Physicians Formula has always been a brand that I’ve wanted to try ever since I started watching YouTube a few months ago but because it is not available locally here in Malaysia, I never get the chance to. What’s in my wishlist? Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Blush and Bronze Booster of course! 🙂

When I think of it, it’s odd that I never wanted to watch YouTube at all previously. I don’t get how my ex-employer could spend half a day watching YouTube, researching for editorial materials. Now that I’m hooked to YouTube, my wishlist for international brand is getting larger and larger. Thanks to iHerb.com, I can finally get my paws on a bottle of Physicians Formula Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation & Brush SPF 15 that was first introduced by Judy on It’sJudysTime YouTube channel back in January 2014.

To add more excitement to how well-received this foundation serum is, whaddaya know…the foundation comes with a small slanted flat top Pro Blending Brush. The below photo is how Physicians Formula Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation & Brush came through the mail. The foundation glass bottle and brush was securely cushioned and densely packed into a clear base in the box. iHerb.com did not bubble wrap it. I’m glad nothing broke and nothing was leaking. I trust iHerb but I don’t trust the postman 😛

Without any doubt we do see product raving and claiming numerous things with their new product. Physicians Formula Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation & Brush SPF 15 is not exceptional either. If you don’t read through the box like me, you’ll definitely be confused. I’m just too lazy to read because the whole box is full with words, literally. So to ease your pain reading small font from a striking glossy purple box, here’s what the claims are.

• Skin-perfecting ultra-fluid foundation delivers flawless, spotless coverage and a finish so natural it looks invisible on the skin.
• 35% silicone formula and true-color pigments create a revolutionary, weightless liquid veil that feels as you have no makeup on.
• Powerful, brightening cosmeceutical ingredients help improve the appearance  of dark spots, age spots and sun spots instantly and over time.
• Formulated with Spotless Technology, clinically proven to erase the look of up to 20 years of natural skin darkening.
• Broad Spectrum SPF 15 protects skin and helps prevent new spots or discoloration from developing.

I must say, the proven visible results claim are quite promising. I must stress that I cannot comment much on the below results claim, mainly due to the fact that I don’t use the foundation serum everyday. Of all four claims in total, I can only tell you about claim #1. Despite the foundation being on the warmer tone and shade, I was taken aback by it’s orangey shade and I seriously thought my complexion will turn out a few shade darker. But it did not. Surprise, surprise. In fact I look brighter, definitely fresher looking than I was before.

• 100% saw brighter and more even skin instantly
• 90% saw less visible sun damage in 2 weeks
• 100% saw significantly lighter dark spots in 3 weeks and less dark spots overall in 4 weeks
• 100% saw less fine lines and deep wrinkles in 3 weeks

So. Back to the foundation serum. You must be wondering why do I keep referring this as foundation serum. I’ve learnt (from a few YouTube reviews) that this foundation is a combination of skincare properties and makeup. This cute spotty foundation here is unique I tell ya. It says that you can look up to 10 years younger instantly and you will be able to reduce the appearance of spots by 67%. Usually these claims are a norm in skincare but because this foundation is infused with brightening cosmeceutical ingredients, it is able to help with reducing dark spots, age spots or even sun spots. It also contain 3.0% of Octinoxate aka sunscreen, which is why it is written on the box that this is a broad spectrum sunscreen. Now tell me this isn’t confusing to you. It sure does make me light headed for a bit at the beginning 😀

In a nutshell, this is a brightening/anti-aging serum + sunscreen + foundation. Well, at least based on my understanding…that’s what it is.

I already knew that this foundation is on the warmer side and its also orangey. So as usual I must get the lightest shade just in case it oxidize on me. Even the lightest shade “Light” looked at least two-tone darker than my skin tone from swatches online. But I got no choice. I want this so badly. I can only pray that it will work for my skin tone.  What got me even more excited is also partly due to the brush. Physicians Formula named this brush as “Pro Blending Brush” and it does resemble the ever famous Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush, which I love.

What I like about Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation & Brush SPF 15 is the glass dropper bottle. Its one of the kind. I mean how often do you see foundation that comes in a dropper bottle eh? As long as it doesn’t come without any pump, hey I’m more than happy. I’ve never seen such a long pipette before. Some YouTubers said that the dropper is inconvenient but I would like to think the otherwise. It works just like a pump. It’s only inconvenient because the glass pipette is too long. The instruction on the box specifically said to dispense the foundation onto the brush bristle directly. Maybe because of that the bottle and pipette is relatively taller?

Can you see how dark the foundation is?

The downside of this dropper bottle is the mess. For some reason the foundation leaks all over on the inside of the cap even when it just arrived. I untwist it for the first time and saw one hell of a mess. You know how particular I am with dirty makeup. There is no way I can clean this mess. So I have no choice but to leave it as it is.

Do expect a runnier foundation consistency. Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation is a foundation serum afterall. Because of the watery consistency, I can only dispense two to three drops onto the back of my hand at one time and repeat again and again until I’m done applying onto the whole face. It’s troublesome and time consuming to keep repeating the process but at the same time I can avoid any wastage.

I first did a swatch on the back of my hand on the day the parcel arrived my doorstep. I don’t know about you but I like to sniff everything I put on my hand. After a few wows (shocked by watery consistency, orangey payoff) I put my hand near my nose and I nearly fainted from the awful scent. Feeling disbelief of the scent I’ve decided to take a sniff again. Probably not a good idea as I nearly puke. One review online said this smells “earthy” but let me tell you this ain’t earthy honey. It smells like some industrial chemical or cooked plastic in an industrial plant or something. I don’t know. I have no idea what the scent resembles to. I quickly wipe the foundation off my hand but the scent stays on. So I took my oh-so good grapefruit wet wipes and rub it against my hand until it turned red and guess what…the awful scent is still there. Talking about the scent sent a chill down my spine now as I’m drafting this. Ewwww.

Let’s change direction for a while to the cute little Pro Blending Brush that was included. The bristles are in white (probably not a good idea) and its quite soft actually although it does feels plasticky and stiff at the same time. It is recommended to dispense the foundation directly onto the brush and apply directly onto the face but that’s not something that I would do. I find that I would need more foundation with this method as the foundation already seep deep into the brush and making it extremely hard to wash. It doesn’t help when the bristles are in white color. The size of the brush is also smaller than Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush, which means it will take a longer time to finish applying the whole face. Its small and it applies streaky too.

Like I said earlier, Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation shade runs on the warmer, darker and orangey side. If you are fairer than me, even the lightest shade “Light” may not work on you. There is three shades in total – Light, Medium and Medium Beige. This is how the color payoff after blending. Can you see how dark and orangey it is against my own skin tone? Its a shade off the shelf that I will not buy at all.

During application, Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation is quite oily to touch but the application was a breeze. Probably due to the consistency. The trick with this foundation is to use very little amount and buildup layer by layer. It is more on the medium coverage side but buildable to full coverage. It definitely covers any uneven skin tone, redness and imperfection flawlessly. It set pretty quickly too and once it sets, it sets to a semi-matte finishing. As frustrated as I am with the shade payoff, I was more than surprise that the foundation goes on orangey on my face but once it set, it turned lighter and somewhat matches my own skin tone. No wait, it makes my own skin tone looks even better without changing the shade 😀

I wanted to show you how crazy orangey I looked right after the foundation but funnily after takes and takes (I took photos myself so lots of trials and errors), the foundation set and the shade is no longer orangey. Dang! I do like the semi-matte finishing though.

Foundation on the left side.

The downside of Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation is that it is not sweat proof. When it comes to sweat proof foundation, I still prefer Maybelline Pure.Liquid Mineral Healthy Natural Liquid Foundation. I was sweating profusely and the foundation melted, clumps and turned cakey lol.

Here’s how gorgeous Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation is on my complexion after it sets.

What I like about Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation is that it is lightweight on the skin. I don’t feel the foundation sitting on my face but what irk me the most is the scent lingering on my face for a very long time even after I’m done with my makeup and carry on with the rest of day. The first day I put it on I was feeling agitated and anxious because the scent just won’t go away. I took unusually longer time to do up my makeup and leave the house. After a few trials I finally found a solution to this scent issue. The best applicator to use to apply the foundation is by fingers. I find that the scent is not as strong and the scent will go away faster too. I don’t recommend applying using a brush or beauty blender due to three reasons – (1) the scent lingers on the face longer, (2) the foundation stain the brush and beauty blender even after washing, (3) the foundation scent stays on the brush and beauty blender even after washing.

Here’s the whole face done up with makeup with Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation on 🙂

Close-up.

Oil Control Test

I thought the foundation applies on too oily and that it will cause my skin to oil up faster but no it didn’t. Maybe because it dries down matte and I did set it with a finishing powder (Make Up For Ever HD Powder is the best with this foundation) so the oil control is superb. I took the below photo at 6pm, that’s about 7-hours after I had it on. I looked dewy, not oily 😀

Here’s the ingredient list for those who are interested. If you can’t read from the photo, click on Physicians Formula Youthful Wear Spotless Foundation & Brush SPF 15 for the list.

Without any doubt this is my favourite foundation at the moment, despite it’s really awful scent. I like it for it’s cosmeceutical properties, it’s amazing ability to set matching my skin tone and it’s medium to full coverage covering all uneven skin tone and redness. Any foundation that sets into semi or full matte and doesn’t accelerate oil secretion on my face get two thumbs up from me 😉

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review. I bought the product on my own.