We’ve tested 100+ foundations to discover which is the best foundations for your skin type and budget
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For more than a year, I’ve been testing as many foundations in the UK as I can to determine which is the best foundation on the market today.
The list continues to evolve but below I’ve listed the top foundations as they stand in 2024 as well as the best foundations for different skin types, coverage needs, and budgets.
In addition to how each foundation makeup feels on the skin during real-world wear tests, I’ve been applying each foundation to pieces of fruit (I explain why here).
Each entry is also scored and ranked based on:
Foundations are additionally judged based on whether they’re vegan and cruelty-free, too, and the full scores and ranking can be found on our best foundation spreadsheet.
FURTHER READING: How I test foundations | How to find your perfect foundation match | MUA explains how to get flawless makeup | Best foundation for oily skin | Best high-street foundation UK | Best full-coverage foundation UK | Best foundation for mature skin
See the full list of scores here. Note: This list was originally topped by the Essence Hydro Hero but it’s been out of stock for a while so we’ve removed it until it comes back available.
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Best concealer | Best makeup brush | Best foundation brush | Best eyeshadow palette | Best foundation | Best foundation for dark skin | Best foundation for oily skin | Best foundation for dry skin | Best foundation for mature skin | Best contour kit | Best lip gloss | Best lip liner | Best mascara| Best primer | Best highlighter | Best brow pomade | Best blusher | Best setting spray| Best makeup sets | Best false eyelashes | Best eyeliner
£6.49 | Buy now
mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £6.49
Shades: 20
Coverage: Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Matte
Vegan: No
Cruelty-free: Yes
Collection isn’t only one of the best cheap makeup brands around, it’s one of the best makeup brands. Period.
It sells a range of effective, affordable products. Many of which are alternatives for the likes of Charlotte Tilbury and Fenty Beauty.
And one of its standout products is the full-coverage, Collection Lasting Perfection foundation.
It performed as expected in my orange and strawberry tests.
It let out a minimal amount of oil onto the blotting paper – giving it a score of nine out of 10 – and it has 20 shades in its range.
This isn’t a high number, but it’s not bad for such a cheap foundation. Especially when more expensive foundations have fewer.
I had expected the Collection Lasting Perfection foundation to be drying because it’s a matte foundation. But it only reduced hydration by 1.3 percentage points, which is a 5.3% drop.
This is a relatively small drop.
Elsewhere, the brand is cruelty-free but isn’t fully vegan.
If you’re looking for full-coverage foundations, check out my best full-coverage foundation guide
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£7.49 | Buy now
mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £7.49
Shades: 30
Coverage: Medium
Base: Silicone
Finish: Natural
Vegan: Yes
Cruelty-free: Yes
SheGlam wasn’t a brand I was overly familiar with. That was until its Skinfinite foundation started blowing up on TikTok.
The brand promises premium makeup at affordable prices. In my best foundation tests, it lived up to this promise, for the most part.
For a medium-coverage foundation, it performed as expected in the strawberry test. It fell a little short of these expectations in the orange test.
It scored 10 points for the blotting paper test, and in what was a surprise, it increased the hydration of my skin.
For such a natural, bordering on matte, finish, I’d expected a drop. Any increase would have been impressive, let alone an increase of 1.2 percentage points. This is a 4.4% rise in total.
What’s more, the foundation is vegan and Leaping Bunny-approved. It also comes in 30 shades. Not bad for such an affordable foundation.
It feels a little heavy on the skin at first but blends well with a beauty blender. It also gives great coverage for my redness.
It helps to even out my complexion without flattening it too much and lasts well all day.
Buy now from Shein
£29 | Buy now
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mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £29
Shades: 67
Coverage: Medium-Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Matte
Vegan: Yes (but isn’t cruelty-free)
Cruelty-free: No (parent-brand isn’t)
For a long time, the MAC Studio Fix Fluid either took the top spot or sat in or around the top three in my hunt for the best foundation, largely because of its huge shade range.
MAC offers a very impressive 67 shades across the undertone spectrum. That’s six shades more than Estee Lauder’s Double Wear, and more than double the average of all the foundations I’ve tested so far. For reference, the average shade range is 29.
It has an SPF rating of 15 and in my various orange, strawberry, and skin tests, it performed as expected if not better than I had hoped for a foundation that promises a medium-full coverage. It even let out the bare minimum amount of oil on the blotting paper and dropped 6.7 percentage points in the hydration test.
As you can read in my full MAC Studio Fix review, this foundation blends effortlessly and leaves a matte finish on the skin. Yet, unlike many matte foundations, it doesn’t leave your skin looking flat; the MAC Studio Fix Fluid manages to remove oil but leave your skin looking like skin.
Our writer Lucy explains: “Overall, the Studio Fix Fluid Foundation performs extremely well, gives an impressive finish and offers the coverage and longevity it promises. This is my go-to foundation and I’ve converted several friends to switch to it as well.”
What’s more, this foundation lasts for hours. Add one of the best setting sprays to the mix and you can get a flawless base almost all day. This does make it a little hard to remove at the end of the day, but it’s nothing a good cleansing balm can’t handle.
It also doesn’t come with a pump applicator. You either need to pour the liquid out – and this can lead to wastage, which is galling when you consider the price of this foundation – or you have to pay extra for the pump. Again, given the already premium price for this foundation, it’s a tad disappointing.
Read my full MAC Studio Fix foundation review
Buy now from MAC
£14 | BUY NOW
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mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £14
Shades: 33
Coverage: Medium-Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Matte
Vegan: Yes
Cruelty-free: Yes
Technically not a foundation, but used as such, the e.l.f Camo CC is a medium-to-full coverage foundation with a natural finish.
It’s suitable for a variety of skin types, thanks to its silicone base and SPF 30, offering both sun protection and a smooth application.
In our tests, it performed well in covering blemishes and evening out skin tone.
However, it scored lower on the oil test which suggests it might not be the best choice for very oily skin.
One point to note is that it slightly reduced skin hydration in our tests, with a decrease of 3.1 percentage points.
This represents an 11.4% drop and means that if you have dry skin, you might need to pair it with a hydrating primer or moisturiser.
Alternatively, e.l.f recently released the Camo Hydrating CC Cream.
It offers the same coverage and SPF as the original but with the addition of Vitamin B5, Tremella Mushroom and hyaluronic acid, all of which help to hydrate and nourish the skin.
Overall, with its high SPF, ethical credentials, and good coverage, the e.l.f Camo CC cream is a great choice for those seeking quality and ethical makeup.
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£30 | Buy now
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mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £30
Shades: 50
Coverage: Medium-Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Soft Matte/Natural
Vegan: Partly
Cruelty-free: Yes
If you have darker skin tones, check out my best foundation for dark skin guide
In addition to the wide shade range provided by MAC, and other more inclusive brands, there are a number of brands that cater more specifically to shades at the darker end of the spectrum.
This is because, in a disappointingly high number of cases, brands can offer loads of shades but the majority will be at the lighter or mid-range.
One such brand that bucks this trend is Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty.
Designed from the off with inclusivity in mind, the Pro Filt’r foundation line offers 50 shades.
Rihanna was so committed to this, that she personally found women with hard-to-match skin tones and created shades with them in mind.
The brand offers olive, golden, bronze, neutral, cool, peach, yellow, and pink undertones and each one uses custom pigment levels to capture the skin’s truest tones.
We’ve tested both the Soft Matte and the Hydrating versions of this foundation.
The Pro Filt’r Hydrating foundation scored marginally higher, yet both exceeded expectations on the orange and strawberry test.
mamabella/Fenty Beauty Ironically, the matte version let out more liquid on the blotting paper, while the hydrating released a minimal amount. Similarly, the hydrating version dropped hydration more than its matte sibling – 2 percentage points, vs the matte’s 0.4 percentage-point drop.
As you can see in the image above, the finish on the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Longwear is even and natural. It doesn’t flatten the complexion, nor does it feel too heavy or too drying given the fact it’s such a long-lasting foundation.
Both blend well on the skin. Particularly when applied using a stippling brush and then softened using a damp beauty blender. The hydrating version feels marginally more comfortable although the matte version – as the name suggests – lasts longer.
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£11.99 | Buy now
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mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £11.99
Shades: 26
Coverage: Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Matte
Vegan: No
Cruelty-free: No
L’Oreal Infallible’s Freshwear foundation was one of the first foundations I tested as part of my mega group test – on day 18. Coverage-wise, in both the orange and strawberry tests, L’Oreal Infallible Freshwear performed well above what I expected. The coverage and blend were even and not too thick.
Elsewhere, it released hardly any oil on the blotting paper test – in fact, it’s one of the most matte foundations I’ve tried. If you don’t know what I mean regarding oranges and strawberries, I explain here.
It gained points for having SPF 25, but it lost points for dropping the hydration of my skin by a staggering 41%. It also lost points because it’s not vegan, or cruelty-free.
From my tests, I feel this full-coverage foundation would particularly suit oily skin. Given how much it sucks hydration out of the skin, I don’t recommend this for dry skin or if you have dry patches.
This may also be more of a summer foundation than a winter one, given the fact cold weather dries the skin out further.
People with mature skin could get away with wearing L’Oreal Infallible because it has a medium consistency and doesn’t settle in wrinkles or fine lines.
Just make sure your skin is hydrated and prepped beforehand to make sure you’re getting the most out of this foundation.
Buy now£35 | Buy now
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Estee Lauder PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £35
Shades: 61
Coverage: Med-Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Matte
Vegan: No
Cruelty-free: No
Read my full Estee Lauder Double Wear review here
Estée Lauder’s Double Wear foundation is considered to be the Holy Grail, appearing on many best foundation lists. When I recently posted my top 10, as it stood at the end of month one, dozens of people asked for it to be reviewed.
It didn’t disappoint.
Double Wear offers one of the highest numbers of shades of any foundation I’ve tested – at 61 – and it creates a matte finish with medium-to-full coverage. The only brand that offers more shades is the MAC Studio Fix foundation.
What’s even better is that Estee Lauder Double Wear contains SPF. Albeit, a low SPF at SPF 10 (again, lower than MAC’s foundation), but it’s better than nothing. You can read more in my guide to the best SPF makeup and skincare.
The foundation exceeded expectations in my orange and strawberry tests and released hardly any oil at all.
Estee Lauder promises a matte finish, but I think it delivers closer to a natural-matte finish. It reduces shine and oiliness, but it doesn’t dehydrate the skin like other matte foundations, resulting in a more natural and youthful finish.
This lack of oil, while positive for staying power and for creating a flat, matte base, means it may not be suitable for people with dry or mature skin. It can settle in the cracks and cause a small amount of flakiness.
That said, if you’ve got a normal, combination, or oily skin type, Double Wear is worth the investment. If you’re not sure what skin type you are, check out our What skin type do I have? guide.
The photo below shows how the coverage looked on my oily skin. As you can see, I suffer from redness and the Double Wear covered it well, without being too cakey or heavy.
mamabella | mamabella Even without the use of setting spray, my skin looked almost as good as I headed up to bed as it did when it was first applied. We’ve also worn it to the gym before and while it doesn’t quite survive a full workout, it holds out a lot longer than many other foundations I’ve tried. It’s also transfer-proof.
The downside is that there’s no pump. You have to pour the foundation out and this can result in wastage, which – at this price – can be painful. If this is a dealbreaker for you, it is possible to buy a pump separately, from Lookfantastic, for an extra £5.50.
Whichever method you use, this foundation does have a tendency to settle so make sure you give it a shake before use.
Read my full Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin foundation review
Buy now from Lookfantastic
£15 | Buy now
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Victoria Woollaston-Webber | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £15
Shades: 55
Coverage: Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Silk
Vegan: Yes
Cruelty-free: Yes
If you have oily, shiny skin, check out my best foundation for oily skin guide
In my huge foundation group test, the XX Revolution Liquid Skin held the top spot for a really long time, with a total score of 64 points. However, when the hydration test results were factored in, it dropped down to 23rd place overall.
That said, because of the fact this foundation dries out the skin so much without leaving the skin heavy (and it gives a lovely finish), it instead wins my best foundation for oily skin title.
In my orange test, it performed well above what I expected. It met my expectations in the strawberry test but released a lot of oil – in fact, it’s one of the oiliest foundations in my entire test.
Similarly, in my hydration tests, this foundation dropped 6.7 percentage points (from 35.8% to 29.1%) which equates to a drop of 32.4%. That is, this foundation dried out the skin by a third!
The amount of oil it produces, and this lack of hydration isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
mamabella | mamabella If you have oily or oily-mature skin, this is one of the best foundations for full coverage and for such a cheap price. It creates a silk finish, rather than a matte finish, and this creates a youthful glow without too much shine, or without making your skin look cakey and flat.
It’s also a great way to get a more natural-looking, full coverage. It doesn’t go on heavy and it dries down nicely.
Granted this foundation doesn’t last as long as others I’ve reviewed – namely the Estée Lauder Double Wear – but this can be remedied with a good primer and setting spray. You can read more in my science of oily skin guide and my how to master makeup for oily skin article.
Buy now from Boots
£5 | Buy now
mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £5
Shades: 20
Coverage: Medium
Base: Water
Finish: Natural
Vegan: 10
Cruelty-free: 10
If you have dry, flaky skin, check out my best foundation for dry skin guide
Although this entry from 17. is my contender for the best foundation for dry skin, don’t let that put you off if you don’t have dry skin.
It’s a superb foundation which ticks so many boxes that I almost can’t believe it costs just a fiver!
Firstly, it offers 20 shades which all things considered is poor, but when you factor in the price it’s a pleasant surprise.
It performed better than expected on the orange and strawberry. It let out a huge amount of oil and humectants, but this is what makes it so suitable for dry skin.
It also smashed it out of the park in my hydration tests, increasing skin hydration by a staggering 1.4 percentage points, or 5%. The joint highest most-hydrating foundation in my test, alongside Max Factor Facefinity.
The downside to its water base and cheap price is that it doesn’t last very long.
You’ll need to make sure you’re either using a decent water-based primer, or setting spray, or you’re refreshing your dry skin throughout the day to avoid it gathering.
We recently discovered the Oui Cherie hydrating spray from The Beauty Crop and I can’t recommend it enough.
Buy now from Boots£39 | Buy now
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mamabella | mamabella PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £36
Shades: 30
Coverage: Medium
Base: Water
Finish: Dewy
Vegan: Yes (parent-brand isn’t)
Cruelty-free: Yes (parent-brand isn’t)
If you have mature skin, check out my best foundation for mature skin guide
Despite scoring relatively low in my giant foundation group test, Charlotte Tilbury’s Beautiful Skin takes the crown for the best foundation for mature skin for several reasons.
Firstly, it’s one of the only foundations on test to be water-based. Its most abundant ingredient is Pyrus Malus fruit water, which comes from apples.
This ingredient is moisturising and smoothing, as well as being a mild exfoliant with antibacterial properties and this makes it perfect for mature skin. It particularly helps with breakouts and acne, which can become common during menopause.
Secondly, in the oil-paper test, Beautiful Skin released one of the lowest amounts of oil across the entire group test. This will largely be because of its water base but is worth noting because it shows just how little oil it contains.
And thirdly, it provides great, long-lasting coverage meaning it doesn’t easily melt off when your skin becomes overly oily, and it doesn’t settle into the creases left by your wrinkles and fine lines.
There have been complaints about the foundation causing texture on the skin but I’ve not had this issue on my oily-mature skin. Plus, if you moisturise and well-hydrate the skin before applying, this will help.
mamabella | mamabella We should note that because this foundation is water-based, it’s vital that you use a water-based primer.
This may even explain why some people have experienced texture because they used a primer that wasn’t compatible. I explain more about this in my What does primer do? guide and I recommend Milk Makeup’s Hydro Grip.
The reason this foundation dropped points is that it’s expensive. The brand is also owned by a company that isn’t vegan or cruelty-free – however, the brand itself is.
If you’re interested in knowing which is the best Charlotte Tilbury foundation, then check out my group test.
Buy now from Charlotte Tilbury
£13.99 | Buy now
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Max Factor PRODUCT DETAILS
Price: £13.99
Shades: 33
Coverage: Med/Full
Base: Silicone
Finish: Matte
Vegan: Yes
Cruelty-free: No
MaxFactor’s FaceFinity isn’t cheap enough to make my best cheap foundation list, it’s not expensive enough to make the best luxury foundation list and as a 3-in-1 product, it didn’t fit naturally into many of the other categories.
However, one area where it absolutely excelled was hydration and this score was high enough to make it the best matte foundation of the 100+ foundations I’ve tested.
At £13.99, it’s on the affordable side, and for that price you effectively get three products in one – a primer, a concealer, and a foundation.
We’re always a little skeptical of products promising multiple benefits, especially at such a cheap price, but in the case of the MaxFactor FaceFinity, I was pleasantly surprised.
It provides a smooth, relatively long-lasting base that blurs the pores. It has enough coverage to minimise the appearance of dark circles and redness, and the foundation element evens out skin tone while mattifying shine. In fact, it manages to mattify the skin without making it appear flat or dull.
In my orange test, this foundation performed as expected for a medium-coverage product. It underperformed on the larger “pores” on the strawberry and it produced an above-average amount of liquid on the blotting paper.
It does have buildable coverage, so while I didn’t apply more than one layer on the fruit in my tests, when I used it on my skin I applied more of this foundation in areas where more coverage was needed.
It’s not perfect. MaxFactor claims it gives “24-hour wear” and says it’s touch- and shine-proof. In my experience, this isn’t quite accurate. I managed to get to around lunchtime before my shiny T-Zone began making a slight appearance and by the end of the day, areas of redness started to peek through.
On the plus side, it is incredibly hydrating. This is rare for foundations generally, but certainly, those which offer such an effective matte finish.
In my hydration test, it was one of only a handful of foundations to increase the hydration of the skin; raising hydrating by 1.3 percentage points, or 5% overall. This means it’s a great foundation for dry and mature skin generally but is particularly great for people with those skin types looking for a matte finish.
Elsewhere, as a bonus, the foundation has SPF 20 and is non-comedogenic.
Buy now from Boots
We’re also using this page to list all of the latest foundations that have been released but that we haven’t had the chance to test (or test fully yet).
Sisley The new Phyto-Teint Perfection Foundation from premium beauty brand, Sisley, promises to enhance the quality and health of your skin, and brighten your complexion the more you use the product.
It contains:
And Sisley claims that with consistent use everyday for four weeks, the Phyto-Teint Perfection Foundation will increase skin radiance and smoothness. It’s best for oily skin because it creates a matte finish, and it offers buildable medium coverage. There are then 29 shades to choose from – not the highest number, but not too bad either.
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Morphe We had a feeling a new Morphe foundation was coming after the brand discontinued a previous version and we’ve been proved right with the launch of the Morphe Lightform Foundation.
Its official name is the Morphe Lightform Extended Hydration Foundation and the brand describes it as having a “weightless, longwearing formulation” that “diffuses imperfections instantly with undetectable, buildable medium coverage.”
Ingredients-wise, the foundation contains something called HydroRelief Complex which is a mix of “natural moisturising sugars, natural moisturizing humectants and hyaluronic acid” to help hydrate the skin and boost the skin barrier. This would make it a great foundation for dry skin, as well as mature skin.
We’ve ordered the foundation and we’ll let you know how we get on, and whether it lives up to these claims.
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Makeup Revolution Makeup Revolution recently launched its Skin Silk Serum Foundation which has light-medium coverage and radiant satin finish. It contains hyaluronic acid, and a peptide complex to “hydrate and visibly plump the complexion with every application”. It’s only being sold in 20 shades but costs £10.99.
We’ll be putting the Skin Silk Serum foundation to the test and we’ll update this page when we have our own results. We’ll also see if it’s worthy of a place on our best drugstore foundation list.
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Kylie Cosmetics The new Kylie Power Plush foundation from Kylie Cosmetics offers medium, buildable coverage with a satin finish. It contains niacinamide, Vitamin E, and centella asiatica leaf extract to improve your skin over time and Kylie Jenner claims the finish and coverage will last 12 hours.
It’s only currently available in the US – it’s not showing up on the Kylie Cosmetics UK retailers such as Boots and Selfridges yet – but you can have it shipped to the UK from Kylie Cosmetics’ own website. It comes with a 100% shade match guarantee.
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e.l.f e.l.f recently released the Camo Hydrating CC Cream, a hydrating version of the original e.l.f Camo CC foundation.
It offers medium-full coverage and SPF 30 but adds Vitamin B5, Tremella Mushroom, and hyaluronic acid to hydrate and nourish the skin.
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MAC The MAC Studio Radiance Serum-Powered Foundation is the latest foundation from MAC and the first to feature such a high percentage of skincare ingredients across MAC’s wider base product range.
In fact, MAC claims the formula is 80% skincare and promises to repair and protect the skin while also “smoothing texture, evening out skin tone, and blurring fine lines and wrinkles.” It offers a medium-full coverage and radiant finish.
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Fenty Beauty Since Fenty Beauty’s Pro Filt’r foundation was discontinued – it’s still available from certain sites but stocks are very low – we’ve been hoping for an alternative and Rihanna hasn’t disappointed. At the end of April she launched the Soft’lit Naturally Luminous Longwear Foundation.
Not only does it offer similar hydration to the original Pro Filt’r, it also promises to control shine and oil, and brighten skin tone. This is why we recently included it in our list of the best mature skin foundations.
It has a silicone base and offers buildable medium coverage with a luminous finish. It’s then available in 50 shades to accommodate a wide range of skin tones. Granted, this isn’t as many as MAC’s Studio Fix but it’s a very impressive offering.
In terms of ingredients, the standouts include:
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Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
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