The Body Shop Matte Clay Foundation Review | Rachel

Recently I have been having a tough time when it comes to my makeup. My foundation rubs off around my nose and my cheeks and it just makes my makeup look messy and leaves me feeling really self conscious. The whole purpose of makeup is to make you feel good about yourself right? When in fact it was just making me feel even worse. I desperately took to Twitter to ask for recommendations and I was told the Matte Clay Skin Clarifying Foundation by The Body Shop could save me!

Now initially I wasn’t too sure whether I should try it or not, the reason being that to me £10 is “a lot of money” for a foundation. I go through so much of it so I just didn’t want to spend a lot. But I really needed to sort the problem out, so I took the plunge and decided to try it.

Something that is really important with any foundation is to make sure you’ve chosen the right shade. I’m so used to just grabbing the lightest shade because I usually buy from cheaper brands with less choice, so I just grabbed and swatched ‘Peruvian Lily’ and thought “this will do”. Big mistake. It’s ever so slightly paler than my natural skin tone so I should’ve spent more time trying the other shades to see what properly matched. It isn’t that much of a big deal though as it isn’t too noticeable once I blend it, but my advice would be to just take your time to make sure you pick out the correct shade. Regardless, I’m so glad The Body Shop caters for super pale and darker skin tones too!

On to the product itself. It comes in a 30ml squeezy plastic tube, with simple but smart matte packaging. It also has a small nozzle which makes it easy to control the amount of product you use. The Matte Clay foundation is 100% vegan, lightweight and contains tea tree oil to help clear the skin. The Body Shop also claim it is high coverage, oil absorbing and resistant to water and sweat, which is pretty much everything I want in a foundation! Being somebody with very oily skin, it was only right that I decided to give it a go and see if it’s everything it’s made out to be!

Consistency 
The product has a light and slightly runny consistency compared to other foundations I’ve used. Despite this, I didn’t find it much different to apply compared to thicker foundations. I found it easier to put on a blending sponge and then apply due to the consistency.

Coverage
When they say high coverage, I’d say they do mean high coverage! I felt that a little goes a long way and it covered all of my red areas well. However, it can’t be built up to completely cover any areas you want to ‘perfect’, as in my experience, it ends up going cakey and clinging to dry patches. I do apply a concealer over some areas too but on days where I want to wear minimal makeup, a tiny bit of this product does the job!

Look & Feel
This foundation looks almost 100% matte on my skin and when first applied it feels silky and smooth and not cakey at all; it almost feels like you’re not wearing makeup! Unlike my old foundation which would be really sticky. I would apply a powder to combat this but it would crack within hours and makeup would look awful. That’s something I don’t have to worry too much about with this foundation.

Longevity
I do really like this foundation but I have had a few issues with it. I’m beginning to think I just have weird skin! After around 4 hours of wear, I noticed it started rubbing off a little around around my nose (this is why I opted to get a new foundation originally) but not as noticeably as my old foundation. It also felt slightly oily around my chin, which isn’t anything new to me but since the product is meant to be “oil absorbing”, I guess I’m a tiny bit disappointed! Despite this it still somehow looked matte so I guess that’s a positive! The issue can be solved by adding a little powder on the oily areas, although the patchy areas can’t really be fixed without reapplying the product.

Overall I am pretty happy with this foundation. Sometimes I think it’s good to try new products and change up your makeup routine and I’m glad I’ve decided to go for a more expensive foundation. I do think it is worth spending a bit extra, especially since foundation is the base of your makeup and probably one of the most important parts to me. I don’t think I’ll be going back to my old foundation any time soon and it’s likely I’ll be repurchasing this product as soon as it runs out, despite the small issues I had with it. Have I found my perfect foundation? No, but at least I’m one step closer to it!

Have you tried any of The Body Shop’s makeup range? I’m thinking of trying out their matte lip creams at some point!