Discussion: How do I Pick Foundation?

I think foundation is something that makes up a key factor with makeup. 

A lot of people have their own preferences regarding how they'd like it to match, or what shades they prefer, coverage, finish, all of that is very much personal preference.

In this post, I'll try to walk you through some of my own ways regarding the testing of foundation, or really, just how to pick what suits you most! 

Additionally, if you're located in America, Sephora offers testers for almost every product they have in store. They typically provide a pot and will squeeze out the product into a take home container for you to try. This way, you can really get a good every day use out of the foundations you'd like to try, and test for allergic reactions, preference in coverage, etc. 

Unfortunately, in Hong Kong, there are stricter health and safety laws regarding samples, so they won't offer the same service. It's possible to ask for sample products from higher end stores, and they may provide small sachets or tubes of products for you to try, though they don't offer them for all the foundations they have on offer. You can however, go to a shop and ask to try on the foundation and wear that all day (which is what I usually do.) 

Australian Sephoras also offer the same service, so be sure to ask for samples before committing to a foundation! To those out there with sensitive skin or allergies, take extra care!

A friend of mine is allergic to silicones in foundations, whereas I'm not too sure about what I've been reacting to. My list of foundations that break me out (but don't cause a rash) are Kate's Powdery Make Foundation, Giorgio Armani's Powder Fabric and Fenty's Pro Filtr Longwear Foundation. Having bought two of these before realizing my unfortunate reaction to these, I encourage testing as much as possible! 

So, what have I been checking for ? Well, I look for a few things in a foundation.

Firstly:

Product type:

There are a few types of foundation! Here's a quick rundown of a few:

Liquid:

As the name suggests, this is a liquid type. It can come in pump bottles, squeeze bottles or just a normal bottle, and I like this the most! The downside about this foundation is that the coverage can be slightly lower than creams, and that is it a little more finnicky and watery than other types.

This also comes in a few different bases, water, silicone or oil based. If you use primer with liquid foundations, definitely try to get one that is the same in base or else you can cause the foundation to seperate or wear down quicker.

Liquid types can also run from thicker to thinner consistencies, varying in coverage, and a lot of brands will usually indicate how much coverage it will be. Something like Estee Lauder's Double Wear is a little more medium to full, but something like NARS' Sheer Glow is, as the name suggests, lighter, but buildable, coverage.

Personally, I prefer thinner, water based foundations.

Cushion:

This is a new sort of hybrid foundation that is typically liquid foundations immersed into a cushion, and pressed into a compact and you can apply this with a sponge that is included. This is not very popular outside of East Asia, as a lot of high end brands (Chanel, Urban Decay, Yves Saint Laurent) now offer cushion foundations in East Asia that aren't on offer in Western countries.

Personally, I can't recommend this because of the high amount of waste this foundation consists of. Having been gifted one recently, it reinforced all the reasons I dislike cushion foundations.

I think the excess packaging and the inability to use up all the product in the cushion is extremely wasteful. I also think the use of one powder puff with a liquid foundation that you can't wash or reuse after a while also is really unhygienic. Having to throw away a whole plastic container, excess (but unusable) product you can't get to, and another puff you can't reuse for more than a few weeks without it disintegrating, I really dislike this, and won't be able to recommend any of these.

Cream:

I used to reach for cream foundations a lot because they work very well with drag. They have extremely high coverage typically, and are excellent with blending, highlighting and contouring. These also don't dry and you can get these in palettes, and they're very nice for more working freelance makeup artists because you don't have a setting time with these and you can use these without fear of them drying out (too much.) The coverage for this runs from light to full.

Cream foundations such as Kroylan's TV Paint Stick are my absolute recommendation for drag and eyebrow coverage as well, but I can't usually recommend this for my own skin as it roughens up my skin texture quite a bit, but the blending and coverage does last a whole night!

Powder:

This can come in pressed, or loose powder form.

Loose powder is typically more likely used as colored setting powder, or even sometimes as translucent types for setting your liquid or cream foundation. I don't usually reach for loose powder in my daily routine, but occasionally I will do a light brushing of loose powder over my t-zone for a lasting foundation, and I will sometimes 'bake' with loose powder and a powder puff for drag.

Pressed powder is typically used to either add coverage onto liquid foundation (as a lot of Youtube KOL/BGs will do), but I typically layer it on top of a primer or just powder puff it on my bare skin when I'm feeling a little bit lazy. The coverage is often around light to medium.

Powder foundations I don't often recommend to dry skin, mostly because the powder can accentuate and bring out cakiness and patchy textures on the skin that you had no idea existed - whereas liquid and cream usually works alright on mostly all skin types.

I find powder foundation best on a lazy day where I just want to do a quick brush over with a brush or a powder puff without having to fuss about a beauty blender, sponge or having to wash my brush or hands after using liquid or cream foundations.

Personally, there was a good amount of time that I did use powder foundations on a daily basis for university, and I find this a very convenient alternative to liquid foundations regarding application.

I've had good success with Guerlain's Lingerie de Peau pressed powder foundation and Primavista's pressed powder foundation as well.

Other types:

There are a few other types of foundation, though they're not as easily found.

Gel foundation is one very innovative type of product but it's not too popular, but the other type is airbrush foundation. Airbrushing is more professional and requires an airbrush machine, so I've not tried it since it is much pricier but is often used in professional make up settings or movies due to the lovely finish and ease in application.

The last is a spray type foundation, such as Dior's Air Flash foundation. I've tried this and didn't enjoy this too much due to the lack of control and also the extremely yellow shade range, and how full coverage it was.

As these are pricier and usually harder to find, I don't typically recommend these to beginners, or just in general due to the easier accessibility of liquid and powder, and the sheer amount of variety you can get with just those two types of foundation. 

Moving on from formula alone, here are some other factors!

Shade: 

I prefer something as close to my skin tone as possible. I don't have obvious shade differences between my face and neck, and I'm around the N15-20 range. I am more of a neutral yellow in terms of skin tone, and while I'm nowhere as cool toned as one of my friends, pink based foundations (N or NW) work better for me than NC, or warm yellows. NC runs very sallow on me, much like a lot of other typical asian shades that don't differentiate by undertone (yellow or pink). If you are East Asian and don't know your undertone, here's my Ultimate Guide to figuring out what color suits you best! 

Taken from here. Not a great range of shades but works to show what I mean. 

I sit relatively well in the N range, as it falls under a neutral. My friend, despite being yellow, works much better with cool tones, so she prefers claire rose. Warm has much more of a warm yellow base, similar to MAC's NC range, and so while I can blend it into my skin, it looks horribly sallow on my skin tone. 

I was recommended NC 15 from a MAC sales assistant, and really I regret it to this very day. I had already said to them that NW seems like a better match, but she insisted NC was a better fit for me. (There is no N15, but there should be.) 

Regarding shade matching, you can do a few things! Most important of all is lighting, try to get yourself out to as many different places as possible, and make sure you're applying with blending, but also keep a stark line of foundation just to compare the full coverage color to your face. 

 First, store lighting with a good white light is good. Try to avoid warm/yellow lights as they will skewer the color balance. Try flash photography on your face, does it look ashy? Sallow? Can you see an obvious mismatch? Then, go outside and bring a friend. Does it look way too dark? Too light? Is the undertone wrong and it doesn't blend and you have just a yellow mask on your face? 

Coverage: 

Quite similar to the shade matching, you can try this on your skin and check different light conditions to see if this covers what you want. I don't have freckles or any strong discoloration around my face, nor do I need to cover correct. I like a bit of natural skin coming through, so I'm happy with a light to medium coverage (anywhere between 10% to 40% is a nice amount for me.) I find higher coverage foundations tend to be quite heavy on the skin (Dior has very high coverage and very heavy foundations). 

Finish: 

As I've said before, I am not a huge fan of Korean makeup, with the (overly) dewy finish and much lighter type of foundation. I much prefer a natural skin like, but as I have a very oily t-zone, I usually prefer reaching for ultra matte foundations, and I let my face provide the natural highlighting (usually on my nose and forehead.) as I also typically wear foundation for a long time. For the seasons and geographical differences, you should also take into account the amount of humidity where you are. 

In Hong Kong, the humidity is regularly 60-80% on any given day, so something long wear and matte like Chanel's Perfection Lumiere Velvet will not feel as dry as it would in Australia, where the humidity is only around 20-30%, or even in Japan or Boston's aggressively dry winters (which I lack the proper skincare to keep my skin as hydrated as it usually would be) and I would get awful dry patches using Velvet during dry winters, whereas it struggles to last the day without looking oily after 2-3 hours in Hong Kong summers of 95% humidity and heat. 

I also don't enjoy powdering down foundations as I find it thickens and adds to the amount of product on my face, which I find uncomfortable, and I much prefer using the Wayne Goss tip of using a thin tissue paper to blot off the oil, without reducing the pigment on the skin.

Wearability/Texture/Setting on skin:

 I would say this is whether or not the formula dries to a nice smooth finish or stays tacky and sticky. 

Unfortunately, I find that Korean foundations often don't set, so they're quite sticky and oily throughout the day without having being set, and so I find myself refusing to touch my own face because of the feeling I get on my hands after touching my skin. 

I like the Chanel (Velvet and Les Beiges) and Guerlain (lingerie de peau) because they dry down to a nice smooth finish, and they can be touched without having sticky or tacky sensations throughout the day, and feel light and almost unnoticeable on the face. 

Breathability: 

How to judge breathability, at least the way I see it, is typically how it feels on the skin, whether it's heavy or lightweight. Giorgio Armani's Power Fabric was unbelievably heavy and uncomfortable on my skin, although the finish was matte. 

I also tried Yves Saint Laurent's foundations, in Fusion Ink and All Hours Liquid foundation, both of which maintain a very sticky/tacky finish and also feel very noticeable on my skin. Both of these felt a bit like a mask on my face, and so despite my interest in Fusion Ink's 'lightweight' claims, I didn't like how tacky it felt to my hands, or how obvious it felt on my face.

Longevity:

I'd love my foundations to last as long as possible, because of my oily t-zone. I rarely ever do touch ups with my own foundation and I don't like the caked feeling of setting powders or blotting powders on my skin. Sometimes, you can layer on a setting spray (I personally use and can recommend UD's All Nighter), but typically I'll like matte and thin finishes, which tend to last the longest on me.

Occasionally, I'll reach for a thinner and dewier foundation on days I won't be going out for too long for, and is easier to take off, or even a powder foundation for quick application, but mostly I prefer a longer lasting foundation. 

Perfume/Scent: 

I'm not allergic to many scents, as Chanel has quite heavily scented products and I don't have a reaction to them. I'm averse to heavily non scented but strong smelling items, and I don't like some of the drug store foundation scents which make me feel a bit sick, as they cling and smell awful.

SPF: 

For me, a high SPF isn't too important, as this Wayne Goss video points out - is that you need at least 1.35ml of product to really get the amount of SPF protection the foundation claims it will give you- and that is impossible to do. 

As a lot of the comments point out, the sunscreens on offer are usually unbelievable sticky and heavy on the skin, so I recommend this product: 

Nivea's Sun Protect Super Water Gel which is SPF 50 and very lightweight on the skin, which doubles as a makeup base as well! It isn't sticky at all, sinks right into the skin and even works on pale Caucasian skin (in fact, this was recommend to me by my friend who heralded it as the only sunscreen that ever worked for him.) This is only sold in Japan, but a few places I know sell this as well, but I typically stock pile it. I absolutely hate sticky textures on the face, so this is perfect for me. You can also layer lots of this on your skin, and it's water based and sinks right into your skin without feeling heavy at all. 

Another base that I've tried and will be buying a full size of, is Anessa's Perfect UV sunscreen skincare milk in 50 SPF. While not as thin and lightweight as Nivea, it provides a matte and slightly more hydrating base and is also tailored to skin/makeup rather than an all over body product. 

The other primer base I enjoy which is quite moisturizing and smells nice as well, is the Laduree Sun Protection Makeup Base. It's light and has a dewy finish, but it keeps my skin from dry patches and also the added bonus of more sun protection, but you can't use as much of this outside of dry areas or dry skin. 

Price: 

You may have noticed that a lot of the foundation I've mentioned are mid or higher end brands, and that's honestly because I've never had a lower end foundation work as well as more expensive brands do for me. Aspects of finish, longevity, texture and being able to test these in store are very important things to me, and I find that making one expensive base that I won't be allergic to and am happy to use all day is much better than a lot of mediocre drug store foundations which have half the life of one that's a little bit more money. Additionally, Australian drug store is relatively expensive in comparison to original prices in America, so it feels less 'worth the money'. 

In terms of factors that are more subjective, I want to tell a bit of a story. A while ago, I was also on the hunt for another foundation, and browsing around on the internet often doesn't do a great job of showing what really works or what doesn't. 

Like Temptalia's rubric for products, texture, pigmentation, longevity, application and product (from what I understand this means : product's worth for money), this really isn't a solid basis for all products. I've bought many products due to her reviews, and while it's not to say, they're all somewhat decent quality, these factors don't necessarily make them good in and of itself. 

For example, once, I bought Giorgio Armani's Eyes to Kill eyeshadows. Unfortunately, the packing was much too hefty - with a huge black weighted cap between the screw top and the product and a heavy glass base, and although they were pigmented and long lasting with a very unique formula, the colors I bought were just not colors I ever used or liked using, and therefore they ended up sitting in my cupboard for a lot longer that I want to admit to. 

Another time, I bought Giorgio Armani's Powder Fabric foundation on a whim, and thanks to the reviews, I decided to buy it after testing it in store, and realized, it was a little too dark for me and my complexion (despite what the sales assistant said) and also, that the formula horribly broke me out, to the point where I had a huge patch of acne on my cheeks (and coming from someone who's been relatively lucky to have clear skin my whole life, this was a huge shock to me). I've never worn it since, but it doesn't detract from the fact that there are people who love this formula - but I could never get my use out of this! 

After learning about my one day wear, and subsequent break out, I've applied this wear test to foundations I'm interested in. I hauled myself with a bare face to Sephora, and I sat down and applied a full face of the foundation to my face and sat around at home waiting to see how it looked, and how it wore. The finish, I was a huge fan of. However, the next day, I found myself getting another small break out of my cheeks. Sadly, another cult favorite crossed off the list due to my allergies. 

Additionally, things I can't tell like, skin type, location, season, how much you're moving, where you're going, how you're using and applying the product can alter it a lot. 

My normal but oily t-zone means I prefer matte and drying foundations, this isn't the same for everyone. My oily t-zone breaks down foundations extremely quickly, so I don't need to reach for dewy finishes. I don't mind creasing under the eye, and I don't have smile lines, so I don't need to test for that. A foundation can break down easier on the base you're using, or even if you're using a wet beauty blender to apply it, as the water mixes and thins the product on your skin. 

I also don't think I'd love Chanel's Velvet as much if I constantly lived in drier climates. 

Maybe you don't mind lower pigmentation, maybe you only like applying with a brush and some foundations don't work as well. Maybe you don't like silicone based products, maybe your skin is extremely dry and you don't take care of it much, meaning dewy cushion foundations bring life and hydration to your already matte skin. 

All of these important things can be determined by trying testers, keeping an eye on how it wears on your skin and how long it will hold up, how it plays with the base you usually use, and whether or not you even like the color at all! 

Personally, this method for me has not failed me in the last few years (no more Powder Fabric incidents!), and now I've reached a lovely point of peak personal achievement with products I use and absolutely love. 

Hopefully, you can take something out of this and find yourself something that works! 

And if you're a beginner, remember, make up is obvious, if it looks good to you, it's usually the right way to go. Or if you're totally not sure, try bringing along a friend who can keep an eye out for you!