The Best Foundations for Dry Skin, According to Makeup Artists

If you frequently find yourself being photographed (selfies count, too), the Nars Light Reflecting Foundation is a must. Aside from making you look subtly and beautifully blurred in real life, it's formulated to make you look your most radiant and smooth self on-camera — truly a must in this social-media and video-meeting world. And the best part: its skin-loving ingredients — like peptides and turmeric — actually improve your complexion with regular wear, so it looks glowing and gorgeous even when you're not wearing base makeup.

Like many Allure editors, makeup artist Delina Medhin loves Ilia's Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40, which has since expanded to 30 shades (a formidable range, one might say). Spiked with squalane, shea butter, niacinamide, and sodium hyaluronate, this serum foundation leaves a super hydrating and dewy finish. It's "perfect for someone who doesn't need more than medium coverage," Medhin says. "You can apply with your hands or with a buffing brush."

Daniel Martin, who has worked with Meghan Markle and Nina Dobrev, calls Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer's luminous-finish, SPF-infused formula the "epitome and holy grail of tinted moisturizers." (No wonder it has racked up four Allure Best of Beauty Awards.) "It gives the right amount of sheer coverage for any skin type — especially dry skin that needs coverage without the weight," he says. 

And, as of last year, Laura Mercier updated both its formula and packaging. The tinted moisturizer now comes in 20 shades (instead of 15 shades); the SPF has been upped from 20 to 30; and macadamia and kukui seed oils have been added to increase your skin's long-term moisture level. Make room for this updated classic in your beauty collection.

For only $7, the Wet n Wild Photo Focus Dewy Foundation is a keeper that’ll ensure your skin stays looking flawless and hydrated. This weightless formula is made with hydrating glycerin to give skin a moisturizing boost and a lit-from-within glow. 

If you have mature skin, La Mer's fine-line-diffusing The Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation is ideal for you. "It's packed with hydration and antioxidants including the famous La Mer Miracle Broth," explains makeup artist Robin Black, who is also the founder of Beauty is Boring. "The luxurious formula blends easily and leaves a seamless, refined, medium-coverage, satin finish."

Medhin, who has worked with celebrities such as Marsai Martin and Issa Rae, is also a fan of Mented Cosmetics' Skin by Mented. It's a cream foundation stick with a lightweight, buildable formula that seamlessly buffs into skin for a natural finish that doesn't cake or pill. Medhin notes it's especially "good for women of color looking for a medium- to full-coverage foundation." 

Skin by Mented is infused with castor seed oil, aloe leaf extract, and grapeseed oil for hydration, so it plays wonderfully with dry skin.

Get ready to glow when you use Huda Beauty's Glowish Skin Tint Foundation. In the tube is damascus rose oil to soothe and clarify, red bull pepper extract to protect skin against pollution and blue light, and squalane to lock in moisture and give that dewy finish to the skin. 

With an inclusive 45-shade range and accessible price point, what's not to love about Nyx Professional Makeup’s Born to Glow Naturally Radiant Foundation? In case you need further convincing, this buildable, medium-coverage formula leaves skin with a "lit-from-within" finish and jojoba seed oil provides long-lasting moisture. 

Makeup artist Daphne Chantell del Rosario, who has worked with the likes of Demi Moore and Rumer Willis, says Tom Ford's Shade and Illuminate Soft Radiance Foundation is best described as "flawless." In addition to offering a very solid SPF 50, "its finish is dewy and radiant with an infusion of natural oils [i.e. balsam copaiba, andiroba, and açai] and hyaluronic acid, which is so good for healing thirsty, dry skin," del Rosario notes.

She's also a fan of its inclusive, 40-shade range, which helps place this foundation at the top of her list.

L'Oréal Paris Infalliable 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation is a drugstore staple for many reasons. It's perfect for medium-to-full coverage days but ensures skin looks natural and hydrated from dawn to dusk. The formula is sweat-, water-, and transfer-resistant, and comes in 40 shades for your foolproof color match.

MAC Face and Body Foundation "was the first foundation on the market that actually looked like skin and has been a staple in virtually every makeup artist's kit for decades," says Frankie Boyd, who has worked with Scarlett Johansen and Zendaya. Boyd recommends applying the stuff with your hands: "Rub vigorously until you feel the texture shift into something more thick and tacky, then pat and press into the skin," he says. "It's ultra-lightweight and dewy, yet it sets itself." 

In terms of drugstore options, Revlon's PhotoReady Candid Glow Moisture Glow Foundation is the end-all-be-all pick for Allure commerce editor Sarah Han. "Its formula is the perfect intersection of creamy and lightweight," she says, which makes sense when you consider moisturizing prickly-pear oil is one of its key ingredients. It gives all skin types, especially dry, a dewy finish that just doesn't quit.

With a name that gives a nod to the "glass skin" trend, it's no surprise that Beauty Bakerie's InstaBake Aqua Glass Foundation gives skin an airbrushed finish, blurring the appearance of pores in its wake. One of its ingredients is dimethicone, which helps dry skin lock in moisture. But if your skin is extra dry, make sure to prep skin with a moisturizer (which you probably should be doing anyways). 

Despite how lightweight and hydrating it is, Aqua Glass provides full coverage and helps even out skin tone, blemishes, and discoloration. 

Packed with moringa seed and hyaluronic acid, Lancôme Skin Feels Good Hydrating Skin Tint is the perfect hydrating and oil-free option for light coverage that leaves skin glowing. And it has a 2019 Best of Beauty Award seal to back it up. SPF 23 adds extra UVA and UVB protection, but we recommend applying a separate sunscreen with at least SPF 30 prior.

Chanel Sublimage Le Tint Ultimate Radiance is "a sheer-to-medium coverage, super-luxurious cream that leaves the skin ultra-luminous and hydrated, thanks to diamond powder and vanilla planifolia water," Boyd says. "I like applying it with fingers and really working it into the skin."

BareMineral's Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream won the Best of Beauty Award for the mineral foundation category two years in a row for a reason. "It feels like a gel moisturizer, but gives skin the natural-looking coverage of a CC cream," says Devon Abelman, former beauty editor. "Plus, the finish is naturally dewy and not at all parched." Dry patches, who?

If you're searching for more buidlable coverage, BareMinerals Complexion Rescue also comes in a hydrating foundation stick formula, which won a 2019 Best of Beauty Award.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Tint helps plump skin with hyaluronic acid and glycerin, while providing just the right amount of tint to wake up your face and keep it looking fresh throughout your busy days. It's so lightweight that it feels like it's barely on your face at all. No wonder it's won a Best of Beauty Award.

Your dry skin will drink up the many skin-care benefits in Make Up For Ever's Reboot Active Care Revitalizing Foundation. Beneath its radiant, satin finish, this lightweight foundation is packed with moisture-attracting glycerin, ginseng to support natural collagen production, and mondo grass to support the skin's protective barrier. Goodbye, signs of fatigue — and hello, all-day glow. 

Looking for an oil-free pick that won't, well, exacerbate oily skin that also needs a side of hydration? Makeup artist Molly R. Stern, who has worked with Reese Witherspoon, Lily Collins, and Cara Delevingne, calls herself a huge fan of the Chantecaille Future Skin Foundation. "It's rich with water and seaweed, so it really quenches the skin," she explains. "I've been using it for 15 years." This is a great foundation for dry skin, especially if you also happen to be breaking out.

Estée Lauder's Futurist Hydra Rescue Moisturizing Makeup SPF 45 has all the makings of a breathable, buildable foundation that makes skin look positively radiant — up to 12 hours, according to Estée Lauder. And that's thanks to probiotic technology (looking at you, lactobacillus ferment), chia seed extract, and a whole slew of nourishing ingredients like hyaluronic acid and algae extract. The inclusion of SPF 45 is just the cherry on top.

Who says lightweight foundation has to veer sheer? Dior Beauty Forever Undercover Foundation's formula "is great for people with dry skin who want full coverage without it feeling heavy," says Martin, who was previously a brand ambassador. "When buffed into the skin, the water-based formula leaves a natural, matte finish." To back up those claims, look no further than the ingredient list, which includes heavy hitters like vitamin E and glycerin.