The Best Liquid Foundation

Saturday 13 September 2014

The Best Liquid Foundation

In this blog post I will talk about the best liquid foundations. I will take a little bit different approach to a lot of other sites when discussing the best formulation. I'll talk more about the things to consider when buying a new product to cover up your face, the best formulation for acne prone skin, dry, oily or combination skin. Also, I will mention the reasons why I don't want to name any specific brands as being good or bad. At the end I will give you two awesome tips that may save you a lot of money that you spend on foundations and/or concealers.

The best foundation brands -  read the article
A few foundations and concealers I found on my shelf
So, what is the best liquid foundation? Whether it's liquid, mineral or powder, the best foundation is the one that melts into your skin and makes it look totally natural and flawless. It needs to match your skin colour and type and the most important thing of all is that YOU like it.

Everyone is different and everyone has a different taste, skin structure and opinion. This is the reason why I don't want to brand any foundations or concealers as being good or bad. I visited a lot of blogs, watched a lot of YouTube videos and I heard a lot of good things about Rimmel Match Perfection foundation in Light Porcelain colour before writing a review about it on my own blog. Unfortunately, I had a different opinion to a lot of other bloggers. Although the colour was the closest match to my skin tone, it didn't live up to my expectations: it made me look like a vampire as it was too light, also, it was too thin to my liking. Another product that I read a lot of good things about was argan oil. When tested on my hair, I hardly saw any difference between my hair with this Moroccan thing on or without. So, it didn't work for my locks.

Although I do love Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup foundation and I think that Rimmel Match Perfection is far from amazing, the combination of the two gives me outstanding result. Why? The mentioned Estee Lauder cosmetics comes in a big bottle and it lasts me a long time. When I bought this foundation my skin was a bit darker. Now the product colour does not match my skin tone anymore. Rimmel in light porcelain colour is too light for me and I look like a geisha after putting it on my face. So, my first advice: don't be scared to mix and match foundations, even concealers to achieve your perfect colour.

Also, Estee Lauder has thicker consistency and Rimmel has very thin one, so mixing them up has another advantage, i.e., it achieves the consistency that is perfect for ME. I emphasise ME, because it's only my personal preference. I am sure things that you like might be different, so DO experiment to find out what works for you.

Adding some oil into your foundation is another awesome tip that I have. Oil makes your skin glow. If you have oily, combination or, in certain cases, acne prone skin, then this may not work for you as your skin may get too greasy, but for skin that is on the dry side, this may work perfectly well. All you need to do is add a tiny drop of oil on a palm together with foundation, it can be argan oil for face or anything else that you like. Mix it all up with a finger or in any other way that you like and apply on your face.

Foundation tricks
Mix a few foundations to achieve the right shade, consistency, add some oil for a glowing skin
You will often hear that you must invest into a good foundation and it is not the product to save money on. From having tried a lot of various foundations and concealers on my own skin, I discovered that often expensive foundations are good, but they can also be rubbish and vice versa. Cheap ones can also be very good or bad, so don't be led into thinking that if you spend a lot of money on foundation you will necessarily get a good product. With expensive or designer brands you may have a better chance at getting a good product, because you often get to try out the liquid or any other formulation on your skin before you buy, which is the luxury that you often don't get with a drugstore brand. Boots, Superdrug and most other drugstore type cosmetics shops don't have descent mirrors, nor wipes for multiple application and testing foundation on your skin.

I have given you my foundation and liquid concealer tricks and I mentioned to you why I don't like to recommend specific brands. Now it's time to talk about the things you need to consider when buying your perfect makeup. So, read before you buy; here is a list of the things that you must bear in mind when choosing the products for covering up your face:
  • skin colour
  • your skin type (oily, dry, sensitive, normal)
  • what type of coverage you would like (light, medium, heavy)
  • whether you want SPF in your foundation or not
For oily skin, you may want to look for words such as "oil free", "oil control", "mattifying" on the bottle. For dry skin, look for moisturising foundations with "hydrating" or "moisture-rich" wording on the bottle.

To those who don't know, full coverage makeup provides a flawless, opaque coverage. It hides discolouration, blemishes, acne spots, scars, evens out skin tone and tends to be heavier than a regular coverage foundation. Some people like to keep it for special occasions or events as it can get a bit cakey.

Although I don't want to say that one brand is better that the other, I have compiled a brief list of foundations that I found to have good reviews on Amazon or Boots websites. You may want to go and check them out for yourself. I compiled this list a couple of months ago, so it's not fully up-to-date, but I think it still reflects reality.


Some of the best drugstore foundations:


  • Max Factor Pan Stick Foundation has a lot of good reviews on Amazon. It has rich creamy texture which creates a perfect dewy canvas for a great everyday look. It sells for £6.86.
  • Max Factor Face Finity All Day Flawless 3 in 1 Foundation. It comes in six shades, SPF 20, average 4.3 star rating on Boots out of 764 comments. Price £11.99.
  • No7 Stay Perfect Foundation has an average 4 star rating out of 139 on Boots website. Suits all skin types, comes in 17 colours, has SPF 15, costs £14.50.
  • Revlon Photo Ready Makeup has SPF 20, comes in eight colours, full coverage, four stars on Boots from 109 reviews. Costs £12.99.
  • Revlon ColorStay Makeup with SoftFlex Combination / oily skin with oil-free formula that helps control shine. Provides medium to full coverage with SPF 6, 4.5 stars from 193 reviews, comes in nine shades, price £12.45 on Boots
  • Revlon ColorStay Makeup Normal/dry skin. Medium to full coverage, 12 shades, SPF 15, four stars from 98 customer on Boots, £12.49.
  • Visible Lift Serum Inside Instant Foundation by L'Oreal Paris, £6.95. Full coverage.
  • Maybelline Cocoa Dream Satin Liquid Air Whipped Foundation £4.89


Some of the best high end cosmetics:


  • Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup comes in 29 shades, it has SPF 10 and has an average review of five stars out of 216 customers on Boots. I personally love this foundation.
  • Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation. Comes in 16 shades, average review is five stars out of 36 comments on Boots. Price £29.
  • Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24H has SPF 15, comes in 12 shades, 4.5 stars out of 26 reviews on Boots. Price £28.50.

In this article I have briefly named things that every lady should consider before buying a liquid foundation, I shared my two tips on how to turn makeup that is not great into something that may be brilliant for your skin. Also, although I don't want to recommend any specific cosmetics, I named a few brands that have descent foundations based on reviews by many happy customers.

If you enjoyed reading this, please share the article on your social media channels, subscribe to my e-mail notifications and don't forget to check out what else I've got for you on my blog.

For those who prefer watching, I have a youtube video for you to check out:



What is your favourite foundation? Do you like full coverage, medium or light formulations?

No comments: