Review: Paula's Choice All Bases Covered SPF15

Paula's Choice All Bases Covered Foundation SPF15

From http://www.cosmeticscop.com:

• Light, creamy-smooth texture ideal for normal to dry skin
• Long-wearing soft matte finish
• Blends easily, providing light to medium coverage
• Protects skin with a titanium dioxide SPF 15 sunscreen
• 100% fragrance-free
• All Bases Covered Foundation is easily removed with any of Paula’s Choice facial cleansers.

My Skin Type:
Actually very oily, but surpressed with BHA exfoliator. Results in generally ranging from very dry to normal/dry skin. Generally dehydrated, very sensitive, and acne prone.

My Skin Tone:
Some said I have very fair, Casper-ish complexion. Frankly speaking, that’s what you see in my FOTDs, but I personally think I look (much) darker in person than in those photos. Still, yes, I’m quite fair.

Bottomline: my skintone range is lighter than MAC NC/NW15 to NC/NW20.

I have neutral cool undertone.

Packaging:
Easy to transport, hygienic tube.

Color Selection:
Rather small for a medium coverage foundation, but luckily it has a wonderful color for pale skin: Light Cream. This is the swatch from its official website.

Light Cream Swatch

Texture:
I read a lot of reviews stated that it’s thick out of the bottle. For me, yeah it’s a bit thick but nothing too outrageous. There’s plenty of slip so it doesn’t feel thick when I apply it.

Coverage:
Beautiful. Oh so beautiful. This has medium+ coverage that easily evens out my skin tone, giving it perfected look.

Blendability:
Good! It has sufficient slip. Very easy to apply in the morning, on top of sunscreen and primer.

Finish:
Paula claims it to be semi-matte, I find it quite true. There’s some glow, so it looks healthier than dead-matte finish.

Oil Control/Lasting Power:
Poor. This stuff is strictly for normal/dry skin. Oilier than that, skip this.

My General Review:
When I read Paula’s ‘Dont Go To Cosmetics Counter Without Me‘, the first thing that came to my mind was ‘This girl knows nothing about makeup’. Because she slammed a lot of product that I think works!

So Paula, I’m offering you an apology here. Because after I’ve tried your foundation, I think you know a thing or two about makeup

Yes ladies, this foundation is a good one. I’ve tried a lot of foundations, tinted moisturizers, BB creams. Korean, French, American. High and low. And I remain impressed when I use this.

First of all, the texture is nice. A bit thick but the blendability is good. I don’t have to rub eagerly to get it even. It only need gentle, short strokes to cover my face. And the finish? Yummy. The coverage works almost like magic eraser. The pigmentation is quite potent so a little bit does the job effectively. Result? It feels light, but definitely improves my skin. Big time! I can really tell that, since I have lots of acne scarring. With loose powder, this stuff makes my skin looks much better and even toned. Plus, since the shade is delightfully neutral, so it allows the foundation so improves my skin beautifully.

The only downside I can find is, it doesn’t work too well on my sometimes crater-like pores. It’s not as smooth as some other foundations on that area. MUFE Face/Body Liquid Foundation for example, gives smoother finish on the pores, it makes my pores look tighter.

And if you have anything more than dry skin, skip this. This stuff doesn’t have any oil controlling power. I tried it a couple of times when I have slightly oily t-zone, and it doesn’t look too good  after lunch time there. Strictly for normal/dry skin, at the maximum

What Else You Need To Know:
Yep, I’ve tried that famous MUFE HD Foundation too, and I think PC All Bases Covered gives just about the same finish on me! The coverage, the finish on the pores…But admittedly, I haven’t test both for a photo shoot. People say MUFE HD looks great in pictures.

PC ABC have SPF15, and MUFE HD doesn’t offer any SPF. But MUFE HD have (much) broader color selection. Plus MUFE HD may held up better against slight oil (still not recommended for oily skin though, I think).

Your choice!

Application:
Moisturizer first, of course. Then sunscreen, primer, and this foundation, in the morning. If I use it at night, I’ll just skip the sunscreen.

Price:
US$14.95 at PC USA, IDR265,000 in PC Indonesia. Quite a big difference, as usual, but it’s still considerably cheaper than a high end foundation. All prices exclude shipping.

Availability:
You’ll need to order it via PC website, email, or phone.

Ingredients:

Active Ingredients:
Titanium Dioxide (Light Cream: 12.67%; Nude: 12.4%; Sand: 12.18%; Wheat: 11.83%; Fawn: 11.14%).

Other Ingredients:
Water, Isohexadecane (thickener/texture enhancer), C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (emollient), Silica (absorbent silicone), Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate (skin conditioning agent), Cetyl Dimethicone Copolyol (silicone emollient), Hexyl Laurate (emulsifier), Tocopheryl Acetate (antioxidant), Polysorbate 80 (thickener), Polyethylene (film-former/slip agent), Alumina (opacifying agent), Magnesium Sulfate (thickener), Aluminum Stearate (thickeners), Sodium Chloride (stabilizer), Polyhydroxystearic Acid (thickener), Triethoxycaprylylsilane (silicone-based emulsifier), Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben (all preservatives).

May Contain:
Iron Oxides (mineral pigments).

Overall Rating:
4 out of 5. Great color match for pale skin, with beautiful coverage and finish. Too bad it doesn’t perform great on open pores, thus 1 lippie off.

If you have dry skin with no pore problems, looking for medium+ coverage foundation, and you can find a color match, I highly recommend you to at least ask for samples.

*This review will be cross posted in http://www.makeupalley.com under username Crescent_Shadow.

Texture:
Light and pleasant. It’s not thick or balmy. It’s rather thin with a good amount of slip.

Coverage:
Sheer! It’ll just even out your skin tone.

Blendability:
Good! It blends effortlessly without caking up.

Finish:
Glowy.

Oil Control/Lasting Power:
I have rather dry skin so I don’t really know its oil control. I don’t have problem with its lasting power either.

My General Review:
Fuzkittie have this on her high regard, so I need to try it The color is scary mud looking, of course, but I still have my hopes up since it works for Fuz. But not for me, apparently! It’s clearly too dark for me, as I was testing this when I’m on my fairer side. I personally think it’ll be best for NC20 and above ladies.

Everything else about it is great though. The texture is very nice and is rather thin. Very easy to blend. Sheer coverage only, so don’t expect it’ll cover up your major skin woes.

Unfortunately, due to the bad color match problem, I can’t try this out quite long to test if it really have a healing properties. But at least, I think despite the claim, this product doesn’t contain any sun protection ability. No UV filter written anywhere in the ingredient list, no SPF rating either.

What Else You Need To Know:
Fuz compares this product with BRTC Whitening/Wrinkle Repair BB Cream, which I’ve also tested but haven’t write review of. Just know that I prefer BRTC, it’s a better match with my skintone.

Weird, eh? As both turns into same color with Fuz!

For a BB cream with texture as light as L’egere White Multi but with much better color match on me, I prefer Skin79 Diamond BB Cream. Now that one totally works on me!

Application:
Pretty standard, I use this after moisturizer and/or sunscreen. I always set it with loose powder.

Price:
I don’t know about its retail price in Taiwan, but I supposed it’s not so expensive. It’s around US$25 to US$30 in eBay, which I guess is already marked up.

Availability:
Not available in Indonesia, I think? Anya still have one on her blog sale though Or you can always try eBay.

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