review: make up for ever water blend

Meet the only foundation I want to wear all summer: Make Up For Ever Water Blend Face & Body Foundation. This is a reformulation of their popular Face & Body foundation, which I unfortunately never got around to trying so can’t compare their formulas for you.

Make Up For Ever Water Blend comes in 20 shades and is enriched with pro-vitamin B5, a humectant that essentially traps moisture and hydrates your skin. Speaking of hydration, it’s also 80% vitamin water but is magically waterproof, long-wearing and transfer-resistant.

Upon application, the foundation’s 80% water content is very apparent. It does actually feel like water on my skin; that’s how light and fluid it is. I was surprised at how good the coverage was considering its featherweight consistency. You can see in this swatch photo that my birth mark (far right) is probably about 50% covered.

It goes without saying that Water Blend feels like nothingness on the skin. This is hands-down the most comfortable foundation I own, and in this heat, by far the most pleasant to wear. Here is a close up of my skin with one light coat of Water Blend on, which I applied with a stippling brush. It’s worth mentioning that this stuff is very easy to apply…even with your fingers, if that’s your thing. I just prefer using either a sponge or a stippling brush because they tug less on my skin.

Water Blend can be layered and built up to medium coverage, and I’ve found that leaving a puddle on the back of your hand or on a palette for a minute or so does thicken the formula up to help with a more saturated application.

I’d describe the finish as dewy, and am pretty sure anyone with dry skin will love this as the effect is really natural, healthy looking skin. If you have oily skin, bear in mind that it was designed for comfort rather than oil control, so plan on using a mattifying primer and setting powder. This foundation wore evenly and lasted 12+ hours without any uneven fading or separation, though I did get very shiny and need to blot regularly throughout the day.

I always expect to get shinier during the hotter months though, and since the foundations I do have with decent oil control properties are also much heavier, this + blotting is still the better choice for me as a summer foundation.

Water Blend does have a noticeable floral scent, but by all accounts it’s much milder than the original Face & Body so it seems Make Up For Ever really took customer feedback into consideration when reformulating this (which is awesome). I’m going to keep on using this through the week and report back with more personal findings once I’ve tested it a bit more.

Water Blend officially launches August 4th in Singapore.

These products were provided as press samples, however all opinions and observations are my own and not influenced by the brand or its PR team. This post contains affiliate links.