I managed to get hold of a sample of Nars most recent base release, the Velvet Matte Skin Tint in the shade St. Moritz. If you know me you know I'm not one to go for matte bases, but since this was Nars I really wanted to give it a try as a lot of people were raving about it and I'm a base addict so I didn't need much encouragement anyway. LOL!

What Nars say:

Shade

The shade St. Moritz (Medium 1 - Medium with Neutral Yellow undertone) came up as the most common shade for my skin tone. I have the Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser (PRTM) in St. Moritz too (watch this space for review) and it's a warm peachy yellow shade, this type of warm shade flatters my skin nicely even though it's not got much olive in it. I find the Velvet Matte Skin Tint (VMST) St. Moritz is lighter and less warm than the St. Moritz of the PRTM. VMST St. Moritz is a decent match for the paler parts of my face, but around my mouth it is way too light and colour correcting with orange concealer only helps a little, I've also got a bit of a tan going at the moment but for the past few months my pigmentation areas seem to have gotten darker so I've been preferring more deeper golden shades of foundations/concealers to balance out the different tones of my face and to avoid any ashiness, I absolutely hate looking ashy! To make VMST St. Moritz work for me I've been using their Radiant Creamy Concealer in Caramel around my mouth and under eyes to bring back more warmth back into my skin and it works a treat.

I do want to try some of the darker shades, though after looking through the shade range, Malaga (Med/Dark 1 - Medium dark with warm caramel undertones) is the next shade that isn't described as having peach undertones but is 4 shades later, I have a feeling I might be a Cuba but annoyingly enough most of the shades are described as being neutral and I am not neutral! I'm proper golden yellow olive toned and it's very difficult finding matches that have a good balance of both. I'm slightly dubious so I do need to go in store and swatch and try them in person even though the closest Nars counter to me is either Space.NK or House Of Fraser in Milton Keynes. I'll have to wait and see I guess. If you're around an NC40 or NC42 let me know what you wear in this range.

Texture

The texture of VMST is thick and creamy it has a slight velvety moussey feel to it when rubbed between my fingers and you can sort of feel the powder particles. I have this in a sample pot and it doesn't budge or slide around at all when I move it about so it's very thick, pretty much what you'd expect from a velvet matte foundation. Since I have combination / very dehydrated skin with skin texture / bumps I was very careful of how I applied this and made sure adequate skin prep was done beforehand and that I didn't overdo it. I have used brushes and sponges in applying this as well as my fingers. I used my dense angled flat kabuki (H&M BB Cream Brush) and it was okay, although I did have to work a little extra in moving it around and felt I was using too much product than necessary and ended up a bit cake face and not natural at all. I've used sponges and again felt like I was using too much product and found that the damp sponge wasn't pushing this into my skin properly so I wasn't getting a "skin-like finish" as many were claiming it to be and was looking a little patchy, plus it wasn't as pore filling as I had expected it to be.

I was ready to give up on the VMST thinking it wasn't for me or my skin-type but I persevered, I mean we were in the middle of a heatwave the week I was trialling this out and I was the oiliest ever at that time so I couldn't understand why this matte foundation / tinted moisturiser wouldn't work for me? I watched and read a good few reviews and many people said they got a better finish when they used their fingers and that a little bit actually went a long way. It's also recommended on the Nars website to use your fingers so I done as suggested and I definitely got that skin like, pore blurring, natural, velvet matte finish. I definitely recommend using a little and blending in with your fingers. That's when I realised how long that sample pot was going to last me, definitely worth your buck!

Feel

Like I mentioned earlier the VMST is a very thick velvety textured formula, when applying a light layer on the skin with my fingers I can get a lightweight feel. But this is very dependable on how much you apply. I wouldn't say this is a super lightweight formula, in fact there're many other formulas out there that feel lighter. But how much you use and the layers of product you have on underneath determines the weight of this on the skin, I find I feel the heaviness and thickness of the formula on my skin when I have more than one layer of it on especially if I have a fair amount of moisturiser on underneath too. Just to give you an example, on a moderately warm day like today (27 degrees celsius) half a teaspoon of my Boots Dry Touch SPF 30 sunscreen underneath (which is a bit creamy in texture and moisturising enough for me to wear on its' own in this weather) and a single thin layer of this on my skin gives me a somewhat lightweight feel, anything more and I would definitely feel the thickness. I've also tried this on bare skin and it was practically undetectable in feel. So the more emollient your base the more creamier and heavier it can feel.

When I used to apply it with my brush or sponge, because I was applying too much product, it proper felt like a heavy thick mask on my skin which really surprised me as the website description as well as other reviewers were saying the complete opposite. I definitely think application method with this foundation / tinted moisturiser can be a real game changer for people so I definitely suggest trialling with it. 

I personally think this formula is ideal for combination to oily skin types and maybe slightly dry. Since I used this on very hot days, I felt this worked pretty good for me and I was able to powder as well since the weather was that hot and I was getting quite oily through the day. I don't find this overly drying even though it's a matte formula, though I'm not sure how much I will like this in the cooler months when I'm not as oily, I'd like to think using a decent moisturiser for those cooler days will do me fine. I'll definitely put an update up later on in the year. For those with dry dehydrated skin with dry flakes or lots of texture, beware of your dry areas, be generous with your moisturiser and build it up with small amounts or maybe skip this foundation all together and try their other tinted moisturiser.

Finish

The VMST has a skin like matte finish on my skin type and I can get it to look invisible depending on how much I apply, if I'm generously moisturised then it'll be a satin finish. It's not a flat matte but I know it can easily look like a flat matte if I'm not adequately moisturised or if I use too much product, especially on my dehydrated areas which is my mouth area and forehead. Like I mentioned before I find when I use my fingers I get that pore blurring, skin like finish compared to when I use a brush or a sponge. This can catch on dry flakes and texture pretty bad if you have any, I've found it sort of nestles in and around any flakes I may have but this is when I'm looking really up close into the mirror so it's not utterly hideous or anything. I also find it settles in to my laugh lines a little bit but this is an issue I've been having to deal with for the past few months with most of my bases (I'm getting old!!!) though I find using Soap & Glory Kick Ass Powder helps with that. I don't find this overly skin smoothing on me (like Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation) but it doesn't exaggerate my textured areas hideously either, again some Kick Ass powder or any pore filling finely milled powder will do the trick.

Since it's a mattifying product it will only give that invisible skin like finish depending on the moisture level of your skin. More moisture means a less matte finish and a creamy satin finish, but be careful too much moisture means a slippey slidey slick of a mess, trust me I've tried, just trial and see what ratio works best for you. I wouldn't say this is my favourite base formula but between the other matte foundations that I've tried (Bourjois Air Mat and Maybelline Fit Me Matte & Poreless) this is definitely my fave and definitely more forgiving.

Coverage

All in all I prefer using my fingers and get medium coverage this way and a more even skin tone using very little product, this is more than enough coverage for me. It's impressive for something that's meant to be a tinted moisturiser. I have some light post acne marks dotted in a couple of places and hyper-pigmentation around my mouth and some darkness under my eyes. I personally don't like full coverage or that mask like finish as my skin doesn't sit well with it. But I've realised many sheer or medium coverage bases don't work well for my hyper-pigmented areas so I'll never really get a discrete undetectable look with foundations as the ashiness of my pigmentation and skin texture issues will most likely give it away, so I have had to settle with that fact. That is why I like to come in between and use medium coverage products and then use some concealer in my trouble areas for extra coverage if I need it. I think this is definitely medium coverage, possibly even full depending on your skin condition and how much you apply but can also be sheered out to light as well. 

Build-ability

I find the VMST does build layers okay-ish but not brilliantly, with a brush or sponge it gets cakey and patchy easily and ends up looking like obvious layers on my skin. I like to use my fingers if I want to build layers, I use the pads of the 3 middle fingers and sort of swipe in short swift movements and pat at the same time and like this it does sink in and I do get more coverage. Though it's strange as sometimes this does get patchy and does shift product away from my pores leaving them empty-ish again and also sort of sits in and outside of the pores. I can't quite put my finger on why but I think it's got something to do with the emollience level of the skin. The patchiness is really only visible when I'm looking really closely in to the mirror, from a foot away the skin does look blurred and perfected enough but I don't find it super pore filling if it's built up. Though overall I prefer just a single layer of this on myself and prefer the finish this way.

Longevity

The weather really determines this, Britain has been having some really sunny days here and there recently and some days it gets quite warm! For those very hot days when I've used the VMST I found only copious amounts of powder kept my makeup in place as I was getting an oily sheen on my skin within the hour, in fact some days beads of sweat would erupt from my face whilst I was applying it but I would intentionally choose this particular base for those days since it is a mattifying product. For normal mild British weather I think this will be fine on its' own and maybe a couple of hours into wearing the product I may need to powder my t-zone. Again I'll have to see when the weather cools down a little. For my combination dehydrated skin type I can imagine this holding up pretty well as sometimes I find this can really sink into my skin and be quite transfer resistant as well, though this depends on how oily or emollient my skin is, otherwise it can slip off quite easily if I'm not powdered enough.

Oxidisation
Luckily I haven't noticed too much oxidisation with this, I think it does a teeny tiny bit when my oils start coming out but it's definitely not a horrid colour. I still want to look into the deeper golden shades but for now this is fine.

Overall
Personally I found I had quite successful trial and errors with the VMST. Reading and watching reviews on it definitely helped me realise how to get the best of this product for myself. I recommend treating this product like a tinted moisturiser to get the best out of it instead of a full coverage foundation. A little really goes a long way and you'll be surprised how well this can actually behave. As the name suggests, I'd say it looks like a tint on the skin but with decent medium coverage. It's definitely a better matte formula for me than the previous two matte formulas I've reviewed but I personally find high end products are developed better than most drugstore products and have better technology which ultimately gives you a quality product as well as great results. Or it could just be my fussy skin that prefers higher ended stuff hah! This has an SPF of 30, though I don't recommend relying on this solely for protection, definitely use a sunscreen under this as you wouldn't even apply a quarter of how much sunscreen you need with this product. This also has a faint but definite scent to it, almost fresh and citrusy but not detectable once on the skin.

This was an extremely in depth review so I hope I didn't bore you. If you've had any experiences, similar or not so much, do let me know as I'd love to hear your thoughts too. Toodles!