REVIEW: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind The Lifter

I've been working on my review of the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind "The Lifter" foundation for a few weeks now, with a break in between to whore myself out to the Covergirl 3in1 Stay Fabulous foundation. Being an older gal, a foundation that can smooth my fine lines and mask my pores as well as give me enough coverage to conceal my sun damage is my Holy Grail foundation.  

"Lifting foundation with peptides firms skin and covers instantly, while primer smoothes lines and rough texture."

It comes in 12 shades and I picked up the shade Sandy Beige 220.  I skipped the primer since it advertised itself as a primer built in, and tried applying it four different ways: with a damp beauty blender, with a foundation paddle brush, with a kabuki style buffing brush and with my fingers.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the best application came from the recommended method, fingers.  The other methods just gave me so little coverage that I was almost ready to give up on the foundation.  Luckily I actually read the directions on the bottle, ha! RTFM people.  

Speaking of the bottle, it comes in a bottle with a pump (kudos Maybelline - now why doesn't Superstay 24Hr have a pump eh?) and you can see the neato swirl of foundation and primer throughout the bottle.  Looks kind of fancy doesn't it.  

The pump itself was easy to control, dispensing as little as a 1/4 pump to the full pump amount.  Here I have both the Lifter and some of the more liquid CG 3in1 Stay Fabulous on my hand, and the texture is very mousse-like.  Similar to the Dream Mousse foundation I think.  The texture is part of what makes finger application the best, because the foundation doesn't seem to spread very well using a brush or a sponge applicator.  Your fingers also help warm up the foundation as it smooths over your skin.

As you can see with the shot of my right cheek in all its uncovered natural glory, I have a lot of sun damage, visible cavernous pores and plenty of fine lines.  After working the foundation into my skin, it blurred some of my imperfections and filled my pores in really well without pooling pigment into them and drawing more attention to them.  I would call this a light to medium coverage foundation, at the most buildable to medium so if you have more than minor imperfections that need overage, you will need a separate concealer.  I didn't notice any "lifting" effects from this foundation but really, you aren't expecting a face lift in a bottle for $13.99 (kind of on the high end for a drugstore foundation)

The finish is a demi-matte and very natural looking.  I would definitely reach for this foundation on days that I'm kicking back and not wanting to fuss too much but still look put together.  It goes very well with minimal natural makeup look.  As far as wear time, if you are oily skinned like me, make sure you set your T zone with a translucent powder and expect to blot at the 3-4 hr mark.  It does not seem to fade in a blotchy way and by the end of the day it still looked decent, down to a light coverage I think.  

Hooray for no cake face!   The primer in the foundation works very well in filling pores and lines, you might extend the wear of the foundation by using a separate primer underneath, but I was plenty happy without one.

My only complaints about this foundation are the lack of sun protection (an anti aging product without sun screen?  Are you insane?), the speed at which it wears away on my oily skin, and a teeny bit more coverage would be nice.  Overall tho - it's a great product.  Very pretty natural look, and if you have dry or normal skin, with not too much coverage needed or wanted, this might be the perfect foundation for you.

Packaging: A

Color Match: B

Longevity: B

Finish: A

OVERALL GRADE: B+

DISCLAIMER: I bought this with my own money and am not affiliated with Maybelline at all. All opinions are solely my own

What Else I'm Wearing:

Concealer:  Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser for Dark Circles in Neutralizer 150

Eyes: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Rich Mahogany on the lid, Bad to the Bronze blended up into the crease, UD Snakebite on the lid, Tease blended into the crease, W&W Creme Brulee on the brow bone.  Bobbi Brown Slate on the brows with Lioele's Auto Artist Eyebrow Pencil in Grey.  Forgot to curl lashes and put mascara on

Cheeks:  Milani Dolce Pink on the cheeks, W&W Reserve Your Cabana as a highlight, and NYX Matte Bronzer as a contour shade

Lips: Vasoline and NYX Nude lip pencil