A Bit About Designer Brand Cosmetics

Designer brands are owned by Total Beauty Network who also own ‘Colour by TBN’ and ‘Inika Organics‘ all three brands are proudly Cruelty-free certified by Choose Cruelty-Free Australia and include a lot of Vegan products in their ranges. (I may have just discovered a couple of new brands to check out that’s always exciting.)

Designer Brands was started in 2006 by husband and wife team Tony and Sharon Rechtman. Their concept for DB was to provide quality products at affordable prices.

Over a decade on they claim to have sold over 2 million products via their 4000 or so stockist around Australia. The brand provides products that are free from parabens, talc and bismuth and have also obtained vegan & cruelty-free certification across their makeup range.

About the Matte ‘Velvet’ Foundation

On the website, they claim that this is a matte finish with buildable medium to full coverage. It is supposed to be non-drying on the skin meaning it shouldn’t dry out your skin and is a non-caking formula.

It’s also supposed to be formulated with some skin-loving ingredients like Shea Butter, Aloe Vera, Vitamins C & E as well as including a peptide infusion to help plump and firm the skin.

They also claim that you can use a brush or sponge for application and apply over your favourite primer.

It comes in 6 shades and retails for $16.99

My Thoughts on the Designer Brands Matte ‘Velvet’ Foundation

Okay so now that we have touched on the brand and product claims, I can get on to how I feel about the product and what my thoughts are.

Application

This is a product I really, really wanted to like, I was so excited to try it out to see if it rivalled some more expensive foundations I even featured it in my favourite base products post (which is no longer up) because I really thought I liked it to start off with but after using it for a prolonged period of time I don’t think it really works well for me at all and I’m quite disappointed.

I just found it kind of hard to apply, it ended up looking cakey and streaky upon application when I used a brush and I found it even harder to apply with a sponge.

I found when I did use a sponge it soaked it up a lot of product and then gave me a patchy application and if I added more of the sponge I struggled to get it to apply nicely on the skin. I would often just go with the brush method and then use a sponge after just to make it look less streaky and more blended.

Using A Primer

They say that you can also use your favourite primer underneath, I tried a few different primers with this foundation and I don’t know why but for some reason with I found it just didn’t want to stick to my most of my nose.

I actually felt like the application looked a lot worse if I used a primer so I mostly just used moisturiser and then applied the foundation.

Setting VS Not Setting

I have tried both setting and not setting, I usually prefer to set my base because I don’t really like my hair sticking to my face which I find happens often if I don’t, just my personal preference.

I did find that the product would often pick-up when trying to blend out (before setting) or set with a powder.

Shade Range

The shade range is very small only 6 shades, the lightest being ‘Porcelain Ivory‘ and the darkest being ‘Warm Honey‘. I do find most of the foundation ranges from DB have a very small amount of shades. It would be great to see them branch out and add in a few at either end for fairer and darker skin-tones.

The Lightest shade ‘Porcelain Ivory’ which is still a bit dark for me, and more yellow toned than what I usually go for, I will quite often use lightening drops with it to counteract the yellowness and to lighten to my shade match.

It also starts to oxidize within a few mins of pumping out of the bottle but I can work with it like I said by adding lighting drops. It would be great though to not have to do that and to be able to find a closer match to my skin tone.

Formula

The formula is definitely medium to full-coverage like they claim and the foundation texture is more of a moosey kind of formula it is rather thick and I think this is why I found it kind of hard to use.

Wear Test

I have tried a few things out for my wear test including re-application around my nose, I wear glasses quite often when I’m working on the computer or reading so I thought this would be a good time to check out if it layers well.

I tried both setting and not setting my base and I didn’t add any additional products for this wear-test like lighting drops, etc. In some photos you can see that the shade is quite yellow and in others it looks more like it could match my skin, it is just the different light sources, I’ll mark them below the images.

For the unset test, I realised I was using the wrong aperture settings so if the images look a bit blurry I apologise.

Unset

First Application

For initial application I just used a brush, I found that I still had a problem with streakiness, I’m not sure if that’s shows up in the photos. And because the shade match isn’t great I tried to bring it down my neck a bit.

I didn’t set my base or use a primer underneath.

Note: Sorry for that bad lipstick application, I sware it doesn’t normally look that bad, I ended up changing it anyway.

5 hours After Application

I don’t think it looked too bad after 5 hours wear, there are oils showing through I feel like it still looks textured, especially on and around my nose.

8 hours After Application

The makeup did remove a bit on my nose from wearing glasses but that’s to be expected though. I tried reapplying a bit of foundation with a brush, it worked ok but still can see marks and looks a bit cakey. I had creasing under my eyes which is not uncommon, it happens if I don’t set under eyes.

Thoughts After Test

As far as all day wear goes I think this foundation is good, but the application is the hard part. I just find the finish on the skin isn’t very flattering.

Wear test with Setting.

First Application

I didn’t use any primer, I just used moisturizer and then applied the foundation, I then set with a translucent powder.

I found that when setting my nose it picked up some of the foundation, you might be able to see that in a couple of the above photos.

5 hours After Application

Only showing a little bit of oiliness coming through, I reapplied foundation over my glasses marks with a sponge but they are still quite obvious and It looks very textured.

If you have any tips for people who wear glasses that would be great, to prolong the wear of foundation on the nose.

Several Hours After Application

By the end of the day, I saw a fair bit of oil come through, though I purposely left it to see how it wore without blotting.

Thought after test

I much prefer this set than un-set but that personal preference.

I think the last picture on the bottom right really shows the texture that this gives my skin especially because I found it difficult to wear a primer underneath. I have even tried one of DB’s own primers and I found I had similar results.

Final thoughts

Honestly, I really wanted to love this foundation I’ve been using it for months because I’m trying to pan it. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong but this product just didn’t work for me like I wanted it to. I tried so many things and I just couldn’t get it to work. 

If anyone has tried this and can get it to work for them let me know? 

I’m still a fan of this brand though, I don’t mind some of the other products I’ve tried from them. I will definitely keep my eye on this brand in the future. I think they create some fun products, they are quite affordable and are an Australian Owned brand which I think is great.

Would you like to see any more of these types of reviews in the future? Let me know

Thank you, for checking out my post, I’m excited to share something different and I can’t wait to share more with you in the future. I’m thinking about picking up a more expensive foundation in the near future I might just have to do a similar post when I do.

Until next time, I hope you have a lovely day.

Disclaimer – This post is not sponsored and doesn’t contain any affiliate links, links included are for reference only in case your interest in purchasing the reviewed product. Read full Disclaimer here.

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