Well, I bought into the hype! After reading amazing reviews about Revlon Photo Ready Foundation, I was excited by the promise of picture-perfect skin! But for me, sadly the product didn't live up to its hype.
Don't get me wrong, it's a nice foundation. Medium coverage, easy to apply (and no quick-dry issues like Colourstay) and a decent colour range for a 'drugstore' foundation. I think I've chosen the wrong colour (was a bit 'pink' for my skin), which is my fault for trying to swatch under the fluoroescent lights at night, but I could look past that and see that there were some other issues that I was concerned about.
The big one for me is the 'shimmer' or as Revlon puts it 'photochromatic pigments that bend, reflect and diffuse light to erase every flaw'. When I took a photo of myself after application (and the flash went off as it was overcast), I looked at the image on my camera and thought 'oh god - I'm shimmery all over!' Which is not a look that I like. As an oily gal I try to keep my foundation finish semi-matte to matte, and then just highlight specific areas (cheekbones, under brow etc). Even when I powdered with a matte powder like Gorgeous Cosmetics powder #2 (from my makeup kit) I still came off as 'highlighted' all over in my photos. Maybe this is the way they detract from your flaws, but I didn't like it at all. Especially when you consider when you go out at night, all photos will have a flash.
This photo used a flash, but you can really see the shimmer in usually non-highlighted areas - I don't want my chin or cheeks as they get oily all on their own.
This photo has no flash, so you can see that it does look great in natural light:
On the plus side it didn't settle into my pores. That should also means that it won't settle into fine lines either.
Throughout the day the wear wasn't particularly long-lasting, but then again it's not something promised by this product. But the interesting thing was that every time I looked in the mirror I thought the foundation matched my skin tone really well (except for being a tad pink), but when I took a photo my face was rather pale. Considering I used a colour-matched powder, this indicates to me an issue with the foundation. It does have sun protection (SPF20) but I think these 'photochromatic pigments' may have a hand in that as well.
I would say this foundation would be AMAZING for some people, but it's certainly not going to suit everyone. If you have the skin to carry off an all-over highlight and don't need full coverage definitely give it a go. Personally the highlighting was an issue for me, especially when flash photography was used. But if your skin is a bit on the dry side it could be just what you need, but choose your colour carefully - bring a hand mirror and go out into natural light to check your swatches.
Have you had any luck with Photo Ready?
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