Beauty Basics Guide: How to Pick Your Foundation, Primer, & Powder

Welcome to the beauty basics guide! My first post, a guide to brushes, was so successful, I decided to keep going! If you have a beauty basics question, or an area where you think a guide would help, let me know in the comments. I noticed that so many beauty blogs don’t post a basics guide when it comes to beauty; we’re all learning and sometimes we all need a foot up!

Foundation, primer, & powder are considered the base of your makeup. When you have a good base, you can pretty much always feel confident about your makeup. As well, if you’re main concern is evening your skin tone or hiding a few blemishes, your base is where you want to focus most of your energy.

When it comes to choosing foundation, I know it can be super overwhelming; there are so many to pick from! This post won’t necessarily help you pick your specific foundation; I instead hope to help you determine what you should look for in a foundation, as well as a primer and powder. Let’s get started!

Primer

I know I just mentioned foundation, but it makes more sense to work from the bottom to the top in terms of application.

Primers are incredibly popular for helping smooth out your foundation, make application easier, and increase the wear time. There have always been debates on whether you need to use primer or not; a lot of people do and a lot of people don’t.

I happen to fall into the category of someone who avoids primer; occasionally, I will test one out. But usually, I decide I don’t need it; the reason is because primers often don’t play nice with my skin at all. I’ve yet to find one that really worked for my skin.

That being said, lots of people love primers. If you want to try one, here are a few things to look for.

If you have dry skin: Primer is often ideal if you have skin that is quite dry or can get flaky with foundation. Hydrating primers, like e.l.f.’s (which is super affordable), can help boost your skin’s moisture before you apply foundation. There are thankfully lots of hydrating primers on the market; here’s a great list of 10.

If you have oily skin: Primer often doesn’t place nice with oily skin, so you have to make sure to pick your primer well. Check your ingredients; slippy, silicon-based primers are better for dry skin, so avoid those. Any primer that promises “mattifying” is better, but make sure to spot test accordingly. The Tatcha primer is one of the best on the market, but for $22, is a little spendy; here’s a list of a bunch of options.

If you have regular skin: If you feel you’re neither super oily or super dry, you can pretty much get away with anything. The world is, essentially, your oyster—primer-wise, that is. Here’s a great list of 15 primers that you can check out.

Foundation

Foundation! If you’ve found your perfect primer (or you’ve decided to skip it for the moment), it’s time to think about foundation.

It goes without saying: not everyone needs or has to use foundation. You aren’t obligated to have perfect skin. However, if wearing foundation lets you feel more comfortable, then it is entirely up to you.

Like I said, there are so many foundations to choose from. I’ve reviewed what feels like hundreds of foundations for this blog alone. My most comprehensive post was about the foundation quizzes offered via Sephora and Ulta; you can read that post here.

When it comes to choosing foundation, here are a few things to look for:

If you have dry skin: Avoid foundations that offer “matte” or “mattifying.” These foundations will be too drying on your skin and will most likely contribute to dryness, texture, and flakiness. Look for dewy or hydrating foundations; go for water-based foundations, as opposed to cream foundations, which will be too heavy on your skin. My recommendations include Too Faced’s Dew You foundation and Wet’n’Wild Photo Focus Foundation.

If you have oily skin: You can play with using dewy foundations, but if you get oily throughout the day and tend to have your make up break down, matte or mattifying is the way to go. Cream foundations tend to work best on oily skin, but it depends on your needs when it comes to foundation. My recommendations for oily skin are the Hourglass foundation, Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation, and Too Faced Peach Perfect foundation.

Powder

Powder is probably the base product I’m most passionate about. Honestly, with the right setting powder, regardless of your skin type, your base will be amazing. Just like with foundation and primer, some people don’t necessarily need powder; if you have exceptionally dry skin, you aren’t going to want a powder that is super matte. However, if you have oily skin and you skip powder, you’re doing your base a disservice.

I’ve reviewed a ton of powders for my blog and I have a very specific set of requirements for powders—all of which are based on my skin type (which is very, very oily). This isn’t necessarily going to work for everybody because I follow the Wayne Goss method of powdering before foundation, then powdering after.

One mistake I often see people make is baking with a ton of powder on their undereyes; this is because we see beauty gurus or instagram videos doing it. Plain and simple: this will make your undereyes look terrible. It looks great for photos. And if you only set your undereye concealer, then the rest of your face makeup… isn’t set. Using powder all over your face makes it easier to apply powder blush and contour, as well as highlight. So, simple: a light layer of powder over your entire face.

If you have dry skin: again, you’re going to want to be careful with powders, as they can be quite drying. Look for a powder that doesn’t offer mattifying or long-lasting power—and definitely avoid talc-based powders. A few powders I’ve tried that I think would work great for dry skin would be the Hourglass powder and the Make Up Revolution luxury baking powder.

If you have oily skin: There are definitely levels of oily skin, but if you struggle with your foundation breaking down, I highly recommend trying the Wayne Goss method. (You can read about my foundation process here.) My favorite powder for oily skin is the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores powder; nothing sets like this powder does. If you are oily, this will keep your skin dry all day.

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That’s it! The basics on choosing the right products for you and your skin. Have anything to add? Share with me in the comments!

Beauty Review: Makeup Revolution Luxury Baking Powder

If you've read my blog before, you know that I love my IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores powder; it features heavily in my preferred foundation routine. 

However, the It Cosmetics powder is $32 for a jar and it's not very much in terms of weight. It works like a dream but for $32, I felt like I needed to test out some other options. 

Enter Makeup Revolution's Ghost Luxury Baking Powder. While buying some new concealer, I spotted this powder. For $9, it seemed like an absolute steal. After using it almost every day for about a month, I have some thoughts. 

How I Use It

As you probably know from my foundation routine, I wear powder underneath my foundation; it's my first step after moisturizer. I use this powder first, then apply foundation, then more powder. 

There are a few things I look for when it comes to using powder under my foundation: it doesn't make my foundation pill or look cakey; and it doesn't leave white patches. I found that this powder wasn't as dry as the IT Cosmetics; it reminds me more of elf's HD powder, but heavier. It didn't pill underneath my foundation.

How It Wears

As I said, this powder isn't as dry feeling as IT Cosmetic's. It doesn't have that instantaneous dry and matte feeling. It's not bad, but I was really hoping it would be a good, affordable dupe. 

It did set my makeup relatively well, but it did not extend the light of my foundation at all; within a few hours, I was getting breakdown around my nose and on my forehead, my two big problem areas. Even on my "no foundation days" where I just wear concealer, it ended up making my concealer look very cakey and it broke down a lot faster than usual. 

As well, I noticed that if I wasn't careful, it made me look so cakey! As well, if you don't brush it right away, it leaves large white patches. It is supposed to be a baking powder, which means you do leave it on for a while. However, if I brushed right away, I didn't get white patches. 

It's not the worst powder I've ever used, but it doesn't perform the way I would expect a baking powder to. 

Final Thoughts

Would I repurchase this powder? Absolutely not. For the same price, there are powders that don't advertise themselves as baking powders that do the exact same thing and don't look as bad. In fact, I own some of them! 

I'm still on the hunt for a good dupe for the IT Cosmetics powder. Until then, I guess I'm dropping $32 on an ounce of powder! 

Beauty Review: It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Airbrush Powder

I know I write about this a lot, but I have oily skin. Very oily skin. Skin so oily that I have a special routine I follow to keep my foundation from breaking down after just 3 hours. (You can read about my oily skin foundation routine here.) 

Way back in October, I received a sample of It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores pressed powder in my Ipsy bag. (You can read that review here.) I really loved that pressed powder and was really devastated when I ran out. At $29 per pan, I couldn't really afford to buy a full size at the time--so I kept using my elf HD powder. 

However, after some thought, I realized: I go through a lot of that elf HD powder. At $6 a pop, it's not that expensive--but I use a lot of it. If a full size pan or pot of pressed or loose high end powder costs $29-32, but lasts 3+ months, is it worth it? 

Without having tried the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Airbrush Powder, I didn't want to jump in to a $32 purchase without some reassurance. My chance came during the Ulta sale, when I received a 20% off everything coupon (including prestige). I bought a full size of the Bye Bye Pores Airbrush Powder (the loose version) and excitedly got home to use it. 

Here's what it promises: 

“Instantly erase the appearance of imperfections with Bye Bye Pores™, your airbrushed perfection in a jar! Developed with plastic surgeons and infused with Bye Bye Pores Optical Blurring Technology™, this anti-aging, skin-perfecting powder utilizes real silk to make your pores disappear from view, and hydrolyzed collagen to smooth away the look of wrinkles. Loads of antioxidants, peptides and skin-loving ingredients give you a shine-free, airbrushed finish. Plus, the universal translucent shade goes on completely clear and works on all skin tones!”

This powder feels so differently from the elf HD powder. It is extremely finely milled and very soft. It also doesn't come out of the little sifter as well, is slightly clumpier, and harder to pick up with a brush. Those aren't necessarily bad things, just a few details about the powder! 

I've incorporated it into my routine in place of elf HD powder. Basically, I use it on top of my moisturizer, underneath my foundation, to keep my natural oils from breaking down my makeup throughout the day. Instead of using a brush (as I do with my elf HD powder), I have found it's much easier to apply the It Cosmetics powder with a slightly damp beauty blender. 

The first day I wore this powder, I was blown away by how long my foundation lasted. However, I occasionally have a few fluke days where my skin doesn't get as oily. I knew I needed to wait before I sang its praises! However, after several days in a row of perfect make up after 6, 7, or even 8 hours... I was pretty convinced. 

I'm notorious for always wanting to choose a more affordable product over a more expensive one. However, here are a few factors that have swayed me towards continuing to purchase this powder at $32 a pop: 

• I am using less product. I don't need as much of this powder as I did of previous powders I used. Therefore, I am ultimately saving money in the long run. 
• My makeup is lasting longer. All parts of my makeup--foundation, blush, highlight--are lasting longer, as my makeup isn't breaking down or transferring onto my clothes or hands throughout the day. This is such a relief! Less laundry is always a good thing. 
• It really does minimize pores and my makeup goes on smoother. Since I use a somewhat unique method to put on my foundation, I do notice that this powder works the way primer does on those with different skin types. (As a note: Primer has never worked on my skin!) My pores are much less noticeable and I don't have to spend as long blending my foundation around my difficult areas, like my nose. 

Am I convert to more "expensive" (or even luxury) powders? I suppose I am! I've always argued for how good drugstore brand powders are--and truly, there is nothing wrong with my elf or Maybelline loose powder. I'm just really impressed with this powder from It Cosmetics and can't see myself going back ever again. 

If you're extremely oily like me, and want a powder that will keep your makeup set all day, this is definitely one to look for! 

Do you have a product that you've always bought affordably--but would love to try high end?