Foundation Week 5/7: Most Difficult Foundation - KVD Lock-it Foundation in 52 Warm

Many of the cult-fave, high-coverage liquid foundations often have a trade-off between beautiful, high coverage and ease of use. This hits me really close to home because as a person with dry, textured skin, I am always advised to steer clear of these foundations. But what if I just want to be beautiful? :<

Kat Von D Beauty Lock-It Foundation in 52 (PHP 2400 / 30ml), was a Sephora PH Halloween 60% sale purchase. It's not crazily expensive so I knew I would be getting it someday soon, and that sale was the perfect timing to snap up this long-time lemming.

The Hype

A lot of people love KVD Lock-It. They claim it can stay through a tsunami, an earthquake and a volcanic eruption happening concurrently over a 12-hour period. With this, the coverage is also insane!

When people from the Philippines say something is life-proof, you need to believe it. Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and all these countries are the ones to trust for hulas-free makeup. Fun tidbit: I modelled for a Master Class in the academy one time and the attendee, a Thai bridal shop owner, was sharing how many layers and setting steps she does for their brides. In contrast, I look at London beauty gurus and their tutorials for long-wearing makeup and I'm like.... no, that won't last an hour. So when you have a legit Pinay reviewer with oily skin raving about a life-proof foundation, you take notes.

Masilya Blues

Kat Von D Beauty Lock-it Foundation in 52, dotted and swatched

All told, this foundation is pretty thick to behold. It is liquid and still pumps through standard-size tubing, but that dollop stays risen like stiff white peaks of meringue. It's thick af and pulls like clay when brushed onto skin. I used to bother the workers who do repairs at our house and office, and that masilya thing is IMPOSSIBLE to do. It looks easy because they're used to it and those little metal spatulas look effortless to wield but that's only probably because they're generally stronger than they look.

It takes me about 20 minutes to blend this foundation bare. I've tried thinning KVD out with IHE Squalane Oil and the application experience improves by a lot, but I think it does change the staying power. Alone, this can take on a 12-hour day, with a slight and slow fading on the nose at hour 6. With oil, the nose area in particular disintegrates at about hour 4.

Finish

I'm impressed with how this is on my dry skin. The bumps are a hopeless case but among the difficult foundations, this one doesn't aggravate my flakes. It does kind of pat it down and keep it all sealed, which is a godsend to people like me with crusty skin. It sets matte which is cool, as most matte foundations will emphasize my flakes. It's my first time to have weardown that actually improves it. I don't understand how this lightens on me as the day wears on, because high-coverage foundation normally darkens.

My only gripe: this jacked up finish. I can take application issues because who doesn't suffer for beauty, but this finish is just too much. While it feels like paint, it also looks like paint. It has great coverage, but it also looks mask-like and thick. Personally that's not that big an issue to me, and I think people who have long-wearing issues would rather feel product on their face than not.

I just feel like a fucking tortellini when I wear this foundation. The rest of the face needs to be balanced with drag makeup. I really have a hard time wearing this in my day-to-day, and only do so when I know I'll be sweating a lot, under bright lights or in the dark.

Beauty By Tellie score: 3.5 / 5 - Better than average or me being hipster

I'm being a devil's advocate here, and while I know some people would love to just stop at calling me a devil, you need to listen to my points: KVD is not doing it for me. There's no lie about the locked-ness of the foundation, and in that area alone I'd give it a 5. I'm even impressed that it doesn't worsen or highlight my flake situation and for that alone I'm giving it 0.5 more than how I really feel about it. I also like how it wears down throughout the day: smooth and not too messy. But ultimately, I am fundamentally against the finished look of this foundation.

It makes a lot of sense that it's a huge hit in America. It is fucking pastry face and they do favor Instagram/drag makeup even in real, everyday life. I thought it'd be better once I thin it, but it's super difficult to thin out and using oil has drastically cut the other good thing about this foundation: wear time. While it's great for battle-mode, it's not fitting my aesthetic. It is a 3.5 FOR ME but I highly recommend it to anyone else who has oily skin, commutes and hates retouching in the middle of the day.

*My header image contains an Estee Lauder Double Wear sample, a runner-up for Most Difficult Foundation.

Skin notes: Dry, NC 20 (KVD 52 is a mismatch AGAIN)
 

Foundation Week Tag:

Day 1 - Best BB - Make Up For Ever UV Bright Cushion in Y225

Day 2 - Crazy Luxe Foundation -  Kanebo Luster Cream Foundation* in OC-B

Day 3 - Most Disappointing Foundation - Clio Nudism Water Grip Cushion in 03 Linen

Day 4 - Most Gorgeous Foundation - Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 3.5

Day 5 - Most Difficult Foundation - Kat Von D Beauty Lock-It Foundation in 52

Day 6 - BONUS: Cheating Your Chok-Chok

Day 7 - BONUS: Favorite Non-Foundation Base Product