Ultimate Guide to Foundation

In order for your makeup look to be as gorgeous as you are, you MUST have a great base. Foundation is a skin toned makeup product meant to cover any blemishes, discoloration, or any skin “issues” you have, leaving you with a fresh and even complexion to apply the rest of your makeup on top of! Keep reading this ultimate guide to foundation to learn everything you need to know to achieve an awesome base.

There are many factors that make up foundation, so there is a lot of information to cover in this post.

Let’s dive in with an overview of the types of foundation.

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Foundation Types

There are a few different forms of foundation that vary drastically from one another.

Liquid Foundation: 

This is what most people probably think of when they see “foundation” because it is one of the most popular types. Liquid foundation fills makeup aisles, in small glass bottles and plastic tubes.

You can almost certainly find a liquid foundation that will work for your skin type, tone, and finish preference. There are SO many liquid foundation formulas on the market and you can purchase them everywhere from Sephora to Walmart.

Cream Foundation:

Typically used by makeup artists, cream foundations are often found in large palettes of multiple shades – making it easy to work on multiple clients. Creams tend to have a thicker formula than liquid foundations, more similar to stage makeup.

While you can buy cream foundations on the market, most people do not buy them for personal use.

Stick Foundation:

Just like the name suggests, stick foundations come in a stick form. They are a solid cream foundation formula that twists up in a tube (like deodorant).

Stick foundations are often very full coverage and can be found many places, but are less common than liquid and powder foundations.

Powder Foundation:

Pressed or loose, powder foundation is quite literally a tinted powder intended to give minimal coverage to the skin.

This type of foundation can be great for people who have oily skin, because the powder can help to absorb some of the oil. Often, people will use a powder foundation on TOP of a liquid (or cream or stick) foundation to set the liquid and give a little extra coverage to their skin.

Note: BB/CC creams

While some people consider BB or CC creams to be a type of foundation, we are not going to address those in this article.

 

 

Level of Foundation Coverage

The level of foundation coverage essentially means how well the foundation entirely covers your natural skin.

Sheer or Light Coverage

A light level of coverage will typically even out your skin tone and reduce any redness on your skin, but will not hide blemishes very well.

Light coverage looks very natural, because it does not cover up your skin.

Powder foundation is great for light coverage, as are BB/CC creams or skin tints. Some liquid foundations might also be labeled as light coverage.

Medium Coverage

A medium level of coverage will even out your skin tone, reduce redness, and cover blemishes moderately well.

Medium coverage looks fairly natural, because some of your skin will still peak through the foundation – you might see some freckles or texture still.

Full Coverage

Full coverage truly means full – as in, it covers everything on your face. This is the “Instagram makeup” type of foundation, where the full coverage hides all redness, blemishes, freckles, texture, and skin.

Because full coverage really covers all of your skin, it does not tend to look nearly as natural as lighter coverages. However, it can still look very pretty when done correctly.

Buildable Coverage

When a foundation’s coverage is buildable, it usually means that it starts out at a medium coverage level. You can then add an additional layer of foundation and it will become more full coverage.

I personally love a buildable coverage foundation, because I can wear it more medium-natural on most days and build it up to a fuller coverage when I need it.

 

 

Foundation Finishes

Once a foundation has set and dried on your skin, it could appear as many different finishes!

Note: The finish of a foundation can be altered by many things, such as your skincare, primer, and setting spray.

Matte

Matte foundations look very dry and flat on the face. They are not at all shiny on their own, which is very beneficial to people with oily or combination skin, but can be too drying for people with dry skin. Many true full coverage foundations are matte.

Dewy/Luminous

Dewy, sometimes called luminous, is a glowy and shiny finish that is meant to look youthful and skin-like. They are great for people who have dry or mature skin, but can look weirdly wet and oily on people with oily skin.

Satin

If matte and dewy had a baby, it would be satin. It’s a great combination of the two finishes, and in my opinion it looks the most natural. I find them to feel lighter than a matte and less oily than a dewy look. All skin types can wear a satin finish, but might have to adjust other products to make it work for them (e.g. an oily person may use a matte primer with a satin foundation to control oil; a dry person may use a dewy setting spray to give extra hydration).

Sheer

Some may argue that sheer isn’t really a finish, but in my experience some foundations or BB creams are so light coverage that they don’t really have a finish of their own – it just looks like skin. If anything, sheer coverage might look a bit on the dewy or satin side, since it would be similar to putting a tinted moisturizer on your skin.

 

 

Choosing a Foundation Shade

There are few different factors to consider when choosing the correct shade of foundation.

Skin Tone

This refers to how light or dark your skin is, typically on a scale from fair to deep.

Different brands use different terminology, but you’ll often see words such as these to describe skin tones:

• fair
• light
• medium
• tan
• deep

It’s often pretty easy to determine which of these categories you fall into, unless you are on the edge or between two categories.

Undertones

This is the area where most people mess up, and buy a foundation that is way too yellow or pink for their skin.

Undertones have to do with the different shades of color that make up your skin’s color.

There are warm, neutral, and cool undertones, and good foundation ranges should have a variety of all undertones in all skin tone categories.

Explaining how to figure out your undertone is a whole journey in itself (it’s taken me a few years to be able to find my correct undertones, and therefore my correct foundation shades!) so I suggest getting color matched in your local Sephora, Ulta, MAC, Macy’s, or any other store that sells makeup and has trained employees to help match you and tell you what your undertones are!

If this isn’t an option for you, look at the veins in your wrist. Are they green? You’re warm toned and should get a yellow undertone. Blue? Cool toned and should get pink. Both? Neutral!

Where to Match

Many people try to match their foundation to their hand – they can easily see it and test different shades when walking through the store! ….DON’T! This is wrong. You cannot match your foundation to your hand, arm, leg, or other body parts because your skin tones are different in different places of your body. Your hands are often much tanner or darker than your face, so if you match to your hand you may end up looking crazy.

It can also be hard to match to your face – personally, my face can get very red, so if I match to my face I might choose a foundation that makes me look pink all the time.

I think it’s best to match where your face and neck meet. This area is usually more evenly colored than our cheeks, and will make sure that our foundation doesn’t look wildly different than our necks.

 

Shop my favorite foundations:

 

 

Foundation Application

The first step when applying foundation is to make sure you have a good skincare routine. This includes proper moisturizing, exfoliating, hydrating, and priming.

Primer is a whole other topic. You cannot just choose any makeup primer and expect it to work for your skin type. If you need help with makeup primer, check out the ultimate guide to makeup primer too!

After your skin is prepped, you can start the application of foundation to your skin!

You can use a few different tools to apply foundation: a sponge, brush, or your fingers.

If you use your fingers (good for light coverage, sheer cream formulas – but not full coverage ones) PLEASE make sure you wash your hands first to avoid spreading germs on your face.

I recommend using a sponge or dense foundation brush to buff the foundation into your face.

If you would like to know how to use a makeup sponge, check out this guide that will walk you through the steps:

Liquid Foundation Application

When you apply liquid (or cream or stick!) foundation, start with a small amount of product. You can always add more if needed! If you add too much product to your face, the foundation can look cakey and not as nice.

Make sure you spend time blending your foundation into your hair line, neck, and all of your face so that it looks smooth and you don’t have any harsh lines!

After your foundation is applied, wait a couple minutes so it can settle into your skin. Then you can perfect any little parts you don’t like before setting it with powder or setting spray.

Powder Foundation Application

If you’re using powder foundation, you can use a makeup brush or sponge to apply it to your skin. When using a brush to apply powder, you should dip your brush into the product and then press it into your face. You can lightly swirl or drag the brush to distribute the powder evenly, but do not use a lot of pressure! You don’t want to remove any of the makeup underneath the powder with your brush strokes.

If you’d like to use a sponge (wet or dry) to apply powder, you can dip it into the powder, then press and roll it onto your skin. Learn more about how to use a makeup sponge here.

What if the foundation still doesn’t look right?!

There are many factors that could be making your foundation look less than perfect.

Check out this article with many common mistakes that we all make when we are starting off with makeup!

Don’t feel bad if you are making a mistake with your foundation – it can be fixed easily, and we love teaching you how to improve. 🙂

If you found this helpful, don’t forget to pin this article for later:

I really hope that this ultimate guide to foundation was helpful for you!

If there is anything you are still confused about or want to add, leave me a comment and I’ll try and answer any questions!

What’s your favorite foundation?