform in a humid, sweaty environment.
Now let's use the facial steamer making sure it's not
too hot before bringing this close to my face,
feels like a sun over here.
Now that my face is feeling like the Everglades
it's time to take two paper towels and press it to my face
to evaluate how water resistant both foundations are,
hmm not much transfer except along the area
around my jawline.
Also looks pretty good again, a bit of transfer
from where I pressed it against my jaw,
I believe B is the higher quality foundation
because it had the superior coverage while still
offering water resistance and smudge resistance.
Now let's look at the prices, B is $48, foundation A 13,49
for a foundation that has supreme coverage while still
offering water resistance and smudge resistance,
I definitely think this is worth nearly $50.
However, A is still a really good foundation
it had really good water resistance,
the only detriment to it was that it had very sheer coverage
but it built up into a nice natural finish,
so I definitely think this is a good steal for the price.
One similarity, I'll know the ingredients in both of these
is they both have film forming polymers, this is important
because the film forms serve two functions.
They help block water out as well as forming a tight film
that locks the makeup in place kind of like a setting spray,
foundation B uses trimethylsiloxysilicate which is
commonly found in matt lipsticks and that's how they
stay transfer resistant.
A also has a film former kind of a film former
polypropylsilsesquioxane that has like a cushion
silky fill to it that explains why it still had
like a good high quality texture to it.
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Some formulas absorb into the bristles more than others,
if you're paying $80 for a full coverage foundation
you don't wanna have the product to be absorbed
by the applicator because you're wasting that money,
I'm gonna do a small arm swatch.
As you can see, it has a relatively smooth
and even application, but it dries really quickly,
it's already starting to set on my wrist
and the coverage once smooth out it's kind of medium
and sheer.
One reason you don't want foundations to set too quickly is
because it can gather and bunch in dry spots in wrinkles
and fine lines and you don't want that especially
out of a foundation you're paying good money for
and this usually comes down to the solvents use to
disperse the pigments.
They're called volatile compounds and most modern matt
foundations use an ingredient called isododdecane
which dries really quickly and evaporates from the skin,
which we want, but you don't want that to happen within
five minutes because that gives you time to do
your whole face and not have it look cakey,
now we're gonna test foundation B.
That one has some nice opacity to it, opacity being
how much coverage it gives, the texture is very creamy,
I associate creamy and cushioning with higher quality
but as a matte foundation you eventually want to dry down,
but this one seems to offer a little bit more play time
in a reasonable amount of time
in a reasonable amount of time before it sets
and locks in place, so I would assess based off of the risk
alone so far that this one is the higher priced foundation.
Now we're going to apply foundation A to the skin,
so the color of this is reading a little bit orange
at least in this mirror, high quality foundation
should never be orange or gray, our undertones are golden,
yellow, red, pinkish never ashy gray and tan orange
and the coverage is shearing out a lot,
it's not really covering any of the fine lines
or pimples I have on my face.
This is a foundation you have to work very quickly with
before it sets and that's not something you want,
I'm not the biggest fan of this foundation as you can see
like it even puled some of the bristles off brush just
from trying to get this to blend in all the way.
So far I'm not noticing any oxidation for this shade
which is another plus, if you're looking for
a high quality foundation you should never have to worry
about it shifting or oxidizing in color shade,
foundation B seems to offer more coverage.
It's covering the little speckles left for my beard
when I shaved and it also has a smoother application,
I don't have to drag the brush as hard,
I can probably stipple this on, which is nice because
that gives you more variety cause everybody has their
preference with how they apply their foundation
and the more options a product gives you the better
the quality.
So now it's time for me to guess which one
is more expensive, there are a lot of things that go
into determining a foundation's price tag from packaging
to marketing to general branding, but I can't see
any of that information I can only go off of the quality,
I Believe foundation B is the higher end
or more expensive of the two because it had
more even coverage, it did not set too quickly
or gather in fine lines, it still had a natural skin like
tone to it, it wasn't orange, it wasn't ashy,
it was slightly darker, but that's okay,
it just has a more elegant, sandy finish on the skin
compared to Foundation A.
Hmm 7.99 and foundation A $42, I do not think foundation A
is worth the money given how draggy the application was
and the coverage was less than that of foundation B.
That being said, foundation B still had the nicer coverage
and the nicer texture compared to foundation A,
but let's look at the ingredient list to figure
out why that might be.
So the second ingredient in foundation A is isododecane
which I mentioned earlier as a volatile organic compound
that allows the foundation to set and the more
isododecane in a formula the faster our foundation dries
which could be a good thing but it can also
'cause it to cake up and bunch up in your skin
before you get enough time to blend it out,
so it's a even non cakey coverage.
Whereas a second ingredient in foundation B
is cyclohexasiloxane which is slightly less volatile
than isododecane, foundation A definitely has a lot
more ingredients that should give it a nicer texture
like a couple of polymers that give it cushion.
I do not not fill that in either of my wrist
or jaw line test but it does explain why
it's a more expensive formula at least at face value
from the ingredients alone,
but in terms of practice that wasn't the case,
I would still pick foundation B over foundation A.
It does go to show you that quality and price point
aren't always correlated.
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