Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation & Concealer Review

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Last month, while perusing on Sephora, I stumbled upon the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer. This is not a new foundation - it came out in early 2015 to very mixed reviews. I meant to test it out for myself but never had the chance to since I have WAY too many bases. 

I finally did purchase it during the holidays and I'm very much in love. 

This is a foundation & a concealer combo, which is very interesting because foundations & concealers normally have very different textures. I found myself really liking the base because it really was enough coverage for the face and it did a good job at concealing redness, dark circles and some blemishes. As for concealing, it does work in conjunction to the foundation to even out skin but it does not brighten. You'd still need another concealer for that purpose but the formula here is rich enough to conceal imperfections. 

Bare Face

One coat of Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation

Formula is nice. Very smooth. Very oil free. This foundation is on the heavier side, with a medium to full coverage. Your skin will still show through and is breathable, but definitely with matte foundations I find that the coverage is usually heavier. This one is more medium full because the color is very pigmented. 

I've had about a month to play around with this foundation & concealer. I especially love the packaging. It's not your standard traditional pump but rather a large wand. This is really useful for me because I don't like pumps that much, and I don't like pouring it out. This wand definitely gives me a lot more control of the base and where I want to apply it on my face. That is a definite plus for me. But when it comes time to finishing the bottle, who knows how that'll go. Does anyone ever actually finish foundations? heh ;) 

Texture-wise, I found this to be really nice. It has a really smooth feel to it, slippery smooth. Not a very wet foundation because it dried to a semi-matte finish, which isn't always bad. Typically, I do not like matte foundations because i feel that it's too flat and unnatural looking but a semi-matte finish is quite nice.

In terms of shade selection, one of the biggest complaints is that the shade selection is extremely limited. I picked out the shade Alablaster because I knew it would be a deeper color from looking at swatches. And it is. In fact, it isn't really a true representation of that shade compared to other bases.

Clinique has now released two new shades for fairer ladies, which is a good thing! Alablaster is like a NC25-ish. It is not pink, but falls under the yellowy range. 

Suits my skin nicely. It looks a bit orange when I first dot the base around my face but after blending it out it does look more like my skin. I found that it matches me well so I don't have any complaints about that. But for sure the shades for those with lighter skin (NC20 and lighter) does end up on the deeper side of the spectrum in this foundation.  

I really like this foundation. It lasts a LONG time. After a whole day of work, it does not budge. My skin really loved it because I didn't get oily around my t-zone either. It really does seem more and more like a really reliable base. After using it for about a month, my skin hasn't reacted to it and it is so easy to wear. I would definitely repurchase this again. Speaking of purchase, this foundation is only $27! Not bad considering you can use it as both a base and concealer. 

I finished the look with Dior's Rosy Glow, Sephora Oil Infusion Lip Gloss and brow powder. Didn't do anything with the eyes this time.

Have you tried any Clinique foundations?