Review: Maybelline White SuperFresh

When was the last time you got well and truly pumped for a new product? With all the “innovations” coming in minuscule increments (hello, front camera “upgrades” from 0.3 megapixels to 1.2 megapixels), coupled with baldfaced marketing tactics that get old after the 15^th “best foundation EVER” of the season. There are so many empty promises being flung about that it's obviously going to take something special to convince us skeptical consumers, right?

Something like a live demo? A live demo you can actually try with your own hands? 

Yup, you guessed it; here’s a .gif of me shamelessly playing with the Maybelline White Superfresh in-store demo.

Brand X versus White SuperFresh

(And I obviously  don't have enough coordination to shoot this horizontally)

P299 for the compact; P199 for the refill. Both contain 9g of product.

I rarely get the compacts because I apply/retouch in the bathroom anyway, but this one looked so clean and Mac/iPhone-ey so I had to get it.

I look like a sci-fi movie phone!

Back to all that amazing absorbency

The secret ingredient here is perlite, which is supposed to absorb 5x better than talc. Absorb what, exactly? Probably water/sweat, because most of it just slides off my oily nose after two hours.

In case you were wondering, this is what it looks like when you get a drop of water on it (left), and when a blending sponge gets some residual moisture on it (right)

02 Nude Beige

Left: weird bump from absorbing a water droplet

Right: little bumps from the moisture of a blending sponge

Yes, you can apply this with a blending sponge, just squeeze the sponge into a towel first, to avoid getting the pan damp and bumpy. The sponge that comes with it is a bit hard and cakes on too much product for my liking, but that may be so that there's enough to absorb the oil and sweat. A brush or blending sponge will give a more natural finish though.

Left: Bare face; Right: One layer of White Superfresh in 02 Nude Beige

I didn't use concealer for the pictures above so that you can see that it's medium to full coverage (and because I hate everything about concealers).

One thing about the super moisture-absorption part though is that this tends to highlights dry spots. In fact, this brings out dry spots I didn’t even know I had before putting it on.

*update: I am pretty sure that it's causing some of the dry spots, but at the same time, it seems to be making zits dry up faster by absorbing the moisture. So just double up on moisturizer where you need it.

I don't know if I'm just imagining it, but my face felt a tiny bit drier after a week of continuous use. It doesn't feel that way when I use a blending sponge though, or when I actually take the time to put on some moisturizer.

As for the 12-hour promise: I get 8-10 hours of wear time, except on the t-zone where it slicks off at just under 2 hours -- but at least it leaves a vestige of matte-ness for the remaining 6-8 hours.


Summary (updated):

Pros:

•  Long-wearing ; lasts around 8-10 hours for me, except for the oilier areas of the face.
• SPF 34
• Mattifying
• Can be applied dry or a tiny little bit damp (towel off the blending sponge first!) 
• Chic packaging
• Helps dry out my face invaders/zits -- this might be peculiar to my weird skin though

Neutral:

• Full coverage

Cons:

• Medium oil control
• Highlights dry spots
• Limited shade selection. Available in 4 shades: Honey, Sand Beige, Natural, and Nude Beige
• Slightly drying

Performance Rating: 4/5

Longevity: 4/5

Scent: n/a

Packaging: 4/5

Price: 4/5

Rebuy: Rebought and backed up. I didn't mention it earlier because it's such a trivial thing, but the actual selling point for me was that for the first time, Maybelline had a shade within the same color family as my face.

Have you tried White SuperFresh yet? Does it have a better relationship with your nose? Share your experiences with us in the comments!