Rimmel Stay Matte Mouse Foundation

In the battle against my shiny nose (I swear the glare made a car swerve the other day) I count any product with the word ‘matte’ in the title a god send. Rimmel have a few variations on their matte foundations but being a sucker for anything novelty the ‘soufflé’ formula called out to me. Mmm squishy.

As well as promising a matte complexion the packaging also makes the rather bold claim of not 8, not 12 but 16 hour wear. This makes sense if you think about it. Most of us wear our makeup for longer than companies’ claim it will last. If I’m at work then I will be applying at 6:30am and taking it off at 10:00pm. At the very least I want to look like my makeup hasn’t gone walkies by the time I leave the office.


Unfortunately I was disappointed by this foundation. The lightest colour I could find was so yellow/ orange toned it gave me oompa loompa face (100 Ivory). I felt a curious tightening sensation around my eyes as it dried which I disliked (I don’t like being able to feel my foundation that much). I like to apply all products with brushes because I’m funny about getting things on my hands but when I tried applying this with a brush it just would not blend. In my 6:30 in the morning brain fog I managed to leave the house for work with a streak of it across my nose. Not a sexy look. The results are better when applied with your fingers but I HATE doing that.
The product did deliver on the mattifying promise and the staying power was pretty good. By mid afternoon I did have to apply powder to my nose as it was starting to slide off but I do have very oily skin there. Other positives include the packaging, I love a glass jar, and the price, I forget how much it was but it was a lot less the £10 I seem to recall.

It goes without saying that I won’t be repurchasing. This foundation just isn’t for me. If however the colour is a good match for you and you don’t mind applying with your fingers then I would recommend it as it does help mattify your skin and it does last a fair bit longer than most other drugstore foundations I’ve tried, though 16 hours is defiantly pushing it.