Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Foundation & Primer

I think one of the most anticipated foundation launches this year was the base products by Pat McGrath Labs. I first found Pat McGrath when I discovered Armani beauty over a decade ago. She’s an iconic makeup artist. I grabbed both the primer and the foundation. I love the heavy weight boxes the product comes in. The foundation box has a flip top. The Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Foundation has a nice heavyweight glass bottle with a pump top. I find the pump easy to use and it dispenses a little at a time if you want it to. No spurting out of unwanted product, you can pump out a tiny dot if you wish. I really like that. Details per Pat McGrath:

Mother’s instantly iconic foundation builds weightlessly from a sheer veil to flawless medium coverage in 36 universal colour choices and five shade levels custom-curated for all skin types, tones and undertones. The second step in Mother’s SUBLIME PERFECTION SYSTEM delivers a customisable couture finish that brings the runway to real life in a few powerful drops. Silky and luxurious, it feels creamy to the touch and delivers controlled, easily buildable coverage. Self-setting, post-perfecting and longwearing, its sublime satin finish lasts all day.

Sublime Technology

This nourishing formulation is crafted with a Vita-Serum Complex designed to help fight the formation of wrinkles by preserving the hydrolipidic film barrier of the skin. This complex boosts hydration by activating the natural production of hyaluronic acid and ceramides. Diamond Core Powder Technology improves skin texture by optically smoothing and blurring the appearance of fine lines and imperfections. An illuminating soft-focus pigment blended into the formula converts and scatters light, emulating the effect of a healthy, youthful complexion. Formulated without parabens, talc or fragrance. Oil-free.

This foundation has a really nice lightweight fluid texture. I love a good liquid. You get light to medium coverage. It’s a really buildable foundation without looking heavy or cakey. This foundation is affected by what type of primer you wear under it. It’s naturally more dewy so if you wear it over a dewy primer you’ll intensify it. If you wear this over a matte primer you’ll tone down the dewy part some. I’ve heard this can cling to patches on some people probably from the alcohol content. It does set and dry down a touch so the wet shade does change and oxidize a touch. I don’t find it drying or uncomfortable from the alcohol at all (some foundations with alcohol I do find drying).

This foundation has nice longevity. It doesn’t break down on me or fade even after a long 16 hour day in the Texas summer heat and humidity. It does get a little more dewy in the t zone as the day goes on but nothing too bad. This foundation has a really nice silky lightweight feel. I like the longevity and it’s dewy but not too dewy. It’s got a nice comfort satin finish. For me it’s in-between a satin and dewy foundation. For having 36 shades I had a hard time finding the perfect shade for me. Normally I’m the deepest neutral light medium or lightest neutral medium shade. The light medium in this range seems darker than normal light mediums. And the medium shades seemed deeper than normal as well. Plus they oxidize some so keep that in mind.

I started with shade Light Medium 14 which is described as light medium with neutral/olive undertones. It’s a little darker than I anticipated so I ended up trying Light Medium 13 described as having yellow undertones. That shade was too golden so I tried Light Medium 10 which is described as having peach neutral undertones but it’s a too pale. Lastly I grabbed Light Medium 11 described as having pink undertones which is way too peachy pink. It oxidizes much more intensely pink. Those were the only options I had. I noticed the range runs quite warm and too yellow or pink in the undertones. None of them are described as cool toned only as pink. There was no real beige selections which is what I tend to go for. The neutral shades were also really peachy, yellow or warm. So if you truly are a cooler toned person that’s not pink or a neutral toned beige person like me you may have a hard time finding an undertone for you.

Ultimately Light Medium 14 was my best fit. It doesn’t oxidize as much as the others and was the least golden, peachy or pink. I was going to try to mix a little Light Medium 10 into it for winter to lighten it but it’s too peachy for me then. So I love the foundation itself and the skin like dewy satin finish it gives but the tones are quite warm overall.

I also grabbed the Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Primer. Details per Pat McGrath:

Makeup meets skincare in the ultimate smoothing, skin-refining Primer. The first step in Mother’s iconic SUBLIME PERFECTION SYSTEM primes, smoothes, hydrates and renews with a sublime silken effect that instantly turns back time on your complexion by preventing transepidermal moisture loss.

Infused with hydrating hyaluronic acid, this major moisture magnet helps preserve skin’s most youthful qualities, including suppleness, elasticity and tone. Water-soluble purified botanical extracts perform on multiple fronts to refine the appearance of pores as this luxe, water-based formulation awakens and refreshes for visibly smooth skin with a velvety matte finish.

The primer has a light silicone feel to it. It does help blur imperfections a little bit and it’s not too heavy feeling on the skin. It’s like a light silky silicone primer. I found it hydrating but not too much. Some silicone primers can make me greasy by the end of the day, this one wasn’t bad at all. It was OK but it wasn’t a stand out primer for me. My main issue with it is the extremely cheap packaging. The label was peeling off the back on arrival to me. Plus it’s in a cheap plastic pump bottle. It looks like drugstore cheap. For $60 there’s no way I feel the product inside makes up for the cheap packaging. It doesn’t feel luxury at all. The foundation bottle is gorgeous and it has a nice luxury feel to it. When a product has luxury prices the packaging can help solidify your opinion of whether or not it was worth it or not. I would say the primer can be skipped. The foundation is gorgeous if you can find a shade match.

Top to Bottom-Primer, Light Medium 13, Light Medium 14, Charlotte Tilbury Wonder Glow 6, Tom Ford Flawless Glow Natural 06, Decorte Soft Creme Warm Beige:

Ingredients Foundation

-Unique Polymers: Provide lasting wear, ultimate smoothness, and a luminous finish.
-High-Purity Pigments Treated with Amino Acids: Deliver enhanced wear, a creamy feel, and controlled and easily buildable coverage.
-Diamond Core Powder: Enhances radiance and skin luminosity and decreases appearance of skin imperfections.

Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Isododecane, Alcohol, Glycerin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Ipdi/Di-C12-13 Alkyl Tartrate/Bis-Hydroxyethoxypropyl Dimethicone Copolymer, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Cetyl Peg/Ppg-10/1 Dimethicone, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Sodium Chloride, Aluminum Hydroxide, Benzimidazole Diamond Amidoethyl Urea Carbamoyl Propyl Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Di-C12-13 Alkyl Tartrate, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Hexyl Laurate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Rubus Idaeus Leaf Cell Culture, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Dehydroacetate. May Contain / Peut Contenir / +/- : Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (Ci 77492, Ci 77491, Ci 77499).

Ingredients Primer

-Hyaluronic Acid: Hydrates by attracting moisture from the air to help support preserve the youthful qualities of the skin, including suppleness, elasticity, and tone.
-Cosmetic Filler Powder: A coated, microsphere powder meant to mimic the smoothness and clarity of ceramic to fill-in the look of wrinkles and diffuse light, creating an even and luminous surface that also feels incredibly smooth.

Water, Glycerin, C13-15 Alkane, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, C12-16 Alcohols, Sodium Polyacrylate, Palmitic Acid, Sodium Potassium Aluminum Silicate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Ethylhexylglycerin, Caprylyl Glycol, Silica, Disodium Edta, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Polysorbate 60, Sorbitan Isostearate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Poloxamer 338, Peg-8, Tocopherol, Cirsium Eriophorum Callus Extract, Mica, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Tocopheryl Acetate, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491).