Review + Swatches: Does the Maybelline Superstay Foundation slay all day as promised?

When it comes to trusted drugstore brands, Maybelline always makes the cut. Their base products are some of our favorites as their foundations are budget-friendly with great formulation. The new Maybelline Superstay 24HR Full Coverage Liquid Foundation (P499) is so good that it won the Allure Best of Beauty 2018 for Full Coverage Foundation! With such a glowing recommendation, I was very excited to try it out!

The first thing I noticed was the packaging. The foundation is now housed in a white capped glass bottle with a definite improvement from the favorite Fit Me. The included pump of the Superstay trumps the open bottle packaging of the Fit Me foundation, as it helps avoid accidental spills and product wastage.

I got to swatch 4 out of the 6 available shades here in the Philippines. The shade range is a far cry from the extensive 28 options available in the US, so you’ll have to hope that the one you need is locally available. From the swatches, the closest shade match I got was 220 Natural Beige. For reference, I was a 228 Soft Tan from last year’s Fit Me.

The shade Natural Beige isn’t an exact match on me so I have to check out the other 2 shades in the line-up. It’s a pretty close match though, and I can get away with wearing it without much correction. In my photo below, I’m wearing Natural Beige on the left side while the other is bare. I find that it has decent coverage but I don’t feel that it gave the heavy coverage promised. You can, however, build it up for fuller coverage but the performance would then rely on your skin type and skin prep. For this test, I simply used my normal moisturizer and didn’t apply any sunscreen or primer.

Bare face

As the name of the product suggests, the Superstay promises full coverage and lasting wear for 24 hours. It did a good job of covering the visible pores on my nose, the redness around my lip area, as well as some darkness under my eyes. I also did not use concealer for this test to really see the coverage.

Wearing full makeup in indoor lighting

According to Maybelline, this foundation is "perfect for normal to dry skin types." My skin is mostly dry these days and I felt that it was a good fit. I didn’t set with powder after applying my makeup as it already looked like the natural skin effect I normally go for.

Left: Wearing makeup in natural lighting; Right: After 7 hours of wear in indoor lighting

I wasn’t able to test out the foundation’s claim of 24HR full coverage as I rarely have makeup on for 24 hours, and the longest I had it on was for around 10 hours. At the 7th hour, you can already see some oil build-up as well as my skin texture. I find that blotting prolongs the foundation’s lifespan, as well as using primer and setting with powder. But even without those “extenders”, I have to say I’m quite satisfied with performance. The coverage is still there with very minimal fading!

Overall, I would recommend this to normal to dry skin types like mine. If you watch Liz’s lives over at the Project Vanity Facebook page, she used this foundation in one of the live videos and has a different first impression on it. For Liz’s oily-combination skin, she found the Superstay a bit oily and wet after application, though it did set with a good dusting of setting powder. The Fit Me formula still wins as her pick as the better Maybelline foundation, so your mileage may vary depending on your skin type.

If you want to try the new Maybelline Superstay 24HR Full Coverage Liquid Foundation, now's the time to get it! It’s currently on sale for only P399 until December 31.

Have you tried the Maybelline Superstay 24HR Full Coverage Liquid Foundation? Are you a Team Superstay convert, or would you still slay for Team Fit Me?

Ingredients: CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, AQUA / WATER, POLYPROPYLSILSESQUIOXANE, ISODODECANE, DIMETHICONE, C30-45 ALKYLDIMETHYLSILYL POLYPROPYLSILSESQUIOXANE, PEG-10 DIMETHICONE, GLYCERIN, SILICA, DIMETHICONE/POLYGLYCERIN-3 CROSSPOLYMER, SODIUM CHLORIDE, NYLON-12, PHENOXYETHANOL, DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE, DISODIUM STEAROYL GLUTAMATE, CYCLOMETHICONE, CHLORPHENESIN, ETHYLPARABEN, DISODIUM EDTA, ACRYLONITRILE/METHYL METHACRYLATE/VINYLIDENE CHLORIDE COPOLYMER, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, DIPROPYLENE GLYCOL, ISOBUTANE, PARAFFIN, SODIUM CITRATE, TOCOPHEROL, ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL, [+/- MAY CONTAIN CI 77891 / TITANIUM DIOXIDE, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499 / IRON OXIDES ] G854042