Review: Kate Powderless Liquid Foundation in OC-C

I feel like a bit of a traitor, but one of my fave foundations while I was in Korea isn't a BB cream, but a regular ole' liquid foundation from this Japanese brand, Kate Tokyo. I am familiar with Kate and hold their felt tip liners in high regard, even though in recent years they've started to smudge on me. Still, it wasn't a huge leap of faith to try their foundation.

Kate Powderless Liquid Foundation promotion. Shade shown is OC-D, a dark shade I gave to my mom.

Okay, I'll admit I only got it because of the bag freebie. I have this weakness of buying things because of the freebies. I know I'm not alone!!!

Kate Powderless Liquid Foundation + free Kate Tokyo canvas b

Price: KRW 32 000 bought on sale at 25 600 with a free canvas bag

Product Information:

Kate Powderless Liquid Foundation OC-C Swatches - half pump, from where I took a heavy swatch and a blended swatch. The blended swatch was in the process of drying in this photo.

This is a liquid-to-matte foundation. It's particularly described as turning into powder within 15 seconds (via the Kate Tokyo website). The 15-second promise is generally true if you buff it out. Brushing it on or application by fingers takes a little longer at about a minute. It's most likely because buffing allows for the thinnest application, and a thin layer dries faster.

Kate Powderless Liquid Foundation in OC-C, dried. You can see a bit of sheen near the top of the swatch.

The foundation itself is somewhere in between gel-like and moussey in consistency, only a little bit more fluffy than your standard liquid foundation.

Performance:

I like to use my hands with this foundation to further appreciate the texture, but I can't really make it even that way so sometimes I'll still use a brush to buff it out. Coverage is buildable but only up to about a medium, and any serious discoloration or marks still require concealer.

Kate Powderless Liquid Foundation in OC-C on my face. No powder.

My only gripe is that it doesn't seem to interact well with face oils. It's not particularly long-wearing and at about the 3 hour mark, begins to crease and pool. It kind of marbles around on my face oil. It's one of the more transfer-prone foundations I've tried.

Setting powder helps, and I don't mind doing that, but this is advertised as a foundation not requiring setting powder so that may be a huge turnoff to a lot of people.

Kate Powderless Liquid Foundation OC-C catches major LIIIIGHT.

BBT score: 4 / 5 - It's not very durable but it looks too pretty. I'm rebuying this for sure!

Kate Powderless is nice for people with dry skin who want to go matte! It's not perfectly matte but is instead, demi-matte. Its non-drying and very light; product will get into your lines and pores but since it dries translucent, it makes you look like you used primer. That's why even though my skin looks like a pile of poop, this is my skin but better levels of foundation.