If you’re in your mid to late twenties, I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the infamous foundation Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse, it was the go-to foundation for many teens and one we all loved dearly. I couldn’t tell you when exactly I stopped using it or what the reason for my change was, but I know it’s been an extremely long time since I last picked one up!
So when I happened to come across it during my food shop over the weekend, I thought it would be fun to give it a try again after 15 years of trying various other lotions and potions on my face and share my findings with the good old internet!
The difference between my makeup routine now and as a teen is laughable – back when I was a teenager we didn’t have YouTube to help us with working out how to use certain products, or what to do to to get a natural looking finish. In those days I would buy a shade that was too dark, use just my fingers to smear it all over my face, over bronze, make my eyelashes look like spider legs. Overall it was a classic noughties make up look that just wouldn’t fly today. I could only find one decent photo of me (that wasn’t black and white lol) from back then where I know for sure I was using the foundation, but it doesn’t feature all of the classic noughties staples as I was still at school.
So I was excited to see if both this product was as magical as my teenage self thought, or if it truly was an orange mess that needed to stay in the noughties.
My skin was in the middle of recovering from a pretty bad hormonal break out, so I needed a lot of coverage – luckily my new skin care routine is starting to improve the whole situation, but coverage is still essential for me and worked out great for re-creating what my skin would have been like 15 years ago when I used Dream Matte Mousse.
I prepped my skin with some tinted moisturiser from Nivea (I bloody love the stuff and it’s so much cheaper than my Laura Mercier one) and dabbed some of the foundation over my skin, blending it in using a brush – an improvement on my fingers! Once I’d applied it all over my face, I touched up the areas that needed some extra coverage and added some Mac concealer over my spots, followed by some setting powder to fix it all in place.
I then bronzed my face using the Rimmel Natural Bronzer, applied the L’Oréal Peach blush to my cheeks and eyes (this blush is my favourite in the summer and looks pretty swept over your eyes), brushed my brows up slightly, popped some mascara on, followed by some lippy and bam! You’ve got 28 year old Gaby’s fresh face of makeup.
Final thoughts
I picked up the shade Sand that I used to use back in the day and think it’s slightly too dark for my skin (probably why it looked orangey on me back then), so would probably need to mix it with the next lighter shade if I wanted it to be perfect for me – one thing that I remember is that the product didn’t tend to have a very wide range of colours, especially so for darker skin tones that shouldn’t have gone down back then, let alone today.
It blends really well but gathered in my hair line and took some extra blending time to stop it looking orangey, but once it was blended it lost the cakiness. I wouldn’t say it’s extremely matte (I’m thinking in comparison to Estée Lauder Doublewear which is extremely matte) and it has a medium buildable coverage that could be full coverage with some extra layers, but overall the application is great with some extra work. As I wrote this post after only wearing the foundation for a few hours, I can’t speak for the longevity, but in comparison to some others I’ve tested in the past it’s lasted pretty well!
In conclusion, I think this is still a great budget foundation and there’s a reason so many of us loved this all these years ago! Let me know if you were a fan of this foundation as a teen or if you’re still a fan now – Dream Matte Mousse forever!
makeup routineMaybelline dream matte mousseMaybelline dream matter mousse reviewteenage makeuptrying out old makeup products
I love the way it smoothly applies and the color is great, but I wish it had a substantial SPF.