Applying foundation isn’t always easy when you have dry skin: Some products will settle around flaky skin and emphasize its appearance, rather than gliding evenly over it. If you have dry skin, you can help to prep your skin for makeup application by exfoliating and moisturizing a few minutes before you put on makeup. This will help to lift away dead skin cells, even out roughness, and smooth over dry spots to allow for a more even application. Using a moisturizing primer before applying foundation can also help to create a smoother canvass for your makeup (I’m a huge fan of Dermalogica’s Hydrablur Primer).

While the right skin prep routine can help you to get the most out of your foundation, it’s also important to choose a foundation product that works for, and not against, your dry skin. Here are some of our favorites:

Best foundation products for dry skin:

Juice Beauty’s Phyto-Pigments Youth Cream Compact Foundation: This cream foundation has a thicker, more luxurious consistency than a liquid foundation equivalent, so it will blend more smoothly over dry skin. It’s primarily formulated using natural, moisturizing ingredients instead of conventional, chemical thickeners and stabilizers; these healthy ingredients include aloe juice, jojoba seed oil, and coconut oil.

Vapour Beauty’s Luminous Foundation: This stick foundation is specially formulated to perfect the texture of your skin, blending evenly over dry patches and fine lines. It comes in a range of 19 colors to suit a wide skin tone spectrum and gives your skin a luminous, dewy finish. It contains moisturizing ingredients like sunflower seed oil and castor seed oil, as well as antioxidant-rich tomato extract to boost cell regeneration.

100% Pure’s Fruit Pigmented Healthy Foundation: This liquid foundation delivers full coverage with a matte finish, and will help to repair dry skin even as it covers up imperfections and rough patches. It features moisturizing aloe leaf extract, and a blend of botanical ingredients that are rich in healthy antioxidants–including goji, acai, and mangosteen. Best yet, its 9 different shades are created using fruit pigments rather than synthetic dyes.

Origins’ Ginzing SPF 40 Energy-Boosting Tinted Moisturizer: This this light-coverage tinted moisturizer helps to correct skin tone and boost the skin’s radiance while moisturizing with ginseng and repairing the skin using a blend of botanical ingredients. It’s an excellent, low-maintenance makeup option for dry skin. Potential buyers should make sure to check out this product’s ingredients list, though, as it does contain some chemicals with an EWG rating of 3 (“moderate hazard”) or above.

Tarte Cosmetics’ Rainforest of the Sea Water Foundation: This liquid foundation provides medium coverage, with a natural, healthy finish. It helps to protect your skin against the elements using plant extracts, preventing future dryness; meanwhile, it softens your skin with algae extract and coconut oil. While this product does contain powerful plant-powered ingredients, potential buyers should be sure to check out the full ingredients list to be aware of its chemical content.

Burt’s Bees’ Online Only Goodness Glows Liquid Foundation: Burt’s Bees has created this lower-budget makeup fix for dry skin. It’s formulated using moisturizing meadowfoam seed oil and comes in a range of 12 shades. Potential buyers who are concerned about chemicals should make sure to look over the full ingredients list.

Advertisement