Maybelline Dream Velvet Soft-Matte Hydrating Foundation!*

Whenever I take the time to think about drugstore brands I always come back to Maybelline as being one of my absolute favorites. One of the main reasons for that is because of the great luck I've had with so many of their products including many of their foundations. The Maybelline Fit Me Foundation was one of the first foundations I tried and used completely when I began playing with makeup way back when I was a young teenager. Since then I've had the pleasure of trying the Superstay Foundation, Dream Liquid Foundation, new formulations of the Fit Me Foundation and now the new Dream Velvet Soft-Matte Hydrating Foundation! Because of the amount of success I've had with other Maybelline foundations I was quite excited to give both this foundation and the new Dream Blender a try thanks to a recent ChickAdvisor Campaign. Today I'm going to share my thoughts about both products and help you decide if these are products you want to give a try.

I first want to talk about the price point of these products, because as the drugstore expands and grows its product ranges, the prices have tended to rise as well. I've cut back on my spending for this reason but I do understand that ingredients, packaging and everything that goes into producing cosmetic products have increased in price as well. I think it's important to note that the Maybelline Dream Velvet Soft-Matte Hydrating Foundation will run you about $16.99 (CA) and the Dream Blender will run you about $7.99 (CA) making for a grand total before taxes of $24.98. In Canada with the addition of our taxes, these products would actually cost a full total of $28.73.

One of the highlights of this product is the beautiful packaging that Maybelline has created for both products. The Dream Velvet Foundation comes in a squeeze tube packaging which I believe to be new to the Maybelline range as far as foundation is concerned. Alongside the foundation is the Dream Blender and sadly doesn't really come with any packaging and is just a small sponge attached to a short plastic handle. It's easy to tell that both of these products are meant to use together because of the branding on the packaging. Another great perk about the Dream Velvet Foundation is the location of the foundation shade. I've struggled when going to purchase foundations and finding the shade names to repurchase some of my favorites or even when I'm in the drugstore looking for my perfect shade. I love that Maybelline has made it really clear and easy to read the shade name. As for the Dream Blender, I do wish this had the name of the product displayed on the plastic handle but I do still think the package concept is a cute idea.

The Maybelline Dream Velvet Foundation currently comes in 12 shades ranging from Warm Ivory to Coconut. After taking a peek online, there seems to be a good range of undertones for the foundation selections including your pale cool tones right to your warmer dark tones. Overall, I think that most individuals would be able to find a decent match out of this foundation. Sadly, this was not the case for me. After doing quite a bit of research before selecting my shade in the ChickAdvisor Campaign, I decided that Porcelain Ivory would be the closest match to me and I really didn't have any concerns about the foundation being a little lighter or darker or even of the wrong undertone. I've never had a probably being color matched in other foundations so I didn't expect any complications with this foundation. After getting the foundation and swatching it along with doing many full-face applications I have realized that the foundations is extremely pink with a heavy orange undertone that is completely wrong for my skin tone. I've tried using the foundation several ways including mixing it with other foundations, concealer and setting it with a variety of different colored and toned setting powders and nothing has decreased the orange look on my skin.

Aside from the color of the foundation, I really enjoy most of the other qualities including the bendability on the skin and the overall appearance on the skin. I will say that I've noticed with this foundation and other Maybelline one's that they dry very quickly when placed on the skin so I do recommend working in smaller sections to get the best outcome. The Dream Velvet Foundation does give a very unique appearance to the skin in that it does appear more matte than your average foundation but also has a really soft natural focus to the skin. Another great factor is that because of the hydrating aspect of this foundation it never clung to my dry patches or separated where my skin tends to be a bit drier. I also want to mention that I did wear this foundation for a 12+ hour school day and when I got home the foundation still looked flawless. Overall, I was really impressed with the application and wearability of this foundation I just wish that I could get a shade that would match me perfectly. I highly recommend heading down to your local drugstore and seeing I they have testers of this foundation. If you can find the right shade for your skin tone I highly suggest picking the foundation up because I don't think you will be disappointed with it even at the higher price point!

As for the Dream Blender, I did try and use this multiple times multiple different ways including both wet and dry and nothing really seemed to work great for me. Ultimately I find the sponge too small for the larger areas of my face and I find that the sponge pushes the product around more than is pushes it into my skin. I think for smaller areas like under the eyes for concealer, this would be a better-suited product but to be paired with the Dream Velvet Foundation I feel like it just doesn't work. And honestly, for the price point I don't think this would be a product I would be running out to purchase or ever repurchase for use in my collection. I think you are better off getting a Beauty Blender Dupe or saving for the Beauty Blender if you are looking for a sponge to use for your foundation application!

Have you tried the new Dream Velvet Foundation or Dream Blender?
If so, what were your thoughts on both products?
If not, are they something you are looking to purchase?


** PR Samples was provided by Chick Advisor for review on their website. I have also decided to do an in-depth review here on Embrace & Ignite. All opinions are my own!