Review: Wet n’ Wild Photo Focus Foundation + Setting Spray

Wet n’ Wild is a great budget beauty brand that is giving bigger brands like Revlon and L’Oreal a run for their money. After hearing the hype about their Photo Focus Foundation, I just had to give it a try – and I grabbed the setting spray while I was at it, the price was right!

Keep reading to see how I fared with both as I share the details of my Photo Focus review.

*this post includes affiliate links*

 

Review: Wet n’ Wild Photo Focus Foundation, shade “Porcelain” – $5.99USD

My skin normally falls on the oily side, but has decided to have an identity crisis for the last couple months and is now super dry. This skin change definitely made testing out the Photo Focus Foundation a bit challenging…

I could never find this foundation in the drugstore, so I ordered it in a recent beauty haul from Amazon. Photo Focus Foundation is supposed to be a “high performing” skin perfecting foundation that Wet n’ Wild claims has been thoroughly tested under seven different photo lighting conditions to give you flawless, photo ready skin.

Made with a matte, light diffusing formula, this foundation promises to improve your complexion without leaving a white cast in photos (a.k.a. flashback).

It comes in 20 shades; I selected the lightest shade, “Porcelain”, to try out. Photo Focus doesn’t have a pump, but comes with a plastic spatula attached to the lid that allows you to dab the foundation onto your brush, skin or sponge.

This stuff does have a funky “foundation” smell when you open the bottle, but it seems to fade after a few minutes.

Application & Coverage

Applying the Photo Focus foundation with a brush instantly gave me a full coverage base, whereas applying it with a damp makeup sponge gave me much more sheer coverage.

The foundation blended out well for most of my face and helped to minimize the pores on my cheeks while not settling into any fine lines or overly accentuating any of my texture issues there. However, I did have issues blending it into the skin on and around my nose, as well as on my upper lip (which are my drier areas).

It seemed to visibly sit in every nook and cranny of my upper lip and made the flaky bits on my nose look even worse, if that’s possible.

A little goes a long way with this foundation, so you have to be careful not to over apply it. The Porcelain shade is very light and would probably work better on my skin in the winter when it’s a couple shades paler.

It feels slightly tacky on the skin after application, but I normally set my face with powder, so this wasn’t an issue for me.

What was an issue? This foundation is soooooo drying on the skin, which would have been perfect if my skin was still oily, but was a train wreck on my newly dry skin.

It didn’t matter how much Mac Fix+ I sprayed onto it, not a drop of moisture was to be had. I tried it out several times, sometimes with a thicker moisturizer underneath, other times with a moisturizing primer.

Nothing helped. It looked horribly matte and dry on me no matter how I tried to MacGyver a solution for it. Even adding facial oil to it didn’t help.

Longevity

Photo Focus lasted all day on me (we’re talking 12 hours baby!) and held up during the hot summer weather extremely well. I feel like it lasted even longer than my Estée Lauder Double Wear foundation; a foundation that retails for eight times more. It also didn’t rub off or cake up during the day, although I’m not sure if this is due to the formula, or because my skin is super parched right now and just holding onto makeup better in general. I have to admit, I was always so relieved to remove this foundation at the end of the day; it was so drying on my skin that I felt as if it was sucking out my life force.

 

Final Thoughts 

Wet n’ Wild’s Photo Focus Foundation would be great for anyone with non-flaky, normal to oily skin looking for a long lasting, matte, full coverage foundation that blurs pores and imperfections nicely, with no flashback. A great foundation really, if not for my skin’s sudden change of heart from being oily to dry.

I really tried to make it work on my dry skin, because I’m not a quitter and I really wanted to love this foundation!

Alas, I still looked like I had spent 40 days in the desert after wearing Photo Focus, especially down the centre of my face where I seem to experience the most dryness. If my skin ever goes back to being oily, I might give this one another go, but for now it’s been moved to my “not in use” drawer.

Repurchase? Definitely not while I have dry skin, however Wet n’ Wild has now come out with a Photo Focus Dewy Foundation that might be a better option for me.

 

Photo Focus Setting Spray – $4.99 USD

I have to mention right off the bat that the mist on the Photo Focus setting spray is just PERFECTION! It sprays a soft, light mist evenly onto your face, so you know I’m keeping this bottle after the spray is finished to decant my facial toners into.

Wet n’ Wild claims that this setting spray is supposed to extend makeup wear without cracking, smudging, fading or creasing. It’s made for all skin types and includes aloe to give your skin a boost of hydration.

My makeup lasted all day with this setting spray, although my dry skin probably helped it out a bit. I’d really like to test this spray out on my formerly oily skin, if it ever decides to make a comeback.

The setting spray didn’t alter the matte finish of the Photo Focus Foundation either, so you don’t have to worry about it giving you any unwanted dewiness (although I could really have used some, as my skin looked like sandpaper by day’s end).

Given that my skin was still super dry after applying it, I don’t really feel it lived up to its promise of skin hydration, but that’s usually not what most people are looking to get out of a setting spray. It does have a faint smell, but nothing offensive that would turn me off using it.

My only complaint? I wish it came in a larger size. With 45mL of product, I feel like I will blow through this when I start wearing makeup on a daily basis again.

Luckily the price point is great, so the refills won’t put a hole in my wallet.

Would I repurchase? Yup.

BUY IT: ULTA

 

Have you tried anything from the Wet n’ Wild Photo Focus range? Has this review changed your mind about purchasing?