wet n wild Photo Focus Matte Liquid Foundation Cream Beige, Vegan & Cruelty-Free

A filter for your face in real life! A $5 dupe for the high end $40 EL Double Wear!
Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love makeup and I have a huge collection of everything from dollar store to high end, but foundation isn’t something that I typically shop around for. I have tried various different foundations, but I always go back to my one tried and true holy grail foundation: Estée Lauder Double Wear. I’ve been using it for the last 10 years and my mother has used it faithfully for the last 15-20. Not only does it give a flawless finish, but it could last through a hurricane with its 24hr wear. At $42 a bottle, I’ve always found that it really is worth the price for all of the positives it packs. I have “combination” skin that typically leans on the more dry side. I do, however, get pretty oily on the sides of my nose and the middle of my forehead (the “t-zone”). I recently started watching a beauty blogger who uses the Wet n Wild Photofocus pretty frequently in her videos. I looked at the foundation in a store here that carries it but they only had about 6 shades and none of them were close to my shade. I stumbled across the foundation on Amazon for $5 and figured “what the heck?! It’s only $5!” First I went onto Wet n Wilds website and looked at all the different shades they carry so I would get a good idea of where I thought I might fall. In Estée Lauder I wear 2n1 Desert Beige so I decided to order the Photofocus in Nude Ivory which is also a neutral shade that’s pretty fair but not as fair as porcelain.When I got the foundation I was excited to try it but I was also VERY skeptical. Too many times I’ve been fooled by the hype around a drug store foundation that turned out to be awful for me and came nowhere close to comparing to my Double Wear. I first tried it on all over my face at night just to see how the color match looked and to see if it oxidized any after it dried down. It was literally a PERFECT match. I was concerned when I first opened the bottle because it seemed to look and feel very thin. The smell didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would after reading other reviews. I put it on using a stippling foundation brush and it was a more medium coverage until I applied a little more and it was a more medium-high coverage. It is very buildable which I like! The finish was beautiful and after it dried down it gave my skin a very airbrushed look without settling into any fine lines. I was surprisingly pleased but I knew the true test would be how it survived an entire work day. I work in a very busy restaurant. I’m constantly running around and going back and forth into a 100 degree kitchen. It isn’t uncommon for my steps to track anywhere from 6-12 miles per shift depending on how busy we are. I’m also pretty hot-natured anyway so the sweating is inevitable! Most foundations will slide right off your face by the end of the night! I wore it to work yesterday for the first time. I applied it around 2:00 and worked an entire busy hot shift. I took this photo at midnight before I left to go home and my foundation STILL LOOKED JUST AS FLAWLESS!! I do use a silicone based primer, baking powder, and matte setting spray to extend the life of my foundations. It passed my test and exceeded every expectation I had which is unbelievable for a $5 foundation! I’m honestly shook at the fact that a $5 Wet n Wild foundation is the first foundation that’s been able to come close to comparing to the much more expensive Estée Lauder high-end counterpart!!!!TL;DR: If you’re on the fence, buy it! This pic is after wearing it for an entire sweaty shift at the end of a 10 hour day. After faithfully wearing $42 Estée Lauder Double Wear makeup for the last 10 years, this is the first foundation out of any high-end or drugstore that is truly comparable and worthy of being called a “dupe”. I have extremely sensitive “combination” skin that is very dry with an oily t-zone. I’m 2n1 in Estée and the WnW neutral shade Nude Ivory is a PERFECT MATCH and it’s only $5!!!!!! This is definitely a new staple in my makeup collection!

First time buyer
I haven’t tried this before. I prefer a lightweight light coverage foundation for summer. Late spring and early summer I slowly bottle tan so I always have a ton of foundation shades that I’mixing trying to match my changing skin tones. I hate spending a fortune on foundations just to skip around, unlike winter when I’m the same shade for about 5 mos so I use a higher end foundation. I was really surprised by the quality of this! It worked well with my primers, setting powders and sprays. Usually cheaper makeup doesn’t seem to play well with mid range products, but this applied and blended well. Didnt separate or cling to my fine lines. Long wearing and survived the heat. I do have to touch up my t zone a bit more with this than my usual foundations, but other wise I’m very satisfied. I bought two shades to play with based of shade matching on the wet n wild site and the shades were pretty true. It does look just a bit darker when applied, bit it settles down nicely.

Very strongly scented
The other reviewers were spot-on; it truly does have a very potent paint-like harsh scent. However, the price point was excellent so I thought I would give it a try since my skin isn’t particularly sensitive.Odor faded within 10 minutes of application thankfully. The applicator tip is rather strange but that didn’t matter because I used a beauty blender anyways.I’ve only used it twice so far – Coverage seems more sheer than what I had anticipated. The foundation shade did not oxidize, in fact, I’m typically the lightest WARM shade in most brands, But this one was third shade up I believe (Soft Ivory) and definitely not too dark I might go so far to say it’s a little bit drab, (thankfully it’s not pink or peach!) . I wish it had more of a light golden bisque tone, but for the price it wears well, not drying, feels smooth. Has a thick enough consistency to work with without leaving a runny mess. I might try adding in some of the LA girl yellow mixing hue to brighten it up a little bit :).

Great product
This product is giving what it given . And it doesn’t give me any break outs , love it

Soy de piel grasa y esta base me ha sorprendido. Me deja un acabado mate pero sin verse acartonado. Al aplicar (lo hago con esponja húmeda o cepillo oval) da una sensación ligeramente “pegajosa” mas no queda así, supongo que es para que la piel no se vea opaca. Ya asentada en el rostro luce acabado mate pero a la vez la piel se ve humectada con un leve brillo (no brillosa, aclarando). Es una base construible (puedes ir de lo más ligero a lo más cargado) sin embargo me parece que al hacer un efecto más cargado no deja un efecto tan limpio como las de alta cobertura; me parece más ideal para coberturas ligeras o medias, como para los maquillajes cotidianos para el trabajo o escuela. El olor no me agrada mucho, me recuerda a la pintura vinilica pero ese olor no queda en piel. Me dura en promedio unas 16 a 18 horas (sin retocar) y es fácil desmaquillar con agua micelar. Para el costo, cumple.

Nice

I purchased this after watching so many YouTube tutorials about drugstore makeup. They weren’t wrong! It’s a great foundation. My only issue is I ordered a shade lighter- but that’s my problem not the product. An easy fix is to just mix it with an old foundation to get the right colour.