Hack or Whack: Will these three hacks improve your foundation's wear time?
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by all the beauty "hacks" circulating online. Some may even make you even cringe with how crazy and over-the-top they are - remember the one about using a fork as a guide to contour? No thanks! I'd rather stick to practical options, particularly when they look like they can work. So I decided to find out which ones do! I picked out three top hacks that promise to help my foundation look flawless and long-wearing, using products that most beauty junkies would already have in their stash. Are these real HACKS or are they just WHACK?
Hack #1: Applying setting powder before foundation
Popularized by English celebrity makeup artist and Youtuber, Wayne Goss, this makeup hack changes the conventional way of applying makeup because you apply powder both before and after liquids and creams. Fellow PV writer Katsy already tested this on her combi-dry skin so I wanted to see how it would work for my oilier skin type.
Dusting a light layer of powder before putting on my foundation
For this test, I used a thin layer of Nichido Final Powder (P150, Watsons) all over my face before applying my fave Wet n Wild Photofocus Foundation (P500, Shopee), which has a demi-matte finish. While I love that it makes my skin healthy-looking and lasts a decent amount of time, it doesn't help control oil. I applied another layer of the powder to set my foundation, and prayed that this hack would help my foundation perform better.
When freshly applied, my skin looks flawless and shine-free. The hack helped fill in pores in my nose area and made my foundation look perfect! There is a slight flashback in photos but nothing crazy. I recommend using a fluffy stippling brush when dusting powder as packing it on will definitely cause heavy flashback. After 8 hours, my foundation is still intact but I see foundation starting to cake up on my nose and laugh lines. This foundation never caked on me when used normally so it was probably caused by the powder. I see shine peeking through on my usual shiny areas but good thing that it doesn’t look too greasy!
No surprise, this is a TRUE HACK to make your makeup look flawless and airbrushed! The foundation stayed intact throughout the day, though the powder did not help in controlling oil and made the foundation cling to my fine lines a bit. You can remedy this by applying setting powder only on oily areas and where you have visible pores, as opposed to dusting all over the face. If you have dry skin, I would still suggest using a smoothing primer beforehand to prevent foundation from caking on the skin. A mattifying primer will also come in handy for combating shine, but though the hack doesn't help in that department, I would totally use this in my routine on days where I need my makeup to look extra poreless and perfect.
Hack #2: Mixing loose powder with liquid foundation
When Urban Decay’s The Velvetizer Translucent mix-in medium launched in the market, I definitely got curious. The idea is to mix the powder with your liquid foundation so that it creates a velvety matte finish. It sounds interesting because I'd love to be able to control how matte my foundation is but the whopping P2,000 price tag by online resellers made my head spin! So this brings me to the second hack: what if I mixed a loose powder I already have with a runny foundation? It can’t be that different, right?
You can try this with any fine loose powder that you already have but it's probably best to use one that's translucent so it doesn't change the color - unless that's what you want. For this test, I mixed a dime-size amount of the Nichido Loose Powder Powder into about one and a half drops of the Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation (P399, Watsons). I specifically used this foundation because although this is meant to be matte, this never helped control oil on my T-zone. It also has a runny consistency and I wanted to find out if the added powder would make its coverage a little heavier. Mixing the two turned it into a creamy paste.
From left: foundation only, foundation mixed with setting powder
I remember this foundation to be very tacky with a medium coverage but with the powder mixed in, my face felt instantly matte - like it has already been set and powdered! The coverage also changed from medium to full, covering most of my blemishes. The finish is very much the same with Hack #1 but this one felt a bit heavier on the skin. There is a tiny bit of flashback but my skin looks beautifully filtered. I think this hack worked best for flash photography as my skin looks incredibly poreless! By the eight-hour mark, my T-zone and cheek areas are noticeably oily and the foundation started to cake up and settle on my pores. However, the foundation coverage held up better compared to when I used it alone.
Mixing powder with your liquid foundations is a legit HACK! This is not the best hack to help combat oil but it does improve the coverage of foundations with sheer formulas. It also helped to prolong my makeup, but I think it's mostly because the foundation’s formula changed from light to a medium-full coverage. For oily girls like me, I recommend using a mattifying primer underneath to make your makeup budge-proof as well as full coverage.
Hack #3: Spraying cold water instead of Jamsu
With K-beauty on the rise, this somewhat crazy hack had netizens shookt with its promise of longer-lasting foundation using only...water! Jamsu is a setting technique that literally translates to "diving" because you set your makeup with a whole lot of loose powder then dunk your face in a bowl of ice cold water. Katsy already tested this and proved that it works but it's not a particularly efficient way of setting makeup. Can't I just spray cold water all over my face instead?
I filled an empty spray bottle with water and then left it in the refrigerator overnight. After doing my makeup base, I set my whole face with a handful of Nichido Loose Final Powder. I grabbed the bottle from the fridge and generously spritzed cold water all over my face until I looked like I was drenched in heavy rain. Instead of patting it dry though, I parked my face in front of the air conditioner to let it dry before I proceeded with bronzing.
I have to say: after the water dried, I noticed that my skin felt as smooth as a baby’s butt! My face base also looked like it was airbrushed. Both bronzer and blush applied very smoothly and I didn’t see any dry patches whatsoever. My makeup looked so fresh and matte, and it was very lightweight, like I had nothing on. However, there is a noticeable flashback in photos. On my last check-in, the foundation had started to settle into my fine lines and dry areas. Compared to hack #1 and 2, this is the best in terms of oil control. I only noticed oil starting to form by the 6th hour, which is pretty impressive!
Jamsu in a bottle is a real HACK! The cold water definitely locked in the foundation and powder base to make sure that it doesn’t move around throughout the day. This is a good alternative if you don't want to dunk your face in ice water, but you may still want to wrap a towel around your neck to keep the water from dripping onto your clothes. It worked perfectly for my oily skin but it might cause some caking if you have dry skin. However, I wouldn’t recommend doing this everyday as this has a tendency to clog your pores; save it for special occasions when you really need a budge-proof makeup base. Also make sure to use non-HD setting powders as they're less likely to make you look powdery and white in flash photography.
Have you tried any of these hacks? What other crazy but effective hacks do you swear by?
