Tried and tested in the makeup trenches (and on myself!). These are the foundations that never fail me and always deliver. Trust me, my job depends on it!
**In order of level of coverage from lightest to fullest. Not in order of faves. I love them all for different reason!
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Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20: Best for drier skin types that need more hydration. It’s great for those days when your skin is looking pretty darn good all on its own and you only need minimal coverage/moisturizer/SPF all in one convenient step. Set it with a loose powder and you’re out the door in minutes! Also available in oil-free and Luminous versions but I prefer the original.
- Armani Luminous Silk: Luxury in a bottle! This is often found in many makeup artist’s kits including mine. Total red carpet fave! If you don’t need a ton of coverage but just want to make your skin look healthy, evened out, prefer a little glow in a sheer yet buildable to moderate coverage liquid foundation that is absolutely lightweight and seamless, this one’s for you. This is great for all skin types and is oil-free.
- Smashbox Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder: Finally a powder foundation that is both hydrating and has tons of great-for-your skin anti-aging benefits! This is the foundation that I personaly use on most days with a full coverage concealer on just my extra stubborn spots. This is a light to buildable medium coverage that gives a very natural, healthy finish. If you’ve tried other powders and hate the mess that it makes you are gonna flip over this ingenius packaging! The compact has what basically looks and works like a cheese grater. The powder is in a pressed form but you twist the compact and it freshly shaves off into a silky loose powder just what you’re going to use for that day! I told ya it’s ingenius! You get the benefits of a lightweight and seemless loose powder but the mess-free bonus of a pressed. Best of both worlds and then some! Oh and did I mention this product seems to last forever! Nine to 10 months for me using it at least 5 days a week!
- MakeUp Forever HD Invisible Cover: This is a gorgeous medium to full coverage liquid foundation that feels like silk on the skin, glides on and blends with zero effort and the finish is almost surreal. It’s completely seamless and flawless. The first time I tried this on myself I had to stare at my skin for longer than I care to disclose! While this foundation is great for all skin types, if you’re on the oilier side I definitely recommend setting it with a loose talc powder. For those with drier and/or mature skin who run away screaming from powders because most leave them looking older and skin drier check out the new talc-free, jet milled, ultra-fine, silica loose setting powders. I recommend Cover FX, It Cosmetics and MakeUp Forever.
- Mally Beauty Poreless Perfection Foundation SPF 20: This is my newest favorite foundation discovery that I made in the fall of 2011 and have been putting it to the test, more like rigger ever since. I’ve worn it to sweat drenched Turbo Kick, Spin and boot camp classes and had my friends take pictures of my stark white workout towel immediately after class to prove it really is very water/sweatproof! I tweeted/Facebooked the pics each time and everyone was dying to find out what it was. But this foundation didn’t make my list just because it’s workout-proof. It’s also super fast and easy to apply and looks flawless. It really does live up to the name of the product. I prefered to apply this with a dense synthetic brush and found the one powder brush it came with sheds a lot (a big pet peeve) and I wasn’t a fan of using the sponge to apply it wet. The finish just didn’t look flawless any more. Another big bonus is that i’ve been using this foundation for over 4 months and I still have a ton of product left! With many pressed powder foundations I usually find that I have to replace it quickly but not this one. It’s very pigmented so you don’t need a lot for great coverage that easily is buildable from medium to full.
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Tricia Sawyer Full Potential: If I had to pick one all around foundation champion, this one would be my winner. It’s always in my kit because I know I can use it on any actor or model with any type of skin and coverage needs. It’s a full coverage foundation that comes in a two color split pan which is perfect for custom blending as well as highlighting and contouring. Plus you’ll never have to buy a winter and summer foundation since you can mix as you get lighter or darker with spray/self tanning. We’re not using tanning beds any more right? That’s so 1998 but I digress. If you’ve tried cream foundations before and didn’t care for them because it was too hard to blend or the texture was to thick this one will change your mind about cream. Creams are my favorite texture because you can easily mix them to get the perfect color and best of all you can blend it down to any level of coverage. This foundation truely melts right into the skin and blends flawlessly. Ms. Tricia Sawyer really knows her stuff! She is after all a big time film makeup artist to many of the A-List actresses like Jessica Alba and Sharon Stone.
- Cover FX Total Coverage Cream Foundation: If you have ultra sensitive skin, looking for full coverage that is so natural i’ve used it with complete confidence on men and children as well as women, this is an amazing cream based foundation. I love the story behind Cover FX and have had the pleasure of visiting their offices in Toronto and the hospital where it all began. This product was developed at Sunnybrook Hospital out of a need for a foundation that will conceal even the most severe skin conditions yet gentle enough for those that have very sensitive skin. Toronto has a very diverse ethnic population and Cover FX, unlike many cosmetic companies offer a truely global range of foundation shades. While this product offers the highest level of coverage found in any product it’s still oil-free and lightweight. The coverage comes from it’s amazing level of pigment so you get more coverage while using a fraction of what you’re probably used to with other brands. For the average coverage need user like myself, one compact lasts me a year! I mentioned this same product in my concealer blog (http://coachglitter.posterous.com/got-bags-shiners-lets-talk-undereye-concealer) because it offers that much coverage although it technically really is a foundation. **Workout Girls! This is what I used on the ChaLean Extreme Video shoots. It’s super longwearing and designed to adhere to the skin unlike any other product out there which also makes it amazing for sweat drenched workouts!
Great Post Tiffany … Love it!
AWESOME! Thanks for sharing your foundation knowledge. Now, where’s my wallet? š