Confession time: In all my years as a beauty editor, I have always been intimated by foundation to the point of just forgoing it altogether most of the time. Why do you think my skin-care game is so aggressively on point? So I don’t have to fret about complexion makeup! I still spot-conceal on a daily basis, but whenever I do a full face of foundation, it looks and feels to me like I am wearing a second face (which ostensibly, I am). I love the evened-out effect wherein my blotchy bits and weird shadows are brightened but for the longest time I was just not able to get that effect without detectable foundation.
My kingdom for a makeup product with the coverage of a buildable foundation but the feel of a skin tint — that’s all I want, truly. Foundation should be seen and not felt… and not even seen that much. (I’m trying to think of a clever metaphor for this and the only thing I can think of is that pottery-throwing scene from Ghost and that might be a bit extra, but you get what I mean, hopefully.)
At first when cushion compacts burst onto the scene I was stoked — finally a convenient way to get that natural undetectable finish! But alas, cushion compacts — while worthy of many virtues — are still like using a tiny Tempur-Pedic mattress to apply foundation. Foundation drops are a great invention however not all of them play nicely with all moisturizers/sunscreens and separate or pill in an odd unpleasant way. I’m sorry but silicone sponges are just something I cannot get behind — try as I might (and I have tried many a time with many different products) I feel like I’m trying to apply foundation with a squeegee and it’s just a real bad streaky scene.
Beauty Blenders are fine for the most part but they still leave either a detectable layer of foundation sitting on the top of my skin, or it blends in too well to the point where the foundation is buffed in to the point of invisibility. Look, I’m a face-toucher and I hate when I leave streaks of foundation on my face as I scratch an itch on my cheek and I absolutely abhor getting foundation beneath my nails.