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If TikTok is part of your daily commute or wind-down routine, you would’ve probably seen one of Meredith Duxbury’s excessive foundation videos pop up on your FYP (for you page).

Thought that we were long past full-coverage foundation, caking, and baking? You and us both. While we thought that no-makeup makeup was here to stay, Duxbury’s makeup routine went viral and thus the excessive foundation trend was born.

The excessive foundation trend

@meredithduxburyEveryone name one song that you want me to create and make a video to! ??♬ I’m Legit – Nicki Minaj

Often garnering millions of views with every video she uploads, Duxbury spawned her very own foundation challenge that famous makeup artists on TikTok such as the likes of Abby Roberts, Benji Krol, and Queen Paul have taken to recreating.

Excessive Foundation

Duxbury’s foundation routine typically goes as follows: first, she applies primer, then pours an insane amount of liquid foundation on her hand. She applies it with the handle of a makeup brush (yes, not the brush bristles), then blends it out with her hands. After all, your hands are the best blending tool!

After blending the foundation out, she follows up with a serum foundation applied directly on her face which she then buffs out with a blending sponge. Trust us when we say, it’s a lot of foundation.

She completes her routine with powder, blush, fills in her brows, and adds a pop of colour to her eyes and lips. In true trust-the-process fashion, she looks gorgeous at the end of the video!

Perhaps there’s something oddly satisfying about seeing this incredible amount of foundation being blended out into a flawless, porcelain doll-like finish. Or perhaps we just tend to make trends out of anything bizarre and unorthodox.

But… the downsides

We can’t help but think about how wasteful this trend is, and certainly would not be viable for a daily routine. At this rate, you’ll be going through a bottle of foundation every week instead of a few months.

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Besides, if you’ve got oily or dry skin that reacts to comedogenic ingredients or products, this trends sounds like it would be an absolute nightmare. Think of all the clogged pores and breakouts!

You’ve also got to bear in mind that what you see on social media is manufactured or filtered – what may look smooth and flawless on camera with a ring light may look totally different in real life.

We tried excessive foundation…

To see whether this trend looks just as good in real life, we had our content executive ‘Alyaa try out the trend!

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‘Alyaa kicked it off by squeezing the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Hydrating Foundation (available on Sephora for S$52) directly onto her face.

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Followed by spreading it all over her face with the handle of a makeup brush as Duxbury did in her video, then buffs it out with a beauty blender to make sure the foundation is evenly blended.

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With her hands, she further blended out the foundation, then went over it with concealer to cover up any imperfections.

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‘Alyaa completed her routine by filling out her brows and adding a pop of colour and definition to the eyes, lips, and cheeks. And there we have this gorgeous electric blue look!

“Overall it worked, and Fenty’s hydrating foundation was a great choice for this experiment,” she said. The foundation didn’t cake as much as she had expected it to, and it didn’t feel as sticky either!

However, she added, “I would never wear it outdoors, because it already felt slightly thick in a room with air-conditioning in full blast (19 degrees, if you must know). It’ll be extremely suffocating under the sun!”

But we must say, the results were certainly impressive! The excessive foundation gave ‘Alyaa an almost porcelain doll-like finish, with her skin smoothened flawlessly and pores and blemishes gone.

What we think about the trend

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We’re still in awe of how polished the excessive foundation makes the skin look, so if you’re going for a pore-less, contoured, high glam kind of look, the excessive foundation’s just what you need for that full coverage.

That being said, this routine uses a lot of product and replacing foundation every few weeks would spell trouble for our wallets. Even though we’re not on board with incorporating this into our daily routine, we think you should go for it if you’re curious about how excessive foundation will look on you just to hop on the trend!