I am perpetually late with reviews on products with massive hype. But I have a good reason! I’m lowkey broke most of the time lol. It would be nice to get on some PR lists, but it’s also nice to not have large quantities of makeup I’ll never use taking up space in my one bedroom apartment. Also, did you see the Beauty Blender PR egg, what Imma do with that?! But I digress, I finally got to try out the NYX Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Full Coverage Foundation and guess what?! Ulta actually had my shade available in the store. Now you know someone from Ulta had to be put in a full nelson in order for them to carry colors that deep into the shade range in-store and not just online. So kudos to whoever at NYX used the motivation of cement shoes or whatever strong-arm tactics to get Ulta to have some act right for a non-prestige brand.
Anywho, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. First off the shade range is great, ESPECIALLY for a drugstore makeup brand. It comes in 45 shades ranging from Pale to Deep Ebony. I wear the shade Deep Rich. The retail price is $15.00 for 1 ounce and from what I can find it can be purchased from Ulta, the NYX website, or NYX brick and mortar stores. From the NYX website I have listed what the proposed features of this foundation are below:
- Lightweight
- Waterproof
- Pigmented AF
- Doesn’t transfer
- Matte coverage
- 24 hour wear
- Controls shine and mattifies all day
- Noncomedogenic and suitable for normal, oily, combination, and sensitive skin types
Let’s begin with what I thought to be accurate:
- It is lightweight
- It is pigmented af
- It does provide matte coverage
- It might actually be suitable for all skin types, but the jury is still out
Even though it is a full coverage formula, it is indeed lightweight. The heavy, cakey feeling of many full coverage foundations is why I don’t wear them often. However, while it is lightweight I don’t think it is an everyday formula. It looked amazing on camera, but in the mirror and under natural lighting there were areas that it did look caked on. Particularly between my brows, my upper lip, my smile lines, and the corners of my mouth. I attribute this to the fact that I needed to get my eyebrows threaded, I don’t remove my little mustache, I have pretty deep smile lines, and I shift my mouth a lot because I make a lot of odd faces.
It’s definitely heavily pigmented. I used it with a color corrector and without and had similar results. The coverage is definitely matte, so if you like the porcelain doll effect from a foundation, you’ve got it here. I do question if it is suitable for sensitive skin because I did develop a slight rash at the corners of my mouth that coincide with when I started wearing it, however, I can not say with certainty that the NYX Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Foundation caused it.
Now for the claims I didn’t feel were accurate, at least not for me:
- I’m not sure it’s actually waterproof
- It totally transfers
- 24-hour wear. Ha!
- It doesn’t control shine all day
I’ve never been quite sure what cosmetics companies mean when they claim a foundation is waterproof. Do they mean that if you get caught in the rain you won’t look like a melting wax figure? Do they mean that you can submerge yourself in a pool and then blot your face and foundation won’t wipe off? Do they mean a Youtube vlogger can apply the foundation and then cascade a cup of water down their face and act like they just performed a miracle? I don’t know, so I can’t really speak to whether or not this foundation is actually waterproof without a proper definition of what waterproof is in regards to foundation.
What I do know is that it damn sure does transfer. The faux fur lining of my Primark jacket can attest to this. It didn’t matter what setting spray or setting powder or combination of the 2 that I used, this foundation made it’s way to whatever touched it. However, this is far from a dealbreaker for me because I’ve had much worse transferring issues with other foundations. Especially cream to powder and powder formulations.
This 24-hour wear claim ties right in with the claim that it controls shine and mattifies all day. Maybe to you.
Between the cakeyness around my hairier areas, my excess oil production, and it settling into my wrinkles I would be a fool to try and wear this all day without expecting to look like I’d been frying chicken on a food truck for hours on end. Now if you are a devoid of facial hair, produce the perfect balance of sebum, and use fillers and botox perhaps you can get away with wearing this foundation all day without having to do touch ups here and there. But me, I still needed to blot and about 5-6 hours into wearing it I couldn’t stand to look at how it was separating around my mouth and had to wash it off.
Overall, I really do like the NYX Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Foundation. It does what I need it to do, but I wouldn’t make it my go to day time foundation. I would steer clear of this foundation if you have texture issues, wrinkles, or you have a fair amount of facial hair that you don’t remove because it does bring more attention to these features, especially if you were planning on wearing it as a daytime foundation. However, if your primary concern is covering hyperpigmentation, camouflaging large pores, or just wanting a very even skin tone this is a great product at a great price point.
