I love trying out new drugstore foundations, because I feel like brands are always trying to up their game and bring something new to the table or compete with the trends that are happening in higher end products. Of course, when I had the opportunity to test the Maybelline Dream Velvet Foundation* and the Maybelline Dream Blender*, I was 100% in to give it a go. Now, to be fair, my skin is very finicky with matte foundations, especially in the winter, so I knew that there was a strong possibility that this wasn't going to work for me, but I'm always willing to try anyway.

If you're interested in my experience with these products, keep reading!

"Why you'll love it

Travel. Selfie. Interview. You always want to look amazing, and amazing starts with a solid foundation. Now you can have fresh, hydrated skin, a velvety matte finish and seamless coverage to face the world boldly and beautifully.

The thing that interested me about this was the claim that it's a hydrating matte formula. I can't think of another brand that has claimed to have a hydrating foundation with a matte finish, so I was definitely intrigued, especially because matte foundations can really tend to look dry on my skin.

As you can see, this foundation comes packaged in a squeeze tube. To be honest, this is actually one of my favorite types of packaging for foundation because it keeps sunlight from effecting the product and it's easy to put on the back of my hand for application. I chose the shade 20 Classic Ivory and, though I thought when I first squeezed it on the back of my hand that it was going to be too dark for me, it was a pretty bang on shade match for my natural skin tone currently. 

This foundation is very, very thick. I would say that the consistency is sort of a like a cream foundation that's been whipped. It's not quite as thick as a traditional cream, but it's significantly thicker than pretty much any other liquid foundation I've tried in the drugstore. I tried a few different ways of blending this, but I found that the best way was to smooth it onto the skin with my fingers and then really press it in with a damp beautyblender.

For me, I really ended up feeling two ways about this. For the first couple of hours after I applied it, I thought it looked beautiful and really gave me a flawless look and finish on the skin. However, I wouldn't say it was entirely matte. I do feel like there was some natural looking glow and luminosity on my skin still. Unfortunately, after a few hours of wear it would end up emphasizing any dry spots on my skin and just in general looking dry in some spots and really obviously sitting on my skin rather than blending with it in others. I suspect that this is just an incompatibility with my skin type situation, because - like I said - matte foundations can be a little tricky for me. I tried adding a couple of drops of oil to the foundation, but that didn't really change the way it performed. I also tried mixing it with a more sheer, dewy foundation from my collection and that actually worked best, giving me a really natural coverage and finish without any of the dryness later in the day.

• Makeup blending sponge that delivers even foundation coverage and a smooth finish.
• This makeup blending sponge is ideal for gliding over large areas and targeting hard-to-reach curves.
• Must-have tool for flawless makeup application.

Why You'll Love It
This latex-free and re-usable beauty blending sponge has a built-in handle for effortless and mess-free application.

This tool is actually really, really cute. It has a creamy white, pointed sponge and a little handle that I assume is meant to make it easier to get into the little contours and crevices in your face. I actually do really like the design of it. I was cautiously optimistic about this tool, but unfortunately it didn't really work for me. The sponge on here is much too dense to really get that softness that you want with an applicator sponge to really move the product the way you need to in order to work it into the skin. I tried dampening this, but it didn't loosen the texture at all, and as a result I feel like this was mostly just lifting product off my face rather than really blending it in. Great idea, but it just isn't functional the way I needed it to be.

My overall thoughts on these products are quite mixed. I think that if you have oily skin, this could really be a great affordable foundation for you that doesn't go too far to the matte and would give a more satin/natural finish to oily skin. Unfortunately, used along it definitely is not for dry skin though, and will really end up emphasizing any drier areas of your skin. I would recommend this for people in their teens or 20s with an oilier skin type. I will definitely keep using this mixed with another foundation, but I don't think I will repurchase. The Dream Blender was a definite miss for me, but I do hope that maybe they'll take it back to the drawing board and put out another blending sponge that is softer.

Thanks for reading!