Your general foundation goal (velvety smooth and natural yet flawless) may not change with age, but sometimes your foundation needs will evolve. After all, it can become a tad trickier to achieve the aforementioned silky, radiant aim as the skin matures.
Of course, you’re still looking to perfect and polish your skin’s tone and texture with your beloved base—you just may be chasing a little extra smoothing and brightening action, while also requiring a foundation formula that won’t drag on uneven texture or settle into lines.
But as true as that is, ‘mature’ isn’t actually a skin type; it’s merely a bracket that affects what else you should look for in a foundation, on top of everything else you’ve always been after.
Because while, yes, skin types can develop over time, and a smooth, fresh finish is a fairly universal goal, you need something that will treat your skin as the mature version of your actual skin type, not just blanket ‘mature skin’.
For example, while wet-look luminous-finish foundations are incredible for literally glossing over a few fine lines, they aren’t always exactly what you’re after for an oily skin type, even as it ages.
So, allow us to help; here are the best foundations for each skin type that also happen to leave skin plump, fresh and positively youthful…
Best for: Sensitive skin
Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation
A beautifully breathable fluid foundation that glides onto skin with the weightless feel of a serum (but delivers medium coverage in the process), it’s a complexion-calming botanical blend of white water lily and lotus flower that leaves skin silky-smooth and soothed. It’s also incredible for camouflaging uneven skin tone and smoothing the look of enlarged pores, and features a doe-foot applicator that aids you in achieving the ‘second skin’ finish that flatters mature skin like a dream.
$49 at Sephora
Best for: Normal skin
Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Ultra-Light Skin Perfecting Makeup SPF 15
If you’ve got no major skin type-related issues atop your ‘concerns to combat’ list, we advise leaning into a lightweight foundation formula like this one. ‘Fresh’ is a finish that is a friend to faces of any age, but alas, any tell-tale signs of collagen depletion or lack of youthful luminosity will be whisked away with a wash of this energising, tone-evening base. Loaded with lotus water as well as brown algae and hyaluronic acid derivatives, it basically offers buildable natural coverage that’ll leave skin looking positively spritely.
$79 at Myer
Best for: Oily skin
NARS Soft Matte Complete Foundation
Yes, your skin naturally produces less sebum as you age, but you still may never truly grow out of an oily skin type. However, applying mattifying bases to mature skin can often be treacherous territory, as many of the more absorbent or heavy formulas will only leave signs of ageing exaggerated. The answer lies in a lighter option like this one from NARS; it features mattifying micro-algae extract (which absorbs excess oil without over-drying) plus bio hyaluronic acid to simultaneously dial up your plumpness, smoothness and brightness levels.
$57 at MECCA
Best for: Combination skin
Giorgio Armani Power Fabric Longwear High Cover Foundation
If you’ve got combination skin, something with a silky velvet-matte finish like this Armani delight will be right up your face’s alley. Combining full coverage status with weightless texture (yes, apparently it is possible), it’s a creamy base that melts into skin, blurring imperfections while its ultra-fine pigments eliminate any threat of cracking or caking while you wear. It’s balancing enough to keep excess oil in check, but not so much so that it settles into fine lines or leaves the face looking flat.
$105 at Sephora
Best for: Dry skin
Dior Diorskin Forever Fluid Glow Foundation
Dry is of course the skin type that most associate with ‘ageing’ skin due to the sebaceous glands’ slightly rude tendency to slow down production later in life. So, if you’ve come here in search of something super glowy and hydrating, we’ve got just the ticket. Packed with pansy extract and rosehip oil, ingredients that protect the skin against dehydration, it’s a texture-refining, skin-tightening base blend gifted with a covetable glossy finish. Prepare for fine lines and pores to be disguised beneath a layer of highly moisturising and plumping luminosity.
$93 at Myer
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