My all time favorite cruelty free foundation is e.l.f.’s Flawless Finish Foundation in the color Light Ivory. However, it has literally been out of stock for months so I’ve had to start trying out some new foundations and I’m not having much luck. The first one I decided to try is NYX’s Stay Matte but Not Flat Foundation. It is $7.50 on the website and cruelty free like everything NYX.

I bought this foundation in the lightest color they offer, Ivory, and it is described as being for porcelain skin with yellow undertones. One thing I love about NYX is the accurate descriptions they give for almost all of their products. This foundation was a perfect shade match for me because I do have porcelain skin with yellow undertones, so I was very pleased with that. Sadly, that was the only thing I liked about this foundation. My skin is combination with redness and acne. I get oily around my nose and chin but will have dry skin in other places. This is a matte foundation but I thought since my skin is combination it might work for me. I was very, very wrong. This formula clings to every dry patch or any texture your skin may have. This foundation also claims to have full coverage and that is laughable. In the picture above the only reason it looks full coverage is because of the amount of concealer I had to use just to cover my redness. Another negative for some people could be the smell. This has a very strong almost paint-like scent. Now let’s talk about wear time…

Around three to four hours after applying my makeup I was horrified to see how it had broken down. In the picture above you can see how it is almost non-existent on my nose and forehead and what is there is just an awful, clumpy looking mess. I have worn this foundation two different times with two different types of powders and two different types of primers thinking that the problem may be just how it reacted with another product but nope it’s just this foundation.

The shade range for this foundation is awesome but besides that I can not recommend this. If your face is very oily it may work for you but even in my oily areas it just wore off even faster and it didn’t do anything to keep those areas matte. As of right now the e.l.f. foundation is still the one I recommend the most. If you know of any good cruelty free foundations please let me know. I’m even willing to pay a little more for them if they will actually work. Thank you for reading and have a great day!