Rihanna has finally launched her beauty line, Fenty Beauty which has been in the works for about two years now, and she’s definitely caused a bit of a stir. Not only did she release a line that launched in high-end stores such as Sephora and Harvey Nichols, but she also released it globally so that everyone had a chance of getting the products at the same time. 

Inclusivity seems to be the underlying theme of her range as she didn’t just produce another makeup line, but it appears that everything in her range was well thought out and categorized to suit a wide range of skin tones. 

Her first release seems to be focusing mainly on the base, which is understandable, as when you look at Rihanna, her skin always appears to be flawless and quite natural.  The range includes a primer, foundations, blotting powder, highlighters, blotting paper, highlighter sticks, concealer sticks, contour sticks, makeup brushes and a sponge, as well as a beauty sponge. All to aid in creating a base that enhances your own skin. She also released a universal lipgloss shade, which I feel is a taster of things to come from the brand in the future. 

The foundation claims

At brownbeautytalk we decided to try out the foundation and one of her highlighters. The foundations come in 40 shades (for now – I’ve heard they are trying to expand this in the future!) which I personally think is quite impressive as a first release (to be honest this should be a benchmark for most companies in their foundation releases!). The Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation that she released is described as ‘A soft matte, longwear foundation with buildable, medium to full coverage’, which they also claim to have photo filter properties. 

It’s supposed to instantly smooth your skin, and diffuse pores for a shine-free finish. ‘The oil-free formula is made with climate-adaptive technology that's resistant to sweat and humidity, and won't clog pores so that wherever you are, it's going to work on your skin.’ The foundation comes in a sleek glass bottle design and with a pump, making it easier to control. 

Choosing your shade match

I was able to try out the in the shade 440, after matching myself online and watching countless people applying the different foundation shades. The foundations come in light, medium, tan and deep, with 10 shades within each category. The shade 440 is described as having a cool undertone and I found that it matched me very well, in fact I think I could’ve have also been able to wear 430 too as it has a neutral undertone which is my normal undertone. Fenty Beauty have advised that because the pigments settle to their true colour, it’s best to apply the foundation first and wait for it to settle to see your true match. They’ve also advised that if you’re stuck deciding between two shades then choose the lighter one.

How it performed

I’ve been wearing the foundation for the past few days, and overall I’ll say that I have enjoyed it. As someone with oily combination skin, I was excited to see that they had released a matte foundation, but a bit cautious when they said it was a soft matte. When you initially apply the foundation it appears more vibrant (for me more orange), however as you work the foundation into the skin the pigments start to adjust to your skin tone.

I didn’t find that the foundation spread very well which was quite surprising as the formula is quite watery for a matte foundation. The foundation bottle comes with a pump and I found I had to use between four to five pumps to fully give my face a medium coverage of one layer of foundation. 

Once applied, with one layer of the foundation on, my face felt quite matte but not drying. It almost felt as if I didn’t need to use a setting powder (although I did!). I think if you had very dry skin you may not need to use a powder with this foundation, although I would recommend you applying a very hydrating primer underneath.

When I added a second layer on top of the foundation to build up the coverage, I found it did build well without looking cakey, although the foundation did feel quite tacky instead of drying down. I also noticed that it did give the appearance of smoothing out my pores, but this could have also been due to primer as well. I didn’t find it difficult to apply any of my other products on top such as highlighter or concealers. 

The foundation wore very well throughout the day – the longest I wore it for was nine hours. I will say that the primer you use with this foundation is very important, as even though it claimed to be shine-free, I did get oily in my t-zone throughout the latter part of the day, However, once I blotted it was fine. I didn’t find the foundation to separate on me and in terms of it being waterproof I can’t comment on that. The foundation did have a slight sweet fragrance to it although this wasn’t anything too offensive. 

I’d say that the Pro Filt’r Foundation is one to try if you’re looking for a lightweight, but good coverage soft matte finish. I think it’s more geared towards those with normal to oily skin, although this isn’t a claim made by Fenty Beauty. I’ll definitely continue to use the foundation and I’m also intrigued to try the neutral undertone of 430 on my skin tone. 

Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation is priced at £26.00. 

You can purchase Fenty Beauty online and in stores in Harvey Nichols.