Gone are the days when foundations are all about covering up all imperfections to achieve a unified skin tone. In 2022, we embrace skin’s natural texture and glow, with foundations that offer lightweight coverage so that your own skin peeks through. The plus side? They feel comfortable even under masks. Here are our best picks.
Formulated with a powerful blend of active skincare ingredients including hyaluronic acid and viola extracts, this youth-infusing formula plumps and smoothes your skin with its eight-hour hydrating properties – for a visibly youthful complexion and ultimate radiance. The skincare serum-like texture is lightweight, smooth on your skin and unifies the complexion while giving a second-skin feel.
An innovative blend of makeup and skincare, NARS Light Reflecting Foundation is powered with advanced skincare ingredients—featuring Photochromic Technology and Light Reflecting Complex—that help defend against environmental aggressors and blue light while strengthening skin’s moisture-retaining barrier. This lightweight, breathable and vegan formula (calling sensitive skin types!) imparts medium, buildable coverage with a natural finish and radiant glow. It not only blurs, conceals and smooths imperfections, but also visibly improves skin’s clarity over time.
Born in Taiwan and raised in Singapore, the founder of Orce Cosmetics Yu- Chen Shih created this six-shade foundation line made specifically for Asian skin tones. Though it’s lightweight and watery, it can be built up in any area where you need more coverage. It also has ingredients like Tahitian pearl, evodia rutaecarpa and hyaluronic acid to keep skin moisturised and happy.
A lightweight foundation infused with red camellia oil and hydrating agents, this new Chanel foundation is well-loved for its long-wear pigments that delivers a dewy second-skin finish. While it may feel lightweight, the foundation manages to conceal wrinkles and reduce the appearance of pores, while keeping your skin looking glowy and radiant, ’round the clock.
What’s not to love about rose-infused beauty products? Not only do they smell good, but roses also help to combat skin conditions like acne, while enhancing the skin regeneration process. In this case, Charlotte’s Beautiful Skin Foundation from Charlotte Tilbury has garnered the likes of many for good reason. It imparts a dewy, your-skin-but-better finish while hydrating your face with ingredients like damask rose water and coconut extract.
After making its first foray into the realm of beauty in 2020, Hermes Beauty has now expanded its beauty line to include more cosmetic products like the ones that were recently released as part of its Plein Air Collection. The star of the collection would most definitely be the Plein Air Natural Enhancing Complexion Balm. Great for blurring away minor imperfections and lines, the new balm delivers a weightless veil that keeps your complexion looking fresh and radiant for eight hours. Formulated with hyaluronic acid, evening primrose oil, Baikal skullcap, and white mulberry, the balm also takes care of your skin, while protecting it from harmful UV rays.
This new-generation Dior Forever Skin Glow offers 24 hours of hydration for skin, while creating a smooth and even texture. The formula also contains floral ingredients like iris, pansy and nasturium extract to quell inflammation, protect skin and improve skin hydration. In addition, hibiscus acid extract helps to stimulate cell renewal so that skin is smoother and more even over time.
If there’s a word that embodies this foundation, it’s “fuss-free”. Formulated with hydrating ingredients, this tinted moisturiser also provides broad-spectrum SPF 30 PA+++ protection against UV damage, making it a one-and-done complexion perfector if you’re pressed for time.
Don’t be fooled by this foundation’s medium to full coverage—it’s exceptionally lightweight and breathable on skin and has a refreshing watery texture when applied.
This foundation leaves skin looking like it is naturally perfect. Its hydrating formula keeps skin moisturised and glowing for up to 24 hours, with skincare ingredients like AHAs and antioxidants to protect and refine skin.
Made with 97 natural ingredients, this foundation leaves a subtle glow and blurs out pores for a luminous finish. A blend of AHAs and antioxidants keeps the skin refined and protected against free radical damage.
A foundation that keeps skin hydrated for up to 48 hours, the Neo Glow Foundation combines the best in skincare and makeup. The ultralight formula ensures that the foundation doesn’t cake up, and is able to resist sweat as well, making it the ideal foundation for Singapore’s humid weather.
The NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser has cemented its place on the shelves of many a beauty enthusiast, thanks to its natural skin-like finish and lightweight feel. Apply the product with your fingers in order to help the formula melt into your skin. The result is a your-skin-but-better finish that doesn’t looks fake. If you’re prone to flaky patches, however, do moisturise beforehand as the product is oil-free.
Many women shy away from full coverage foundations because they don’t want to end up with cakey makeup (we have a couple of tips for avoiding cakiness). However, that’s not always true. Some brands, such as the beloved Fenty Beauty, have perfected the art of combining coverage with a lightweight formula. Apply this foundation with a light hand as a little product goes a long way. Then, blend, blend, blend till you get a natural finish. The best part about this foundation is that it’s oil-free, non-comedogenic, and sweat- and humidity-proof. In fact, we’ve even tried wearing it sans setting sprays and the foundation still didn’t budge.
This is one of the most forgiving foundations, whatever your skin type. While you will get shiny after a while if your skin is oily, some mattifying primer underneath, setting powder and Urban Decay’s De-Slick setting spray over top will go a long way towards keeping the shine at bay. Truth: That trusty combination got me through many late nights in my late teens and early 20s when my skin was at its oiliest.
The coverage on this is quite buildable so less is more if you’re going for a more natural look. There are plenty of shades in this range (over 30 shades if you head to the brand’s Pro Loft) so there’s definitely something for everyone.
This CC cream is a well-known classic that’s formulated with hydrating properties (thank you, hyaluronic acid), but doesn’t leave your skin feeling greasy. We recommend using it with a nourishing moisturiser or hydrating primer beforehand if you have dry skin, but normal skin types should do just fine applying this “neat”.
Finish-wise, this CC cream lends a very natural and slightly dewy finish, so if you have oily skin you may want to set it your T-zone with the Bye Bye Pores powder, which does an excellent job at mattifying and oil control (it holds up all day, no joke), and also smooths over the appearance of your pores. The combination of both products is frankly quite amazing.
While Clarins makeup isn’t new by any means, it’s been missing from Singapore shelves for a long time. The brand has some amazing products in its makeup line so naturally, we’ve been eagerly awaiting its return.
One of the complexion options is the Clarins Skin Illusion foundation which is yet another incredibly lightweight “bare skin” effect foundation we had to add to this list. Great for everyday wear, the foundation helps to enhance your complexion, while leaving your skin hydrated. As a result, you can expect a fresher and more luminous complexion.
This article was first published in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore. Additional reporting: Her World Team.