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What makes the best luxury foundations… well, the best? It doesn’t just end with gorgeous-looking packaging; these brands often formulate with the finest pigments and innovative technology for bases that both look the part and perform well.
Dominating iconic department stores all over the world, many designer brands, including Chanel, Dior and YSL have turned their hands to make-up and created formulas that are a mainstay of best foundation lists.
To be clear, you absolutely don’t need to spend upwards of £40, £50 or £100 to get your hands on a great foundation. But if you have the budget and want absolute luxury, it doesn’t get much better than these…
1. Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk
(Image credit: Giorgio Armani)
Luminous Silk’s reputation arguably precedes it, but let me give you the run-down. Make-up artists love it, and it has a roster of reported celebrity fans—Meghan Markle, Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian have all been linked to this famous base. It manages to be glowy but, crucially, doesn’t become more dewy with wear if you have oily skin. That’s because this non-comedogenic base is oil-free and contains patented Micro-fil™ technology that blurs and smooths the skin, leaving it looking rather like that name-checked silk. Coverage is light to medium but buildable; in my experience, it can’t disguise an angry spot but has enough pigment to wash over general discolouration. It’s one of my favourite foundations ever.
2. Chanel Ultra Le Teint Fluide Ultrawear
(Image credit: Chanel)
As is the case with most designer fashion houses, if you can’t afford a Chanel bag, make-up is much more in reach—and few feel fancier than the best Chanel beauty products. The foundations are luxurious, and this is one of my favourites. With a fairly thick consistency that buffs into the skin seamlessly, Le Teint Ultrawear has a soft, velvety finish and decent lasting power. Despite the coverage and near-flawless finish, it feels light and comfortable to wear, as though your skin has simply been “polished”—it’s sweatproof, transfer-proof and non-comedogenic, too.
3. Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection
(Image credit: Pat McGrath Labs)
Legendary make-up artist Pat McGrath sent the industry into a frenzy when she launched her make-up line a decade ago, and it remains one of the top make-up artist-founded brands on the market. Sublime Skin is nothing short of excellent. The lightweight liquid stretches far enough that you can give your skin just a hint of coverage, or you can build it up for a fuller-coverage, soft matte finish. It’s not excessively glowy or radiant but carries that kind of healthy finish that makes your skin look backlit.
4. Clé de Peau Beauté Radiant Cream
(Image credit: Clé de Peau Beauté)
The most expensive base in this guide by quite some way, I had high hopes for my painterly tube of Clé de Peau’s Cream Foundation. It’s tricky to say if the price is “worth it”—this partly depends on how much money you can comfortably spend on your beauty products and what you might go without if you were to spend upwards of £100 on a foundation… So there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but this thick formula certainly feels luxurious to apply. It is also skincare-led, marrying the brand’s exclusive “skin-empowering illuminator” with a non-comedogenic formula that hydrates for up to 24 hours. Inspired by the radiance of diamonds, the finish is quite dewy but, crucially, not so dewy that it didn’t work with my oily skin.
5. Dior Forever Matte
(Image credit: Dior)
A brilliant base for those who want a true matte finish, Dior’s Forever Matte Foundation is one of the greats. In its premium-feeling frosted glass bottle, it promises no transfer, up to 24 hours of wear, and blends like a dream. Not only that, it’s another that has your skin’s needs at the forefront of its development, with a base that’s 86% skincare ingredients and non-comedogenic status. You’ll also enjoy heat, humidity and sweat resistance while you wear it. If you like a heavier-duty base that packs lasting full coverage, I think you’ll love it.
6. Chantecaille Future Skin
(Image credit: Chantecaille)
This foundation quickly found viral fame when it emerged that make-up artist Donni Davy had used it on the cast of Euphoria. Though it looks like a heavier cream at a glance, Chantecaille’s Future Skin Foundation is a completely oil-free gel that blends into the skin seamlessly, yielding a silky and healthy-looking finish. The jar may not appeal to everybody in terms of practicality, but the sturdy pot certainly feels premium. As well as being water-based, the Future Skin formula also contains antioxidants plus soothing aloe vera and arnica. What lets this foundation down is its shade range, which simply doesn’t have a broad enough range of options for darker skin tones and could do with being extended.
7. YSL All Hours
(Image credit: YSL)
Another formula that champions a skincare-led base, YSL’s All Hours is infused with hyaluronic acid to hydrate the skin while you wear it. The comfortable matte finish buffs in well (the brand’s Skin-Fusing™ technology is designed to mimic the skin’s composition for truly comfortable and natural-looking wear), and it leaves the skin with a hint of natural-looking radiance. Claiming to be transfer-proof, waterproof and even sport-proof, it does indeed last well through the day. However, there is some room for improvement at the darker end of the shade range in terms of how many options are available.
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