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Beauty lovers and experts alike have ditched heavy, cakey formulas—because the best lightweight foundation offers far more versatility than you might think: buildable coverage with a true “forget-you’re-wearing-it” feel.
Where once medium-to-full foundation often came with a trade-off in texture—thick and overly matte—the new generation of formulas has rewritten the rules. Think whisper-light finishes that blur imperfections without muting the natural character of your complexion. Fine lines, dark spots, and blemishes are softened, not erased—leaving skin that looks like yours, only more rested.
Vogue’s Favorite Lightweight Foundations
- Best Overall: Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow, $65
- Best for Dry Skin: Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, $69
- Best Skin Care-Makeup Hybrid: Saie Glowy Super Skin, $40
- Best Foundation Stick: Westman Atelier Vital Skin Foundation, $68
- Best for Sensitive Skin: Ilia True Skin Serum Foundation, $54
- Best for Mature Skin: Jones Road What the Foundation, $46
- Best Weightless: Clé de Peau Radiant Fluid Natural SPF 25, $138
In this Story
- What is a lightweight foundation?
- Are all lightweight foundations sheer?
- What are the benefits of a lightweight foundation?
- How To Apply a Lightweight Foundation
- Meet The Experts
“We’re all craving skin care as makeup—products that perform, feel good on, and enhance our skin instead of covering it,” notes Saie founder and CEO Laney Crowell. It’s a sentiment echoed across the beauty landscape. Whether behind the scenes at fashion week or in the hands of everyday users, there’s a growing awareness that comfort, wearability, and ingredient integrity matter just as much as pigment payoff.
The best of these modern foundations strike a thoughtful balance—formulas that hold up from morning meetings to after-hours dinners without oxidizing or settling into creases. They feature skincare-first blends infused with soothing botanicals, barrier-repairing actives, and hydrating heroes. And perhaps most importantly, they show up for all skin tones, with shade ranges that reflect the real-world spectrum of beauty.
Below, explore a curated list of the best lightweight foundations our editors swear by and artists reach for backstage—each one designed to elevate your natural glow, never mask it.
Best Overall: Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Foundation Hydration and Longwear
- Why We Love It: Certainly one of our favorite Chanel foundations, we’ve found this formula excellent for daily wear thanks to its weightless feel and the natural-looking radiance it delivers. Not to mention, the formula is oil-free and non-comedogenic—a.k.a., 100% free of any pore-clogging ingredients. Designed for long-lasting hydration, the Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow is made of more than 40% water, with moisturizing agents, antioxidants, and light-reflecting pigments to improve the look and feel of skin, without inciting any new blemishes.
- Key Ingredients: Water, light-reflecting pigments, glycerin, meadowfoam seed oil
- Shades: 35
- Finish: Radiant
- Coverage: Light-to-medium
- Best For: All skin types in need of a lightweight liquid foundation—with the added perk of non-comedogenic formula
- Fragrance Free: No
- Size: 1 fl oz
Best Skin Care-Makeup Hybrid: Saie Glowy Super Skin
- Why We Love It: Exceptionally lightweight, Saie’s Glowy foundation feels more like a serum than makeup. When the product first launched in 2023, Vogue’s senior beauty writer, Kiana Murden, was so excited to wear it that she waited weeks for her shade to be available. The formula boasts a nourishing, plumping blend of 85% skincare ingredients and 15% weightless pigment. “The star of the foundation is Hydrobounce Complex, a proprietary active blend that’s composed of cross-linked and nonequilibrium [hyaluronic acid], polyglutamic acid, and rice-bran peptides,” Crowell explains. Squalane is also featured for a hydration boost and skin-barrier support. Crowell’s own troubles finding a foundation suitable for her sensitive, acne-prone skin type, inspired the brand’s foundation launch, creating a completely non-comedogenic formula to suit.
- Key Ingredients: Water, hyaluronic acid, polyglutamic acid, rice-bran peptide, squalane, marshmallow root extract
- Shades: 36
- Finish: Radiant
- Coverage: Medium, buildable
- Best For: Clean beauty enthusiasts looking for a skincare-packed foundation. Plus calling all acne-prone skin folks—this is another excellent non-comedogenic option.
- Fragrance Free: Yes
- Size: 1 oz
Best for Dry Skin: Armani Luminous Silk Foundation
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- Why We Love It: I was late to the game discovering this one, and it wasn’t until sitting in celeb MUA Carolina Gonzalez’s chair that I realized what I was missing out on—suddenly my pores were blurred and the hyperpigmentation left behind from an old breakout was hidden, all while maintaining a natural skin look. “I can’t live without this stuff,” Gonzalez tells Vogue of her holy-grail foundation. “The formula is lightweight, blendable, and buildable—you can go for light coverage, or layer the product to create a full coverage foundation.” Gonzales also notes that this foundation is super hydrating, making it an excellent choice for dry skin. “The world of hydration is where I love to be with a beautiful look because its easier for touchups throughout the day— I love to achieve a dewy finish.”
- Key ingredients: Water, glycerin, dimethicone
- Shades: 40
- Finish: Dewy
- Coverage: Medium; buildable
- Best For: Anyone seeking buildable coverage with natural skin look.
- Fragrance Free: No
- Size: 1 oz
Best for Mature Skin: Jones Road What the Foundation
- Why We Love It: “It’s a tinted moisture balm, but it adds coverage in the places where you most need it,” Bobbi Brown, the acclaimed makeup artist, previously told Vogue of her viral formula. Because of its easy application and seamless blend, this is known to deliver a pro-grade glow to mature skin. Plus, the brand recently upped their shade range, for a variety of different skin tones and undertones.
- Key Ingredients: Sodium hyaluronate, jojoba oil, ginger root, castor-seed oil
- Shades: 16
- Finish: Natural
- Coverage: Light-to-medium; buildable
- *Best For: Mature skin types seeking an easily blendable, no makeup-makeup look.
- *Fragrance Free: Yes
- Size: 1.14 oz
Best Buildable Coverage: Dior Forever Skin Glow Foundation SPF 15
- Why We Love It: Dior Forever Skin Glow is celebrity makeup artist Sabrina Bedrani’s pick for best lightweight foundation. “It gives a nice dewiness and is very buildable,” she details. “When applied with a wet sponge or Beautyblender, it’s literally like a second skin.” Alongside SPF 15, this offers 86% skin care ingredients, including iris, hibiscus, and wild-pansy extracts to revitalize and protect skin during your wear.
- Key Ingredients: Titanium dioxide, glycerin, hibiscus flower extract
- Shades: 42
- Finish: Radiant
- Coverage: Medium-to-full
- Best For: Anyone seeking a two-in-one glowy foundation with added sunscreen.
- Fragrance Free: No
- Size: 1 oz
Best Foundation Stick: Westman Atelier Vital Skin Foundation Stick
- Why We Love It: Westman Atelier’s foundation stick first goes on as a rich cream but manages to blend like a dream (and it can also be used as a concealer). It’s so good that Gwyneth Paltrow, Elle Macpherson, and Gracie Abrams have been cited as fans. Not to mention pro makeup artist Wendy Rowe revealed the foundation as a staple in creating Sienna Miller’s enviable glow. Backed by Westman Atelier’s clean-beauty ethos, this foundation stick is enriched with many good-for-you ingredients. Squalane, berryflux vita extract, camellia seed, and coconut oil are the stars, providing protective, soothing, and hydrating benefits.
- Key Ingredients: Squalane, berryflux vita extract, camellia seed, coconut oil, mica
- Shades: 21
- Finish: Natural; soft matte
- Coverage: Medium, buildable
- Best For: A multipurpose beauty product, swiping on as as a spot coverage concealer or all over foundation.
- Fragrance Free: Yes
- Size: 0.31 oz
Best for Sensitive Skin: Ilia True Skin Serum Foundation
- Why We Love It: Looking for a touch more coverage than Ilia’s beloved Super Skin Tint? Meet the the clean beauty brand s foundation that melts right in to enhance skin on first application. (For what it’s worth, this has been my go-to foundation for the last few months.) Formulated with sensitive skin types in mind, this is infused with niacinamide, allantoin, and aloe to deliver a host of soothing, smoothing, and hydrating benefits similar to your favorite face moisturizer.
- Key Ingredients: Aloe leaf juice, niacinamide, allantoin, rice hull powder, jojoba seed oil
- Shades: 30
- Finish: Satin
- Coverage: Medium
- Best For: Anyone seeking a just enough coverage, with clean ingredients that won’t irritate sensitive skin
- Fragrance Free: Yes
- Size: 1 oz
Best Weightless: Clé de Peau Radiant Fluid Natural SPF 25
- Why We Love It: You’ll undoubtedly get your bang for your buck with Japanese luxury brand Clé de Peau. This foundation provides full coverage with a lightweight feel and buildable finish. This formulation features hyaluronic acid for skin hydration and silk extract for a lit-from-within glow.
- Key ingredients: Silk extract, sodium hyaluronate, peptides, zinc oxide/ titanium dioxide (SPF)
- Shades: 24
- Coverage: Lightweight, buildable
- Best For: Foundation that feels as smooth as silk (literally)—this is a beauty splurge that’s actually worth it.
- Fragrance Free: No
- Size: 1.2 oz
Best Cushion Compact: TirTir Mask Fit Red Cushion Foundation
- Why We Love It: With its innovative formulas in skincare and color cosmetics, K-Beauty is always a step ahead of the game. Enter TirTir’s cushion compact—the formula boasts up to 72 hours of wear (talk about longwear foundation!); SPF 40 for sun protection, and full coverage results with a lightweight feel. The formula is enriched with anti-inflammatory ingredients like red propolis extract to nourish and soothe skin. Equally noteworthy is the application. Cushion compacts are a K-beauty mainstay—simply press the included puff into the cushion and tap onto your face, one pump should do the trick.
- Key Ingredients: Water, iron oxides, dimethicone, titanium dioxide, propanediol, glycerin, hibiscus flower extract, red propolis extract
- Shades: 40
- Finish: Satin
- Coverage: Full
- Best For: A full coverage foundation with a barely-there feel.
- Fragrance Free: No
- Size: 0.63oz
What is a lightweight foundation?
“Lightweight foundations are going to be the closest to a ‘skin-like’ finish on the market since they’re a hybrid of skin-care compounds and foundation pigment,” explains professional makeup artist El DeBratto. Meaning: this type of foundation offers the most of amount makeup coverage through a skincare lens.
Celebrity makeup artist Nicole Bueno shares a tip for distinguishing a lightweight foundation from the rest. The trick? Apply a bit to the back of your hand and see how it feels. “Lightweight foundations will feel less dense than heavy ones. It may have an airy quality, whereas a heavy formula will be dense, which means you should use sparingly with a light hand,” she says.
What are the benefits of a lightweight foundation?
Bueno considers lightweight foundations a go-to for many of her clients. “They tend to be water-based, so they’re very breathable on the skin, less prone to creasing, and good for those with oily skin or everyday makeup wearers,” she says. Thanks to their buildable coverage and easily blended formulas, Bueno considers lightweight foundations the most user-friendly choice for makeup novices and experts alike, as well as those with more mature skin.
Are all lightweight foundations sheer?
Fear not—lightweight foundations aren’t necessarily sheer. “Although not exclusively always sheer in coverage, in general lightweight foundations going to be on light-medium coverage side given that these formula’s are known for their subtle blurring and hydrating properties,“ says DeBratto. “These formulas give a wash of buildable color without fully hiding imperfections in one application. These are especially great for people who have beautiful natural features, such as freckles, that they want to accentuate and let peak through.” In fact, these dynamic foundations come in a range of different coverage levels. “A lightweight foundation can have fuller coverage while still feeling nice and breathable on the skin,” says Bueno.
How To Apply a Lightweight Foundation
Bueno’s favorite method for best application is a damp makeup sponge, working well with lightweight foundations’ often water-based formulas. Simply apply foundation to the back of your hand, blotting the sponge into the product and then onto your face in a dabbing motion. “A damp sponge will always be my favorite because it consistently applies the perfect coverage. Then, if needed, I can build up coverage in certain areas or skip to spot concealing with a tiny brush,” she explains. Best of all, you can continue repeating this easy application process until your desired coverage is achieved.
Meet The Experts
- Sabrina Bedrani is a brand ambassador for Dior and pro makeup artist whose clients include Gal Gadot, Margot Robbie, and Heidi Klum.
- Nicole Bueno is a celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Mariah Carey, Michelle Williams, Danai Gurira, Laverne Cox, Leyna Bloom, and more.
- Laney Crowell is the founder and CEO of Saie Beauty.
- El DeBratto is a non-binary New York-based editorial makeup artist whose clients include Coco Rocha, Flower Beauty, Kristin Ess, and Glamour Magazine.
- Carolina Gonzalez is a celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Sabrina Carpenter, Alessandra Ambrosio, Ashley Park, Camila Mendes, and more
