I've read several reviews for the MAC Pro Longwear foundation and concealer and half of the reviews I was reading said that it runs light and the other half said it ran dark. I'm sure many of you may be confused.. just as I was. When I went to the MAC counter and asked how the foundation color runs in comparison to Studio Fix Fluid, the employee said it runs slightly light. I was very hesitant to get NC42, because both times I ever purchased NC42 (For Studio Fix Powder and Studio Tech - both run light), NC42 was too dark/orange. So, I swatched NC40 on my hand and it looked fine.. so I purchased NC40. She also agreed it should work fine for me and it wasn't much of a difference. I also purchased my usual shade of concealer NW25.
Below, I swatched a few of my other MAC NW25 concealers for color comparison. From L to R: MAC Pro Longwear NW25, MAC Moisturecover NW25, MAC Select Cover-up NW25 and MAC Studio Sculpt NW25. From the looks of the tube, I thought it ran dark. But, compared to the others.. it wasn't a big difference. Moisturecover was the darkest of them all, Studio Sculpt was slightly lighter than Pro Longwear and Select Cover-up. The Pro Longwear and Select Cover-up were pretty much almost identical. Blended.. they all looked the same.. and I could barely tell the difference except for the fact that Moisturecover was the slightest touch darker.
If you know you're a NW25 in Moisturecover, than you'll for sure be a NW25 in Prolongwear. If I had to choose again, I'd get NW20 because I like my concealer to be a little bit lighter. This concealer is darker than my face.
Onto the foundation. As I said, I purchased NC40. Below, I swatched my MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC40 next to the MAC Pro Longwear in NC40.
There were several claims that Pro Longwear runs more yellow than Fix Fluid. I would say that it appears to be slightly more peach toned & maybe ever so slightly yellow toned. As you can see from the swatches they are almost identical. Pro Longwear is actually the slightest bit lighter than Fix Fluid. But, I wouldn't say its light enough where you would need to go a whole shade darker. I swatched both on my face and blended them and looked at my face in different lighting.. and they were practically the same.
So again, if you're a true NC40.. I would say to stick with it. I'm not positive how the other shades run considering I didn't test any other shades at the counter. But if this worries you, your best bet would be to visit a MAC store and pick up a sample.
I should have a MAC Pro Longwear Concealer review up this week, btw!
If you know of any color differences in any of the MAC Pro Longwear shades, please post in the comments! It may be helpful to someone. :)
i think i'll be checking this out soon :)
ReplyDeletebtw: i think the last picture you've labeled both swatches as studio fix fluid by mistake :)
great review!!
You bet me too it! I've been testing out my MAC Pro Longwear concealer and I HATE the pump with a passion. No matter how lightly I try and squeeze, wayyy too much comes out :( I do like the product though!
ReplyDeletehellocatie - thanks dear for catching that! I was in such a rush to publish.. :)
ReplyDeleteCheryl- haha!! RIGHT!?? Gah!! I hate that too! its such a waste of product.. and you can't even open up the lid. The pump for the foundation is so much better.
This is off topic from this post but I saw that you mentioned in your twitter that you liked the maybelline fit me foundation. I was wondering what shade you got it in,I am an nc40 as well.
ReplyDeleteMacStar - I got 220.. which may run a tad lighter than NC40. I swatched 230 and it's the same undertone and everything.. but a shade darker. You may be either 220 or 230. I would recommend you to swatch both on your wrist when you go to the drugstore since they have testers available. :)
ReplyDeleteI love reading your reviews because I'm usually a NC40 too in Fluid FIx and its so much easier to see what color I am in other foundations! Cant wait to see the concealer review.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I've heard that this line has an ever so slightly tint of peach just like you said. The only shade thats kind of off that I've read about is the NC30 which is supposedly a lot more orange than other NC30 foundations.
ReplyDeleteI do wear NC40 most of the time and I use Studio Fix. It's a wonderful color. But I mix it with Studio Fix NC 42 to make it a little more tinted. Great swatches, they are really helpful.
ReplyDeleteOk so my comment somehow got lost. I wear NW25 in most MAC foundations but I find NW25 in PLW is a bit too dark on me. I think my ideal would have been NW22 or something, lol! I still wear and add a lighter powder on top. PLW is just very confusing across
ReplyDeleteGreat review and swatches! I'm NC40 also and this is so helpful! Thanks girl!
ReplyDeletei don't have the pro longwear concealer but i do have the foundation and i truly love it, i have very few foundations that last as well as pro longwear does. can't wait for your concealer reveiew!
ReplyDeleteit depends shade to shade, on the lighter range I find the nc15 nw15 to be darker in the pro longwear, that goes with the foundation and concealer.
ReplyDeleteActually I do feel like the Pro Longwear runs lighter. I'm an NC50 and personally for me it's too light but I find that the longer it sits on my skin it settles in really well but like after 4-5 hrs of wearing it. I'm still trying to figure out ways to make it work for me but I'm slowly givine up on it.
ReplyDeleteI just bought the concealer last week. I got NW20, the same shade I always use for my under eye concealer. It did look darker in the bottle vs. my Select Cover-Up but once I blended it in it was a perfect match.
ReplyDeletelouloubarbie.blogspot.com
I was thinking of trying nc40 in this foundation, do you think liquid runs darker? studio fix fluid does. I am usually nc42
ReplyDeletehi. what brush do you use to apply mac pro long wear?
ReplyDeleteyou cant clearly say yellow tone for yellow tones and pink is for pink undertones. There are MANY exceptions. People dont pick it out that way. There are even people who get into arguments at makeup counters because they are a cool and someone insisted they were a warm.
ReplyDeleteAlot of times darker toned women like African American/carribean women have to mix more than one foundation ,everyone on earth is different
After years of being a makeup artist. The rule stands true. There are no rules to makeup, only rules of thumb. Nothing called "too anything".I disagree with telling anyone how to wear their foundation/blush/powder/eyeliner/eyeshadow. Makeup is subjective. Everyone has their own makeup style. Many light people tend to go light/lighter or mix it with a luminzer to make themselves brighter/radiant/porcelin like. A great example of this would be dita von teese, who even stays out the sun to maintain her light skintone and wears light foundation. Others prefer to be dark/darker and darken in the sun or use bronzer all over their skintone. Different people have different preferences. If I spelled "Horse" "Howrse" than there is no "ifs" "and" or "buts" because grammar isnt subjective. What is wrong is wrong!However. Makeup is subjective. I hate nude lips. Does that mean its right to say "dont wear nude lips" ? No.
I might not like it but someone else might. There is no rule to makeup. Thats the beauty of being a makeup artist. There are soo many different styles.
I hate bronzer. But maybe there is someone who loves that deep bronzed look. I cant go to them and say "dont go soo deep in the bronzer" and say its "constructive". There are soo many different styles.who is anyone to tell someone theyre wearing a too light or too dark foundation, because there is no such thing. Nicole and Sam from pixiwoo(huge makeupartists in Britain) sometimes wear paler or darker foundation and it looks gorgeous! as long as people blend it to the neck its fine....some people prefer to look bright and radiant.
I'm confused. You use NC40 in the foundation but NW25 in the concealer?? Why such a drastic difference?
ReplyDeleteNC25 would be too light, but NW25 is much darker. NW30 is the same depth of color as NC40, but for my undereyes, I like going one shade lighter (NW25) to slightly brighten up the area. Its not as drastic as it sounds.
DeleteI have nc35 and its dark for me. It oxidize after sometime. Maybe cuz I'm an acidic. I should've waited for it to settle for sometime when I tried it on the MAC store. Now I'm mixing it with my maybelline sand concealer so I can still use it. But still it sucks that it does that. :(
ReplyDeleteplease help...i am a NC40 in summer and struggling with a winter match. i was given NC37 - too yellow. and then a NW20 and NW 25???????
ReplyDeletenc20 feels just a tad darker but really nothing noticeable on the skin, however the concealer runs really light, i'd go a shade down.
ReplyDelete