To much fanfare (and terror, I might add), Make Up For Ever recently launched their UltraHD foundation. Designed with 4K technology in mind, the new UltraHD foundation is intended to be completely invisible  under the latest, ultra-magnified resolution while looking natural on camera and in person.

Now, I said this was met with terror, and I meant it – there are a LOT of people out there that swore up and down that Make Up For Ever HD foundation was their holy grail. With the new launch of UltraHD, it’s totally wiped out their range of HD foundation. Despite wanting to try it, I had never gotten around to trying the HD foundation, so I have nothing to compare it against except other foundations in my collection.

As is typical for a foundation, it comes with 30 ml (1 fluid ounce) of product and will cost you $50 CAD. The new liquid range comes in a whopping 40 shades! Is there another range of foundations out there that comes in that many shades? (If there is, educate me!) That seems ENORMOUS to me. Kudos to Make Up For Ever for appreciating the fact that there’s a lot more than 10 shades of skin out there!

The liquid foundation has light to medium coverage and is buildable.

And, blissfully, it comes with a pump. <3

I wasn’t even expecting it, but the UltraHD range also comes in a cream stick formula as well. It’ll also set you back $50, but there are only 15 shades in this formula. It comes up a little short on the product side with 12.5g (0.44 ounces).

The UltraHD stick foundation provides medium to full coverage.

I was colour matched to Y225 which is apparently shade 117 in the original HD formula. (For reference, I am typically colour matched to NW20 in MAC shades.) There is a very definite difference between the same colour in the two different formulas though. On the left is the stick foundation in Y225 and it is definitely leaning more pink than the Y225 in the liquid formula on the right.

A handy thing (or so I thought) was that each bottle tells you what the current shade of the foundation is called (in this case, the real name is Y225), but it also tells you that if you were 117 in the HD foundation, then Y225 would be your shade in the new lineup.  However… the shades don’t quite line up that well. Chelsea of Olive & Ivy has a comparison of the previous HD shades in her review here and the colours do not line up exactly with the previous line. So definitely make sure you get colour matched for this!

Anyway, on to the actual product. The liquid foundation feels incredibly lightweight. It’s one of the most comfortable foundations I’ve ever worn, which makes it an absolute pleasure to wear. It does look good on camera (as seen above) but it doesn’t cover everything on my face – my freckles are definitely still shining through after a first layer. I’d never add a second layer of foundation since I don’t like the feeling of it, but I imagine you could build it up to a thicker opacity.

With the stick foundation, it’s definitely creamier and thicker. It evens out my skin tone, but again, my freckles are still showing through although I do feel they’re a bit better covered up with the stick.

Final Thoughts

Edit 2016/01/07: Please read after my original summary below for another take on this foundation during a different season.

I’m having a tough time writing this review because I do really like the feel of the foundation. I love how it looks on my skin in person and how it appears on camera. It’s incredibly easy to apply (in both formulas) and blends into the skin seamlessly.

BUT, and this is a giant one, it doesn’t last a whole work day on me. I’m not an especially oily person, but I find I start getting oily patches on my skin halfway through my work day (~5 hour mark) and it starts to break up the foundation. I’m not the only one experiencing this issue either – Steph of Fun Size Beauty also had problems with the foundation unless she powdered or touched up.

Overall, I think the UltraHD foundation is great for camera work (where touchups are constant and necessary), but I don’t feel that it’s a foundation that can last you through a work day without touchups. It’s a bit too high maintenance for me in that regard. That being said, if you’re a YouTuber or on camera a lot? Go for it – it looks and feels amazing!

2016/01/07 Edit:

I went back to using the Ultra HD foundation during the cooler months to see if maybe the wear had changed on my skin. And (thankfully!) I found that to be the case! During the fall (and now winter), I discovered that the foundation doesn’t break up on my skin like it did during the warmer months. This will last now last me a whole day without having to worry about it. So for me, this is more of a winter foundation than a summer one. I still love the weightless finish of it, so I’m really glad to be able to use this foundation on a regular basis now!

Both the liquid and stick formula are available for $50 each on Sephora.ca.

This post features press samples sent for consideration.