Tried And Tested: We Used Penneys’ €5 Longwear Foundation And Totally Loved It!

We know what you’re thinking: a fiver for foundation? It’s going to look and smell like emulsion, right?

We’ll be honest, we had the same reservations when a bottle of Penneys’ brand new PS…Pro Longwear Foundation dropped on our desks. After all, a €5 foundation doesn’t really scream flawless results, does it?

But then we used it, and boy, were we impressed!

STELLAR’s Ciara gives us the run down on how this budget beauty buy racked up against MAC’s Pro Longwear foundation and tells us why she’ll definitely be shopping it again.

Penneys PS…PRO Longwear Mineralized Foundation

The first thing you notice when you pump the product onto the back of your hand is the chemical smell. It smells kind of like spirits so maybe give it a miss if you’re hungover. The foundation contains vitamin A and B so I presumed it would have a fresh smell but I guess not.

I used Penneys’ new mattifying primer first and started to apply the foundation with a brush. It’s quite a thick consistency so I expected it to take a while to blend but I was pleasantly surprised when it blended really easily.

Then there was the coverage.

It’s definitely high coverage, like can’t-see-my-skin coverage (which I love FYI). After one layer I felt that I didn’t need any extra product so I left the concealer alone. The smell at this stage had disappeared. I even asked my friend to smell my face (weird, I know) and she gave the thumbs up.

It took a while to set and I was very aware that I had foundation on so it’s definitely not lightweight.

I applied some bronzer and blusher which set on the product well. I have to say I wasn’t expecting much from this product as it’s only €5 but now I’m really eating my words.

Overall, I loved that the foundation covered my spots and that when I applied products over the top, they sat really well on my skin.

MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation

This is a firm favourite for many Irish gals. At €36.50 a pop it’s quite expensive for a 25ml product.

At first impression it came out a lot quicker than the Penneys foundation as it’s in a tube. It also had that classic MAC foundation smell which I’m not too fond of either.

When I applied this with the same brush it was quite thick and took longer to blend. Grr. I ended up using two layers as the coverage was not high enough to cover my pigmentation and I definitely needed a touch of concealer after applying it.

This felt lighter on my skin than Penneys, probably because of the coverage difference. It also took a while to set on my face. When it did eventually set, it looked nice and fresh as you could still see some of my real skin underneath. It’s definitely one for the gals who like a natural look.

Conclusion

Left: Penneys PS… PRO Longwear Mineralized Foundation. Right: MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation.

As you can see in the pictures they both look pretty similar. The main difference for me was coverage. Penneys covered up redness and spots while MAC did not. The price difference is huge so if you want to save yourself €25 then head over to Penneys hun. I’ll definitely be shopping it.