I realize that its been a while since I did a product review and so I decided to do one. This review was wrought with hiccups all the way through. The product for review is the Barry M  Flawless Matte Oil Free Foundation. That name is quite a mouthful. So for the purpose of brevity, we’ll call it the Barry M foundation.

This isn’t my first rodeo with Barry M cosmetics. I have tried the It’s a Brow Thing brow powder. I also have tried the Matte Me Up liquid lipsticks. Both products are pretty good. As a drugstore brand most if not all of Barry M cosmetics are affordable. For a drugstore/affordable makeup lover that’s good news.

Barry M Foundation Review

Now onto the product review. First we will talk price and shipment before we dissect the product. The foundation cost £4.99 which in Naira is N2445.85 which is pretty dang affordable. I don’t believe that there is currently a Nigerian brand foundation less than N5000. As to shipping, I purchased mine on Asos which delivers worldwide. Asos does not carry the full shade range so it may be best to go on the Barry M website to see the full shade range which is basically only 10 shades. The shade range definitely isn’t impressive, and it’s quite frustrating, especially because brands like Makeup Revolution have changed the game for drugstore brands.

That’s handled, onto the nitty gritty.

The foundation comes with a pump in a plastic bottle with the total of 30 grams. It is pretty thick in consistency but feels lightweight on the skin. It is more of a demi-matte finish than a fully matte as it claims. The shade match was okay, a little cooler than my face but matched my neck pretty closely. Below is a picture of it swatched besides my other foundations.

This review/wear test actually took two days. This was because, I had a bit of difficulty working this foundation. On my Instagram stories, I filmed my first impressions and was disappointed. I applied the foundation with a brush to one side of my face and the other with a blending sponge.

On both sides, I used pouncing and buffing motions which seemed to sheer out the foundation to little or no coverage. Which resulted in a BB cream finish. Incredibly upset with myself for not researching the product before purchase I took off the product. You can see these saved on my Instagram highlights.

While upset, I went on YouTube to watch other review videos. After watching I realized that the people who got positive results applied it differently. Rather than, pounce or buff, they swiped the foundation. So determined to give the Barry M foundation a fair shot, I tried again. This time using a dense Primark dupe for the Artis brush, I swiped the foundation on. Truthfully, it took this foundation from sheer to medium to build-able coverage.

WARNING; Pouncing or buffing on the Barry M Flawless Matte foundation doesn’t give great coverage. Except you intentionally want a sheer, thin layer, then go right ahead.

Barry M Foundation Wear Test

On the second day, I had this foundation on for 6 hours without blotting below are two check in images of what the foundation looked like when it was first applied and at the 6 hour mark.

For a foundation that claims to be oil free, when initially applied isn’t totally matte. When set with powder, it is totally matte. Otherwise, there is a bit of a sheen. Below is when it was first set with powder.

At the six hour mark, I am only oily around my T zone which is the oiliest part of my face. There  is creasing in my smile lines but that is just a given, There has never been a foundation that doesn’t crease in my smile lines within an hour.

Final Thoughts; affordable,lightweight, skin like finish (a bit too skin like if you ask me) and long lasting.

A pretty good deal for N2500 if you ask me.