This tip isn’t new, nor novel, but it is one I have been using quite often recently so I thought to share 🙂
I don’t know about you, but sometimes, I find some liquid foundations too dry or drying or too thick and I really hate that on my skin. I gravitate towards light, sheer foundations so anything that is even marginally opaque is to me, thick. This is true in many long lasting foundations but I have two I count among my faves – the Clarins Everlasting foundation and the Diorskin Forever foundation. The problem with those two, as you might gather from both reviews, is that they tend to be a bit dry or drying or flat.
Happily, I’ve solved the problem 🙂 And if this is old news to you, please just indulge me yes? 😉
I love the texture of both the Dior and Clarins foundation and the finish is absolutely lovely on the skin. But being longlasting foundations, both are a bit drying. So, what I do these days is pump the foundation on the back of my hand, then pump a dollop of moisturiser and mix it into the foundation. I am using the Clarins Whitening Velvet Emulsion now but any moisturiser will do, although a lotion would likely perform better than a cream.
The resulting texture is much lighter, not drying, and offers me the great coverage of the foundation. What I’m doing is not sheering out the foundation. If I wanted to do that, I’d reverse the proportions – dollop of moisturier, with a drop of foundation. That’s a great trick too if you don’t want to have heavy coverage.
What I’m doing here is just adding in some moisturiser so the foundation sits a little lighter and keeps my skin moisturised. Its great, my skin loves it, I love the texture and coverage and it stays on all day as a long lasting foundation should, without drying my skin out 😀 Oh and this has also solved the problem of it looking flat! Hurrah all around.
Do you do this with your liquid foundations too? This is also a good way to ease into wearing liquid foundations for those who can’t find a texture they like. The moisturiser helps keep the formula light but you get the benefit of the liquid foundation’s coverage 🙂
Paris B
Germs says
May 15, 2012 at 8:59 amI don’t usually have this problem, but i was watching a taiwanese beauty talkshow and the guru mixed in two drops of Estee Lauder ANR into the foundation and the result was flawless, hydrated and dewy skin! Was quite sold on that, now i can’t wait to buy ANR when i pass by duty free, heh.
Alene says
May 15, 2012 at 8:24 pmwow that sounds decadent!
Liz says
May 15, 2012 at 9:56 pmThis works with bb cream! One or two drops of Estee Lauder ANR into my bb cream makes my skin feel and look good! =D
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 6:55 pmMixing ANR! That’s a great tip, thanks Germs! I’m going to steal it and try it and see if it works better than moisturiser, which I think it should because of the lovely texture 😀
Mira says
May 15, 2012 at 9:45 amThanks for the great info. Never thought of doing this before. I’ll try it! But you still wear your moisturizer as usual right? It doesn’t meant that I have to skip my moisturizer and use it with liquid foundation instead right?? >.<
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 6:57 pmYes, I do my skincare all as normal. This is just to lighten the texture of the foundation so it isn’t so thick or so dry as some can be, or if my skin is feeling especially dry that day 🙂
Applegal says
May 15, 2012 at 9:53 amI wonder whether you can make bb cream this way, but that would also mean mixing in sunblock right?
Julia says
May 15, 2012 at 4:17 pmI used to do that all the time and it worked fine for me. You just have to remember that you still need to wear a full layer of sunscreen underneath, because you won’t get a sufficient amount of protection if you just use a doll mixed into your foundation.
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:04 pmThanks for the tips Julia!
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 6:58 pmGreat idea Applegal! I’m sure you could 😉 Just mix in some moisturiser with SPF and ta da! bb cream 😀
Orange says
May 21, 2012 at 1:41 amI mix my foundation with sunblock! Works great 🙂
ysk says
May 15, 2012 at 10:18 amNever had this problem before as my skin type is combination..but will try this later:)
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 6:59 pmI have combination skin too. Its more to do with the texture of the foundation if you use liquid foundation or otherwise, sheer it out totally and it makes a tinted moisturiser.
Honey says
May 15, 2012 at 11:12 amI use the tip from Emily Noel – mix the Revlon Colorstay foundation to my other foundations to make them longer lasting. Works pretty well. Keen to try Germs’ suggestion of mixing ANR or do you think any other serum might do as well? I generally think there is no harm mixing foundation with skin care.
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:03 pmI love that tip too Honey! I never thought about that to help make my lighter foundations longer lasting. I’ll have to bear it in mind because sometimes, I find that longlasting foundations are very drying and can get uncomfortable on my skin. I’m going to try the ANR trick too and I’m sure any light serum will do the trick too. All we’re doing is sheering out the texture after all 🙂
May Yee says
May 15, 2012 at 3:34 pmWhen I want some sheer light makeup look, I usually do this as DIY tinted moisturiser :P.
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:04 pmIts great! Since I discovered this, I don’t see the point of using tinted moisturiser anymore since I Only ever use it as a foundation 😀
Jyoan says
May 15, 2012 at 5:24 pmOh, I didn’t know about this. Great tip to keep mind, just in case. =D
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:05 pmIts sort of fun, because I like how light it turns my foundations 🙂
Shija says
May 15, 2012 at 5:38 pmThis is a tip I myself should try… Hmmmm
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:07 pmDo let me know if it works for you Shija 🙂
gin says
May 15, 2012 at 5:40 pmThis tips is so interesting! Never thought i could use foundation this way!
(darn i shouldnt have gave a way a thick foundation of mine!)
shall try it out one day though all my current foundations are quite sheer already… ^^
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:08 pmHaha yeah, doesn’t work with sheer foundations already but some other readers have mentioned that you can sheer it out even further and turn it into a tinted moisturiser for very light makeup days. I think that’s a great idea!
Sunny says
May 15, 2012 at 5:41 pmOoo I’ll have to try this at some point! My skin is USUALLY OK, but sometimes it’s wacky and does what it wants. This will probably help it stay hydrated and smooth! Thanks for the tip Paris!
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:09 pmYes! I sometimes do this for the dry spots on the face especially when I’m fighting breakouts and the skin dries out. Having extra moisture helps the foundation not look so flaky 🙂
Sugarenia says
May 15, 2012 at 6:39 pmOh, I do that all the time! My skin is combination dry/oily, so I mix two small pumps of MAC Strobe cream with one full pump of Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation.
The result has the dimension that the Strobe lotion adds, with the coverage that the foundation offers 🙂
It has the added benefit of lightening the foundation a bit, since the beauty store girl colour erroneously matched me to 3, while I’m more of a 2 – 2.5.
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:10 pmThat’s a nice little trick too to add Strobe Cream. I don’t use Strobe cream but a liquid illuminator and it works very well too 🙂
Lisa says
May 15, 2012 at 8:40 pmi find adding moisturizer a bit ‘streaky’ or less comfortable especially in humid weather .Errr… sort of makes the foundation turns more into a tinted moisturizer formula. I prefer a drop or two of the Estee Lauder ANR. It liquids down the dryness while it adheres to my skin so much better than with moisturizer which seems to just sit on top of my skin and which oils me out after a couple of hours. Hope i’m making sense?
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:14 pmI’m going to try it with ANR for sure! 😀 I know what you mean about it sitting on your skin. I think it depends on the moisturizer used. If I were to use a thicker creamy type then it will be a bit slippy and slidy, but if I use something lighter then its usually fine. But ANR, this I gotta try 😀
S. says
May 15, 2012 at 11:32 pmThis is something my mother always do, she doesn’t like heavy foundations 🙂
I loved reading this post, it made me think of her, guess I’ll go downstairs to hug her. Hope you’re having a great day (Or that you had a great day? Should check your time zone 😛 )
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:16 pmAww S that was so sweet! I hope you did go and give your mum a hug 😀 And my timezone is GMT+8 so I’d likely be done with my day by the time you get online 😀
C says
May 15, 2012 at 11:50 pmI’m currently trying this with a sunscreen of mine. It’s horrible, waxy and drying so I’ve been mixing it with everything under the sun in order to get it to work- oil, moisturizers, primers but alas it still sucks. Anyway, I’ve never thought about mixing my liquid foundations with anything else. I do have some which can be hard to blend and drying- will try this out!
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 7:18 pmOh yuck! What sunscreen is that if you don’t mind me asking? I hate sunscreens that are sticky and thick and waxy. I have in fact broken out from a few recently so I’m deathly afraid of trying anything new now 😛 I hope the foundation trick works, for your foundations if not for sunscreen 🙂
C says
May 19, 2012 at 6:09 amI don’t mind. It’s the OHUI Sun Science Red. It’s green, so it sounded like an awesome multi tasker, but turns out it was too good to be true! Yeah, I am fussy about the texture of my sunscreens too. It’s why I like the HERA and recently, the Hada Labo emulsion- they are nice and creamy/smooth. I really like that kinda texture! Sorry to hear your sunscreen have broken you out. Hate it when that happens! Until I tried the hada labo I avoided japanese sunscreens cos they always did that for me. Then again, I rarely try new sunscreens. If I find something that works I’ll cling to it, for fear of another OHUI or biore!
Thanks. I hope so too~ 😛
Paris B says
May 21, 2012 at 10:59 pmThanks! I think the Hada Labo one is pretty good too for the price. Im going to try one from Biore soon. I’ve never tried it!
Alyssa Jaren says
May 16, 2012 at 1:33 pmawesome!!! now i know what to do with my revlon colorstay. dries out so fast! i’ve been blending it like a flapping bat, as fast as possible. will try this when i get home 😀
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 11:34 pm“blending like a flapping bat” I love this! Lol!!! Glad this has helped you so you no longer have to resemble a bat 😀
shusheshe says
May 16, 2012 at 9:01 pmI generally use tinted moisturizer to sheer out the heavier, full coverage foundation I have. I haven’t tried ordinary moisturizer yet, so that’s next on my list!
Paris B says
May 16, 2012 at 11:58 pmThat’s a good idea too. Another reader mentioned she mixes light foundation with a long lasting one to make it last longer which I thought was clever too!
BunBunMakeupTips says
May 17, 2012 at 5:30 amI don’t mix my moisturizer with foundation coz my face is oily enough. I’ve never experienced any dryness of the skin in my entire life. So adding moisturizer to liquid foundation will just make foundation slide off mah face. I like the lightweight feel of sheer foundation but on most days, the condition of my skin doesn’t allow me to use a sheer foundation. Need to cover up blemishes and discoloration with higher coverage. Just higher, not thick.
Paris B says
May 17, 2012 at 6:27 pmI guess not everyone needs this trick. Some other readers have mentioned mixing the foundation with a light serum instead which I’m going to try. I love the idea of having a lovely dewy look with a long lasting foundation 😀
Sherry says
May 19, 2012 at 7:32 amLove to try this I often mix two moisturizer together as one can sting my face
Carrie says
May 25, 2012 at 10:04 amI don’t really use a foundation, regardless powder or liquid. I find BB cream works very well with me at the monent and not planning to change 😛
Anu says
October 26, 2012 at 2:50 amhi i am from India and i bought SHANAZ HUSAIN GOLD POT FOUNDATION. But its really too thick, it cant blend on face properly and i can see some gold glitters on my face. Can i add rosewater or moisturizer into that Gold Pot Foundation? Please advice me which would be better.
Warm Reg’ds
Anu