Beauty : MAC Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact
9:26 PM
Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact is M.A.C.'s contribution to the cushion compact trend, and it's an underwhelming one. Its sheer formula offers light to medium coverage—the familiar "your skin but better," foundation, except we didn't find this to leave our skin looking better due to its tricky shades and dull finish. This was both ironic and unfortunate, given the borderline excessive marketing grandeur M.A.C. has put out for this formula.
Housed in a sleek, mirrored compact, and like all cushion makeup formulas, it dispenses its foundation from a pre-soaked sponge. There isn't any inherent advantage to this application method, but some may find its novelty fun. You can apply with the enclosed silicone-sponge, your fingers, or a foundation brush, whichever method appeals. We found the sponge tended to soak up more product than you needed, which means you end up losing a bit every time you press it into the compact.
The formula itself is best for oily to combination skin, as it dries down to a soft-matte finish. Should you have any areas of skin that are even remotely dry, Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact will find them and take on a patchy appearance. We found its buildable-to-medium coverage helped cover redness and blur the appearance of uneven skin. What resulted, however, was not an improvement.
M.A.C. promises this provides "true-to-life shade perfection," but we found it gave skin a dull appearance. Despite the range of 12 shades, a surprising number had unusual undertones, leaning overly warm. The color palette for this formula is tricky to navigate, made worse by the fact its color seemed to get darker as the day wore on.
Among the marketing claims is that this formula is sweat- and humidity-resistant, neither of which we found to be true—this ran like "Forest Gump" at the first sign of perspiration at the gym. (It wasn't an attractive sight.)
Though it almost isn't worth mentioning given its performance, M.A.C. did include a few antioxidants like caffeine and algae, but the air exposure that results from its open compact during use means there isn't much benefit to be had from them. *sad horn*
Whether you prefer to get your foundation from a presoaked sponge, a bottle or a tube, the fundamental question is whether the product is worth the cost. M.A.C. Matchmaster Intelligence Shade Compact decidedly isn't smart enough to earn your dollars given its tricky shade selection, unattractive finish, and inability to live up to its claims of longwearing, natural-looking performance. Rather than put up with its drawbacks, we recommend checking out the alternatives in the Best Foundations section.
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