Random Product Review! Meow Cosmetics Purrrfect Puss Foundation!

By AG

Purchased

Hi everyone! After several years of use, I think I'm finally ready to tell you about one of my staple products: Meow Cosmetics Purrrfect Puss light coverage powder foundation. Let me tell you my story.

Meow Cosmetics Purrrfect Puss Foundation - 3oz jar (22-30g)

Believe it or not, I have very dry skin. A friend recommended this product to me back when I was first getting into foundation and was having trouble with liquid foundation looking unnatural, so I decided to pick up some Meow samples on a whim. At this point I had no idea that powder foundation is generally not recommended at all for dry skin... and thank goodness, because it ended up being a wonderful mistake! I emailed Meow's color matching specialist Jen (I believe you can still reach her at meowcolorhelp [at] gmail [dot] com) and got a half dozen color recommendations to try out. I ended up matching perfectly to Sleek Korat. For reference, my other closest matches are theBalm Lighter Than Light and DreamWorld Hermetica Juno II. I've never tried MAC foundation, but I believe my match in their line is NC15.

When I apply this stuff over bare skin, it looks about how you'd expect powder to look on dry skin... quite powdery! The breakthrough for me came when I tried using the foundation to set a particularly greasy moisturizer. Turns out giving this powder some base to cling to gives me light coverage and the most natural, skin-like finish I've seen from any foundation I've tried to date. My current routine is to apply the foundation over my fairly tacky sunscreen (I've been using CeraVe's SPF 50 physical face sunscreen for a while now) and the two make a perfect pair. If I'm applying my makeup for an evening event and don't need to wear sunscreen, I mix a drop or two of jojoba oil into my moisturizer before applying it and that works equally well as a grippy base for the powder foundation. If I overdo it on the foundation I can look a little powdery even over my prepped skin, but by the time I get to work the powder has usually hydrated enough to look pretty much undetectable.

It's a little unconventional, but I apply this foundation by stippling it on a little at a time with a fluffy powder brush (I use this one from EcoTools). I never buff it in, partially because buffing makes my skin flake (so hot!) and partially because I simply don't need to - it looks perfect just slapping it on so long as my skin is prepped correctly. Sometimes I'll use a small eyeshadow paddle brush to apply a thicker layer on areas of concern like my undereyes, but honestly, it works just as well to pinch my powder brush and do detail work with the brush tips.

My biggest area of concern (and redness!) is my undereye area. I have red undereye circles that make me look really tired. To my delight, this foundation performs beautifully on my undereyes - it doesn't crease, it's foolproof for me to apply, it feels weightless (unlike heavy cream concealers), and it lasts the whole workday. Since I don't feel comfortable showing my face here, I'll use my eye area to show you how this performs and lasts for me. These aren't flattering photos, but I think they demonstrate the wear nicely.

Here's how my eye with nothing on my undereye area except moisturizer:

As you can see, I've got a lot of redness, especially in the inner corner of my undereye.

Here's how my eye looks after I've applied a thick layer of foundation to my undereye area (and in different lighting, my apologies):

The white specks are from unblended physical sunscreen. I am not very detail-oriented.

I'll be the first to admit that it's not 100% perfect. It may not show here, but I've still got a little bit of red peeking through even after a thick layer. But it's miles better than how it looks without product on, and since it's so much easier to apply and more comfortable for me to wear than my cream concealer, I can totally live with it. This foundation has enough pigmentation that it covers up pretty much all the redness in the rest of my face and evens out my skin tone, but is light enough in coverage that it doesn't make me look doll-like. I get bright red post-acne marks, and this foundation will tone them down substantially but not completely hide them.

Here's how my eye looks about 12 hours after application, including two miles of walking to and from work:

Not too shabby, huh? As mentioned I do have quite dry skin so fading isn't a huge issue for me, but it's still really nice when a product performs this well. I do notice a bit of fading in the center of my face by mid-afternoon (especially when I'm using a lot of tissues), but I still feel put together all day. The foundation starts really breaking down and looking textured/detectable anywhere from 14-16 hours after I apply it, which works just fine for my schedule. Here's how my undereye looks at the 14 hour mark:

The red is starting to really show here, so this stuff isn't totally indestructible. But 14 hours is more than enough for me, and since it's so comfortable and totally brainless for me to apply, I love it.

As a final note, I want to mention that lately I've been hearing disappointing reviews from Meow customers who haven't been receiving good customer service - mostly along the lines of their emails not getting answered if I remember correctly. If this concerns you, I can highly recommend the foundation range from DreamWorld Hermetica. I believe DreamWorld's Luna foundation is very, very similar to Meow's Purrrfect Puss formula, and DreamWorld owner Ellie's customer service is unparalleled. I'm happy to use the rest of my giant 30g Meow jar, but once I'm done, I'll likely switch over to DreamWorld's line so I can give even more support to one of my favorite companies.

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This particular formula costs $1 for a sample bag which should give you a few full-face applications, $12.75 for a mini jar, or $24.95 for the giant jar you see above. Since it has now lasted me multiple years of (albeit sporadic) use, I'm calling that a great deal.

If you're interested in Meow's Pampered Puss formula, my stunning co-blogger Jeannie has done some awesome before and after full-face posts with it. You can find them under our Meow tag here.

Have you tried Meow's foundation, or any other indie foundations? I'd love to hear which ones you recommend!

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