Yves Saint Laurent All Hours Review -  Full Coverage Matte Foundation

Are you sick of your current foundation or it’s just stopped working for you? Or maybe you’re looking for a high-end foundation for those special occasions where you want flawless skin and full-coverage? It’s not often that I try a new foundation and the YSL All Hours Foundation answers both of these questions for me.

Packaging

Starting with the packaging! It’s YSL so of course, it’s stunning, elegant and sophisticated. With sharp corners and a rectangular lid over the pump top. Using the pump makes me feel like I’m using a small amount of foundation each time and avoiding any wastage. At the end of this bottle, I will definitely be cleaning out the pump to get the very last of the good stuff. It’s so good-looking, I love having it displayed on my beauty desk. I’m not going to lie, it also photographs so beautifully! Wait, all YSL products photograph beautifully. I shouldn’t even need to write that, it’s just a given. This stuff looks good before it even gets on your face.

Application and First Impressions

I normally only use one pump of the bottle, to begin with - the second pump only to apply a second layer around my jawline/cheeks or problem areas. I always apply with a brush, I haven’t tried this with a beauty blender yet. I feel like blenders apply my foundation too thinly and you know I live for full coverage. I use a Smashbox primer too.

The foundation itself is a nice texture and thickness, it doesn’t feel too thick or suffocating when applying and ends up feeling light on the skin all day long. I mentioned before that it’s great for layering and re-applying if needed. It doesn’t cake around my nose or oxidise on my skin which is amazing, allowing for smooth and blended layering at all times.

I have combination skin, dry on my cheeks or blemishes and I can get oily around my T-zone. This foundation seems to be great for up to 6 hours, or longer with one of the Urban Decay setting sprays. I have worn this longer than 6 hours but I have needed to de-oil my t-zone with a powder and it’s fine for another few hours. I can layer over blemishes if needed and it still doesn’t look cakey. Literal sorcery. I normally use the MAC Cosmetics Studio Fix Perfecting Powder (or the Australis Stay Matte Fresh & Flawless Powder) applied briefly with a brush and I’m good to go.

Here’s a photo of wearing the foundation from 8 am - 12:30 pm with no edits. You can see that I look glowy, which isn’t terrible but it can just get oilier from here. Although it looks oily, it still doesn’t seem to oxidise or compromise the coverage. Just the skins type of look. I guess if you’re going for a glowy look, apply this a few hours beforehand or even mix a liquid highlighter into the foundation before applying. I would recommend Marc Jacobs Beauty if you’re going to do this.

Final thoughts

Anyway, it doesn’t settle into fine lines and it covers up pigmentation and blemishes really well without concealer. These two factors made me love it instantly.

The scent, I can’t put my finger on what the scent is but I like it! Kind of cucumber-esque. I have been wearing this every day and the smell hasn’t bothered me at all.

The concealer provides less coverage than I expected and it only slightly makes a difference while wearing the foundation. I’d love to see this with better coverage. I found that I have tried to make it work a number of times but can’t seem to get it to really do much.

Have you tried this high-end foundation? I’d love to know what you thought of it and whether it worked for your skin type?