You don’t have to be a makeup junkie to appreciate the portability and convenience of a cushion foundation. Not only does it come with its own sponge that’s often anti-microbial (no worrying about bacteria), it’s also a small enough compact that’s lightweight and won’t leak or dirty your bag.
READ MORE: Your no-nonsense guide to all the confusing K-beauty products out there.
The best thing about cushion makeup is not having to use brushes or your fingers, meaning you can use the product wherever you are, and your hands don’t even have to be sterile as long as they aren’t coming into direct contact with your skin.
Whether you’re a BB cushion fanatic or haven’t been fully convinced about them up till this point, we’ve thrown together a slew of recommendations on everything from staple cushion foundations to eyeshadow and lipstick cushions that are bound to suck you right into the #cushionlife.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.
These need no explanation. They come in various formulas — matte, dewy, long-wearing, oil-control, or hydrating — that you should choose to suit your skin type and preference. If you think you’ve gotten to the end of your BB cushion, don’t forget to flip the sponge inside to get to the rest of the product beneath! We have mad love for the Laneige cushions, but if you’re looking for some alternative options, here are two options that can suit both Eastern and Western makeup preferences.
READ MORE: These breathtakingly pretty nail art designs from Korea are all we want right now.
#1 Innisfree Long Wear Cover Cushion SPF50+/PA+++ or Water Fit Cushion SPF34/PA++, $12 for the case and $19 for the refill.
Innisfree lets you choose between a high coverage long-wear foundation of a more lightweight dewy one. These come in six shades from light beige to a chestnut (for medium skin). The fun of it is choosing from up to 100 cushion compact designs. Trust us, making a decision is tough.
#2 & #3 Estee Lauder Double Wear Cushion BB – All Day Wear Liquid Compact SPF 50 / PA+++, $68, and Estee Lauder Double Wear Nude Cushion Stick Radiant Makeup, $56
Estee Lauder has released two cushion iterations of its cult favourite Double Wear foundation. The compact works like your typical cushion foundation, while the cushion stick requires you twist up product and blend directly. You might need the help of your fingers to blend out the foundation in the stick, but I do love the formula more for its natural and lightweight finish.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.
If you want your blush to look skin-like and completely natural, then a cushion blush will do the trick. You just want to make sure you apply it to a liquid foundation before setting your face with powder, and use a light touch. A great cushion blush is easy to blend out into a sheer wash of colour, but buildable if you wish for something more intense.
READ MORE: Stop drawing your eyebrows like the Koreans and do this instead.
#1 Lancome Cushion Blush Subtil, $55
This is Lancome’s classic cushion blush which actually has added benefit of sun protection. So not only is it hydrating on your cheeks, it’ll also protect your skin from harmful UV damage.
#2 Sephora Wonderful Cushion Blush, $20
Sephora went all out when it joined the cushion game, and this blush cushion is just one of the winners (I also enjoy the foundation cushion tremendously). It comes in a squeezy tube instead of a compact that’s really easy to apply and throw in even the smallest clutch bags. Just press the tube lightly until a tiny amount of blush peeks through, and dab it across your cheeks. A little goes a very long way with this, so go slow.
#3 L’Oreal Paris Cushion Glow Blush, $24.90
This one is very much like the Lancome blush cushion, but half the price. The one thing that might hold you back from this is the more limited colour selection: Choose between a really vivid pink or a coral shade.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.
Not too far off from blushes are the cushion highlighters and luminisers. Liquid and cream highlighters are the perfect way to bring a soft kiss of radiance to the skin without going overboard and accentuating any skin texture. So if you’re someone with larger pores or a rougher skin texture around your cheeks, consider a liquid or cream highlight instead.
READ MORE: Stop drawing your eyebrows like the Koreans and do this instead.
#1 Sephora Wonderful Cushion Luminizer, $20
This highlighter is essentially the same product as the Wonderful Cushion Blush, just in a light shimmery cream formula. Both products work really well together, and you can even apply this on top of your liquid or cream blushes to give your cheeks a veil of shimmer.
#2 Laneige Cushion Highlighter, $34
Created as a complement to the Laneige BB cushions, this highlighter is all about giving your skin a glow that’s as natural as possible. So not only does it contain color-coated pearl pigments, it’s also packed with moisturising properties to give your skin some seriously healthy radiance.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.
While the cushion tips in these products aren’t the best for flawlessly blending out your concealer, you can always use your foundation cushion sponge to really pat it out, failing which, sanitised fingertips will do the trick.
READ MORE: Your no-nonsense guide to all the confusing K-beauty products out there.
#1 Laneige Watery Cushion Concealer, $35
This concealer is perfect if you have drier skin around your eyes. It’s hydrating and pigmented, with brightening properties that work to lighten discolorations in your skin.
#2 Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circle Concealer Treatment, $19.90
One of my favourites natural-looking concealers with medium-high coverage, this one is going to get you through minimal makeup days. It contains goji berry and haloxyl that is meant to help erase the appearance of dark circles and fine lines as well as puffiness.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.
The truth is you’ve probably seen more cushion lipsticks that you’ve realised. Lipsticks that come in squeezy tubes with cushion applicators at the end aren’t that new, but they’re definitely a much easier way to apply your lipstick than having to use a doe foot applicator, especially if you’re into more natural and sheer lip colours.
READ MORE: Your no-nonsense guide to all the confusing K-beauty products out there.
#1 Sephora Wonderful Cushion Lips, $16
The Sephora collection makes an appearance once again (I did say they went all-out with the cushion collections) with six lip shades in a squeezy cushion-tip tube. It’s not all gimmick either, because these lip cushions are packed with shea butter and oils to smooth and nourish your lips, while drying to a powdery matte finish. Plus, it’s long-wearing on the lips.
#2 L’Oreal Blossom Caresse Cushion Tint, $23.90
These are the powder-to-gel lip products that launched at the height of the monochrome makeup trend, and they were perfect because you could use them on the lips, cheeks, and eyelids if you so desired. The lip tints also made it really easy to achieve the K-beauty-inspired gradient lip look because you could easily blend the powder into a sheer pigment across your lips to create an ombre effect.
#3 Lancome Juicy Shaker, $36
When everyone was still into matte liquid lipsticks, Lancome launched the Juicy Shaker that reminded us how much we loved the feeling of highly moisturised and comfortable lips. It’s also fun to use because you quite literally have to shake it up to disperse the pigment evenly in the blend of nourishing lip oils. If you suffer from dry lips, you’re going to want this in your purse everyday. It also comes in a large range of colours so you’ll never be bored.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.
Laneige stands alone in this department, as the only brand to come out with a cushion compact brow product (is anyone surprised that they’re the first in this department?), the Laneige Eyebrow Cushion-Cara ($36). It comes in a cute little dual-colour cushion so you can create a more natural gradient in your brows. The compact comes with a tiny applicator (brush on one end and spoolie on the other) which is understandable since unlike the rest of your makeup, brows require something more precise.
READ MORE: Your no-nonsense guide to all the confusing K-beauty products out there.
Moving beyond liquid brow products, there are other brands that have created brow pencils with powder one one end that is applied with a tiny cushion tip. K-Palette in particular has done the powder cushion pencils well, though I find them harder to blend out well if you don’t have a spoolie brush.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.
At the start of this year, L’Oreal released a line of fuss-free cushion tip eyeshadow sticks called the L’Oreal Super Liner V Sculptor ($18.90 each). They’re modelled after the Blossom Tint Caresse lip cushions that launched the previous year, and have a sort of powder-to-gel formula to them. The colour range has three very wearable shades (a purple, brown and bronze) as well as a black shade that you can combine with the rest to give your eyes a little more dimension. Check out our full review and swatches of the shades here.
READ MORE: The hottest Korean hair salons in Singapore and the must-try treatments from each. Fight the ageing effects of air-conditioning with these face masks.