Foundation. It's just one of those beauty things that is so... challenging! It has to have the coverage you want, finish you want, not irritate your skin, blend easily enough that you'll actually use it, should last on your face long enough to make it worth your time, ALL while being close enough to your skin tone that you can make it work. But a holy grail status foundation will make you look like you just have skin blessed by Aphrodite. 'Natural Finish' in a foundation name is a pretty big claim. Is it even possible?
I've been using the Cover FX Natural Finish Oil Free Foundation for a few months. When I first used it, I noticed right away that the shade was too light so I knew I would have to finesse it a little. That wasn't a problem. I rarely wear just one foundation. With all the checkboxes a foundation has to hit, it's better to be your own foundation mixologist and create your perfect foundation cocktail. I love mixing this foundation with the Urban Decay Naked Skin One & Done Hybrid Complexion Perfector for the right tone and The Estée Edit Beam Team Hydrate + Glow for some bronzy luminescence (review here).
The Cover FX Natural Finish Oil Free Foundation has a thick consistency that gives you medium coverage. Before you dispense product from the squeeze tube, be sure to shake it well. If you don't, the foundation comes out of the tube very thin and totally unusable. What I really like about this foundation is that it has an actual skin like finish. I was wearing a full face of makeup: this foundation, highlight, bronzer, contour and all the fixin's. etc. I got complimented on my skin! When I told them my skin was in full beat mode (not my usual thing, btw), they thought I was just blessed with flawless skin. The finish is not dewy, it's not matte, somehow it's not even really satin. It's just like healthy skin!
Choosing a primer to wear under this water based foundation was pretty tricky. It was just not compatible with what I have. On all of the different primers I tried, the Cover FX Natural Finish Foundation did not sit well. Especially on my nose. It honestly would look nicer just on my skin with no primer. I would say you could wear the foundation with no primer but it creases like a mutha. You should set this foundation right away. My undereye... you would've thought I was 50 and never heard of SPF. Finally, I found a primer that this foundation worked with. It came in the form of a sample in one of my Sephora Play subscription boxes. The Josie Maran Surreal Skin Argan Finishing Balm is out of this world when it comes to primers. You need it on your radar. It smooths out your skin and has subtle shimmers that blur everything you would want to have chemically removed. I was finally able to see what this foundation was capable of. In the photo below, I'm wearing the foundation with a setting powder just under where my glasses sit on my cheeks. My current favorite way to do my makeup is light - medium foundation, powder only under my glasses, blush, brows, and lips + occasional mascara. I just love how it looks with my newish short haircut.
For someone like myself with occasional dryness, this foundation is great to have on call because it doesn't cling to dry patches. Aside from the wild amount of creasing which doesn't bother me because you can avoid that with some powder, what I don't like about this foundation is that it does not build well at all. You have to get the coverage you want with one layer. If you add foundation or concealer on top of the base layer, the foundation gets pulled up. I tried working in smaller sections but ended with the same result. I tried different brushes, sponges, my fingers, and even with the lightest touch, it just doesn't build nicely. Maybe because the formula is so thick. It takes a bit of elbow grease to blend this foundation. Always applying the foundation to the center of my face and blending outward, I used a rounded cream brush with a medium density to apply this foundation. For fuller coverage, I patted the brush across my skin the same way you would use a sponge to blend the product. For a light-medium coverage, I used the same brush but swiped it across my skin. This does leave some streaks in your makeup, but I just used my fingers to blend them away. One other downside of the formula of the Cover FX Natural Finish Oil Free Foundation is that it does not set. It remains kind of wet on your skin. The feeling is similar to when you freshly apply moisturizer. I wear glasses so that is a major inconvenience because it means there will be lines in my makeup. If you're someone who doesn't like to use powders, I would skip this foundation because your face will transfer everywhere.
The Cover FX Natural Finish Oil Based Foundation is available in 40 shades. Below is a guide to help you pick your shade from the foundation webpage on sephora.com
Choose your shade range (light to deep):
Light: 0-20
Medium: 25-40
Medium Deep: 50-85
Deep 90-125
Choose your undertone:
P = Pink: A rosy, cooler hue to the skin
N = Neutral: Equal parts of pink and golden hue to the skin
G = Golden: A yellow, warmer hue to the skin*
*The G+ shades in the Golden range are even warmer and more olive than the G shades.
While this foundation is kind of finicky, I think it looks so beautiful on the skin so it is worth trying out if you want your makeup to have that perfect skin look.
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