Again, late on the bandwagon but it’s always good for great things to resurface. This is THE sort of matte drugstore foundation I have been hoping to find for years. I heard about the BYS Matte Liquid foundation from my good friend Ashley Campbell, she’s half African-American and Filipina and is one of the talented singers of the AKAJAM group. I’ve been helping do their makeup for the past few weeks for a concert series called Tuesdays With Gary at Teatrino, Greenhills. Ashley is herself a bit of a beauty expert (the way she does her own makeup is gorgeous, too follow her @mysweetrelease_ashley on IG) and she has oily combination skin and one of her flat out recommendations from the drugstore was this, as she said “Matte kung matte…ito lang talaga nakita ko na okay yung kulay and yung texture matte talaga…” . Ashley’s color is similar to Beyonce/Rihanna which is more between medium tan and deep coloring, deep but not too deep, and the deepest shade which is the 4th I believe in Medium Beige suits her. Before our last concert session I managed to purchase my shade in BYS Matte which is Sand Beige, it’s about Php650+. BYS is an Australian drugstore brand that was launched here last year.
This foundation is water and glycerin based making it to date the most comfortable and hydrating matte foundation I’ve ever worn. It’s hard to explain you have to try it for yourself. It’s not silicon and paraben-free (hello, it’s a drugstore find, parabens are preservatives) but hmmm, ingredients do indicate it’s oil-free, GREAT! And so it’s mineral-oil free to be precise. Believe me I super hunted this baby down since I swatched the tester at SM Aura, the texture is dense yet light, not at all a runny liquid (see my friend Shen’s swatch here…).
BYS Matte foundation coverage is Medium to Full coverage and buildable. I like that it’s a matte foundation that is comfortable to wear and doesn’t look completely flat on the face.
What proves it’s a truly matte finish is if you use powder blushes over the top once the foundation has set, even without powder the colors don’t stick or get splotchy because the surface is matte. I still recommend setting this with a translucent setting powder though. Sand Beige is a PERFECT match for me, it’s a spot on MAC NC30. My first stop on the hunt was one of those dismaying cases where the saleslady enthusiastically “sold it” with all her joyful might, I had gushed over the Sand Beige swatch, and she opened the drawer only to discover no stock in that shade, MY SHADE “Ay, Ma’am, wala na kaming stock ng Sand Beige…baka Natural Beige gusto mo…”. Sorry dear, no, no, no I found my perfect shade, and you are so kind, plus doing your job, but ugh, don’t tell me another shade will suit me after agreeing with me that Sand Beige is perfect. So I went to the Watson’s boutique inside SM Aura as well. They were again kind and friendly, but no Sand Beige in stock, huhu.
Finished look using BYS matte foundation on singer, JULIANNE, set lightly with powder @thisis_julianne on IG
On another day (which might have been the very next day or 2 days later? lol), finally, I found Sand Beige in Watsons Greenbelt 1. I was really happy and blown away again by my own purchase when I used it that night on the incomparable Julianne during our last concert in the series. We’re the same shade so I used my BYS foundation on her which I purchased that very day and I set it with a light dusting of Laura Mercier mineral powder and MAC Studio Fix powder in NC30. I just powdered mainly over the T-zone and under her eyes since she might sweat while performing. Above on Julianne is how a finished look using BYS foundation set with finishing powder.
BYS has around 4 or 5 shades of this BYS Matte foundation available they seem to range I’d say from a MAC NC20 sort of shade all the way to a MAC NC42 I think? That’s what I’m gauging, best to be sure and check it out yourself. BYS cosmetics isn’t available in every Watsons boutique, but I know they’re at SM Aura Watsons boutique, the department store, they might be in SM Makati Department store beauty, and they’re at Greenbelt 1 Watsons boutique. Check this range out and remember, as with any drugstore foundation, you should patch test first not just for color, but for formula in the mall (on your chin or the side of your cheek) and have a walk around for a few hours to ensure you don’t react to it and that it suits your skin type. It’s around the Php650 mark. What do you think, have any of you tried this foundation?
