A current beauty trend? Powder foundation and Catrice is doing one in their Spring/ Summer 2023 update. So let’s try out a trend and review the Catrice 18H HD Matte powder foundation.
I bought this in shade 005N just to give it a whirl. I have dry skin, am in my late 30s and so I wasn’t expecting much from this. But I see so many people using this and making it look good that I was just curious to see if it could work on more mature skin that is dry and has some texture. And let me tell you: this didn’t go well.
Review: Catrice 18H HD Matte powder foundation SPF15 005N
But let’s kick things off positively. The price point is quite cheerful. This retails for €6.49 so that really isn’t a bad price point. For how trending this is, I think you can get a good deal if this type of product works for you. It’s affordable and quite widely available so a great way to try something that I won’t want to spned much money on.
What does this product have to offer?
Another great thing about this product is that it comes with all the tools you need. There is a mirror and a sponge in the compact if you lift up the pan. So this can be great for touching up makeup on the go and that is how I used to wear powder foundations in the past. I would always keep a compact in my work bag so I could touch things up throughout the day. It has SPF 15 and should be sweat and transferproof.
What is the product like?
I bought mine in 005N. It is nearly the lightest shade available out of a total of 16 shades. There is one shade lighter. I bought this online when it dropped so I wasn’t sure on what shade to get and I think it may actually be a bit too light.
However, I was hoping I could wear this as a face powder if anything, so it wouldn’t be much of a big deal. When I filmed my Catrice Spring/ Summer 2023 first impression I also wore it like that and it was fine. For the review though, I knew I had to try it as a foundation as well and that’s where things went terribly wrong.
What does this foundation swatch like?
The claims on this are that it has the coverage of a liquid foundation but with the mattifying properties of a powder. Since it had been years that I had tried a powder foundation, I wasn’t sure it would do for me.
This feels rich and creamy and it is quite blendable as well. When this first goes on it feels very pleasant on the skin. This does have quite a full on look and for foundation I usually prefer something lightweight and dewy looking. So I was predicting this wouldn’t be a favorite.
What is the shade match like?
In terms of a shade match I really didn’t hate this. 005N is light but it looks quite good against my skin tone. It’s not over yellow, it isn’t too dark and it blended into my skin tone very well. What it didn’t blend into was my skin itself.
What is the coverage like?
Let me start off by saying that I struggled to apply this. I used the sponge in the compact to apply it but it turned out quite patchy. No matter what I tried to fixed it, I just couldn’t get it to even out. It immediately clumped together in some places while not wanting to lay down at all in others.
Coverage wise this is also far more coverage than I would prefer. If you have oily skin and you love a full on glam look this may be a great product but for my dry skin this was a downright disaster. I struggled blending this to make it look more natural, but that was just the result upon first application.
Why I wouldn’t recommend this powder foundation?
Because there is a reason why I have decided to never go back to this again. In fact, I started doing the rest of my makeup but then decided to take it off after just a few minutes. Why? Because within minutes this started to accentuate dry patches, pores and peach fuzz as you can see in the closeups. It literally clumped up in some areas, but not in others.
Would I recommend you buy the Catrice HD Matte Powder Foundation?
I don’t say this often but I wouldn’t recommend this product to my worst enemy. Usually I try to see things from another perspective and think of who this may be right for. But I honestly cannot see who would enjoy a product that accentuates everything you don’t want it to.
In fact, when I was testing this out, I took this off and redid my entire base to finish off my makeup look. It was that terrible. For me, this is a total miss and I don’t think this product is worth anyone’s money. It won’t stay put and only builds up on some areas while disappearing on my nose within minutes. It accentuates everything and I struggled to apply this in harder to reach areas like around my nose and my top lip.
Before anyone thinks I didn’t give this a fair chance: after seeing the sponge from the compact wasn’t cutting it I tried every other application method available to me. I tried blend it with a brush (no result), I tried a powder puff and I tried a makeup sponge and it only looked worse. My recommendation: stay away, save your pennies and try the new Nude Drop Tinted Serum foundation instead.
3 responses to “Catrice 18H HD Matte powder foundation review”
I am not Sure what you mean by ‘ I knew I had to try it as a foundation’, but it sounds like you applied the powder wet !?
I think you mistook the POWDER foundation as a COMPACT foundation,
Because as a powder foundation it is wonderful
No I used it with the applicator it came with. What I meant was that I used it initially as a powder OVER foundation but not by itself as a foundation. I did that and it didn’t look nice as you can see.
That shade match is awful! It looks like flour on your face.
I tried it myself and found it doesn’t last on my skin. Couldn’t find any rave reviews though