Foundation for very dry, acne prone skin.

Cam24

I have a huge problem getting a foundation to suit my skin as my skin is very dry and I have acne on my nose, cheeks and forehead. Also I have red hair so I have very pale skin too. Finding a foundation to suit me is a nightmare and any make up counter I go to the sales assistant always tries to sell me a foundation to ‘brighten up’ my skin but I find these foundations are always too dark for my pale skin. Any foundation I have found to match my skin color looks fine when put on first but within a few hours the acne has come through again and looks like I have no makeup on apart from around my nose and eyes where it has all caked.

I would love to hear from anyone that has a similar problem or if anyone has a recommendation of a foundation I could use?

IrishPhoenix

I'd try a primer first. Clarins Lisse Minute primer is about €26 but it's kinda like a balm like texture and acts kinda like polyfiller so it smooths out acne before putting on your foundation and makes it last longer. I think Pixiwoo recommended it on a video about acne. Lancome, Shiseido, Bare Minerals, Illamasqua and YSL all do pale shades. I think Clinique actually has a blemish solutions foundation too. Don't listen to the make up assistants. insist on samples or at least get them to try the foundation on you and see how it is after a few hours of wear. Also Illamasqua do a white base which you can mix with other foundations to get your perfect shade.

If I were you I'd also check out Lisa Eldridge's website. She has a video for covering up acne url]http://www.lisaeldridge.com/video/12764/acneblemish-covering-make-up/[/url and it's very good.

Cam24

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely try some of these!

Tiddlypeeps

I have very pale skin and the only two foundations I've ever found that come in my shade are Nars Sheer Glow and Dior BB Creme Nude. I've had Make Up Forever recommended to me too, but I've never tried it. One of their shades is ligher than the Nars lightest so your bound to find your colour in there.

I wouldn't rate the Nars foundation, especially not for acne. The coverage is crappy and it wears off quickly. I love the Dior BB Creme, it's got decent coverage and makes my skin feel lovely. I don't have acne but when I get the odd spot the BB Creme coupled with Dior's Nude concealer usually cover it pretty well. I think Make up forevers Mat Velvet is supposed to have fairly decent coverage so might be worth checking out. Hard to find in Ireland tho

For coverage I would agree what the above poster says, a good primer will do wonders. A good concealer will help lots too. I won't recommend the Dior concealer I use because I've never used any other one to compare it too. It does the job for me so haven't seen any major need to experiment.

I find a setting powder makes my make up stay on a bit longer. I use MAC's loose translucent powder to set my make up and I think it's pretty good.

Esoteric_

I don't have acne, but have had a few break outs recently due to stress, and also have extremely pale skin which is quite dry. I was honestly sick of paying 30+ euro for foundations that were almost all too dark for my skin.

So I grabbed the palest Essence 'match' foundation that they had in Penneys on Mary Street. On its own, it's not amazing, but with a primer, it looks really natural, matches my skin tone perfectly and has moisturiser in it, so actually helped my skin on the days I wore it. Can't hurt to give it a try, it's only a fiver.

Cam24

Thanks for all the suggestions! Its nice to get the opinion of others on it!

Pumpkinseeds

Vichy and La roche posay do a range for dry skin. I've never tried them but I do usually use Clinique. My skin has been very dry lately and it really showed when I used the Clinique foundation last week. I have very pale skin so I use a very light foundation colour.

SmokeyEyes

Cloud10Beauty do a very good inexpensive primer called Paese Matte Primer which is great on my dry skin but stops my shiny bits showing through!

I also stick to BB Creams rather than foundations because they just don't work as well with my skin but if you're heading the way of a foundation try Revlon's Nearly Naked in their lightest shade or NARS Sheer Glow Mont Blanc. I'm actually sending a girl a sample cause I just reviewed it on the blog so if you send me a dm with your address I can send you samples of the Revlon and NARS and see how you get on with them...