The best cream foundations combine a flawless, natural finish with bonus moisturising benefits making them a godsend for dry, red-prone or mature skin. They may be less familiar than traditional liquid foundations but these rich and creamy bases bring plenty of perks.
If you’re looking for the best foundation to suit your skin’s ever-evolving seasonal needs, or adjusting your makeup to suit your age, creams offer additional skin-loving ingredients that will treat as well as cover. “Cream foundations can be a beautiful choice for someone looking for great coverage with a natural, balmy skin-like finish,” explains Jessica Kohn, Lead Artist and Events Manager at Laura Mercier. “Because of its cream/wax base, cream foundation looks beautiful on dry skin types, skimming over any texture issues and nourishing skin at the same time.” With all that hydration crammed in, you can expect a cream foundation to melt into the skin without caking or pilling, and blend seamlessly with your best cream blushers and best cream bronzers you apply on top. The other perk is its immaculate coverage. From blemishes to hyperpigmentation and uneven skin tone, a cream foundation will easily veil your less-than-perfect complexion quirks. “The high pigment load within a cream foundation means that you can use a small amount of product to cover a variety of skin concerns,” says Kohn.
“Just remember that the specific benefits of a cream foundation may vary depending on the brand and formulation,” adds pro makeup artist Lan Nguyen-Grealis. “It’s essential to choose a product that suits your skin type and desired makeup look for the best results.” So, whether you prefer the easy application of foundation sticks, the mess-free, no-spill advantages of a solid cream or looking for a silky, squeezy liquid creme, this tried and tested guide will help you find the best cream foundation for your skin right now.
The best cream foundations, as chosen by our beauty team
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RRP: £42
Coverage: Light/medium
Finish: Glossy
The brainchild of makeup artist Bobbi Brown, Jones Road has gone from strength to strength since its launch in 2020, and their What The Foundation has quickly become a cult buy thanks to its fresh-faced finish. Part foundation, part moisture balm, it has a slightly oily consistency. In fact, we could see where the jojoba oil had separated from the formula in our jar, and we needed a bit of a mix to blend it back with the pigment before we first used it. That oil content is why it glides so beautifully and seamlessly onto the skin, and dry skin will lap it up.
If you're someone with a complexion that feels ever rough and thirsty, then you'll love the way it suddenly brings life, vibrancy and a bucket-load of glow to your skin. It offers a glossy, almost shiny finish, and the skin is left feeling damp, which will be a turn-off for anyone whose skin is already oily. You can apply it with your fingers, but because it's a pot, we found that got messy quite quickly, so a brush or sponge is your best bet to avoid ruining your favourite white shirt in the process.
Reasons to buy: Feels nourishing on the skin
Reasons to avoid: If you have oily skin, this is not for you
RRP: £28
Coverage: Light
Finish: Creamy
We found Fenty Eaze Drop Smooth Blur Foundation Stick joyous and easy to apply. Swipe across your forehead, down your nose, on each cheek and your chin and that's comfortably enough coverage for your entire face. You can use a brush to blend the lines together, but the quickest way is definitely with your fingers. The texture of this cream foundation is so light that it melts into the skin instantly, so there's no cakiness to contend with. It's creamy and not at all oily and builds nicely too. On one exhausted morning, we added a couple of extra sweeps beneath each eye, and it worked like magic to banish our giveaway dark rings.
There's also the benefit of added skincare ingredients with murumuru butter to nourish the skin and sodium hyaluronate (the technical name for hyaluronic acid) for hydration. Plus, the packaging is 100% recyclable. Once you've used your last swipe of the stick, it can go directly into your plastic recycling and shouldn't need any rinsing or scraping first.
Reasons to buy: Leaves a creamy finish on the skin
Reasons to avoid: Won't be enough coverage for some
RRP: £32
Coverage: Sheer
Finish: Glowy
Described by the brand as a 3-in-1 tinted complexion balm, this product focuses on making skin look and feel healthy. It almost feels like a stretch to describe it as a foundation as the consistency is so light, but it still manages to deliver the benefits you'd want from one, like smoothing, tinting and adding glow to the skin. Mario Dedivanovic (the makeup artist behind the brand, best known for working with Kim Kardashian) recommends applying with a brush for enhanced results. Either way you apply it, the initial coverage is super sheer.
It is possible to build a little, but we wouldn't say this is the best cream foundation for you if you have bugbears you want to cover. Similar to the What The Foundation, We'd only use this if we were having quite a good skin day to begin with, or if we were enjoying a chilled Sunday – at this, it excels. Just keep in mind that as it's designed to warm your complexion, the shades will deepen, rather than match your skin tone, giving you a bronzed effect. If you're not keen on that, consider dropping down a shade for a closer skin match.
Reasons to buy: Feels like silk on the skin
Reasons to avoid: Bronzed tint may not be for everyone
RRP: £68
Coverage: Medium
Finish: Radiant
Great coverage and radiance don’t always go hand in hand but this buy prioritises both. You can expect SUUQU’s cutting-edge tech and a luxurious-feeling formula, infused with 13 Japanese extracts, including silk protein and green tea, a powerful antioxidant. We found the jaw a little difficult to use, messy applying from finger, to back of the hand, to face. But having to scoop out the foundation did emphasise the formula’s sensorial, silky texture. A few sweeps and our skin tone looked more uniform, and our dark circles were no longer visible.
The real USP for us is the sunlit luminosity. SUQQU calls it a ‘self-renewing glow’, meaning it gets better the longer you wear it. There are three stages. When the foundation is first applied, the immediate freshness comes from the moisturising reflection oils. As these sink into the skin, pearlescent pigments come into play, reflecting the light. As the day wears on, your natural sebum will mix with the foundation so you get more natural skin show-through. It’s probably not as suitable for blemish-prone and oily skin, but it’s a tonic for dry, dull skin.
Reasons to buy: Shades available in different undertones
Reasons to avoid: Pot can get messy
RRP: £108
Coverage: Medium to full
Finish: Luminous
The idea of foundation isn’t to pad out wrinkles like Polyfilla but to simply even out the complexion. This one is our pick for mature skin for several reasons. Firstly, rather than being a foundation with added skincare, this feels more like skin cream with pigment and exceptional payoff. It marries Japanese tech with precious ingredients like platinum golden silk essence, and actually boosts skin repair and improves its natural brilliance over time.
Secondly, the radiant, lit-from-within finish acts as a kind of airbrush filter, reflecting the light and making everything look smoother. It’s because of all these lovely nourishing ingredients that the foundation bends with lines and creases rather than sitting in them conspicuously. The end result is radiant, healthy-looking and natural - in fact, it’s hard to tell where your skin and makeup meet. Throw in solid sun protection, making this one of the best foundations with SPF on our list, and that’s a home run.
Reasons to buy: Improves skin over time
Reasons to avoid: Very expensive
RRP: £32
Coverage: Medium
Finish: Naturally radiant
Milk’s Flex Stick is one of our favourite foundations ever. The twist-up stick fits perfectly in my handbag and it’s just easy. We like to dapple it on across our complexions and then use a brush to buff it in, but if you’re in a bind and brushless, it blends easily with fingers at your disposal.
As well as boasting a pleasingly broad shade range (making this one of the best foundations for dark skin on this list) the stick is creamy without being too slippery or completely dissolving on contact with the face. Marshmallow root extract adds enough bend and flex to prevent creasing and caking. Elsewhere, there’s blue lotus and chamomile, a calming combination, which dials down reactive, red skin from the inside. The coverage is buildable and good enough to even out patchy skin tone and a hint of redness. We’re sold on the glowy and radiant finish, but if your skin is on the oily side things could slip southwards.
Reasons to buy: Suitable for sensitive, red-prone skin
Reasons to avoid: Not the best option for oily, spot-prone skin
RRP: £38
Coverage: Full
Finish: Natural luminous
If great coverage and a flawless canvas are your goals here, this is a fantastic choice. Without feeling heavy the pigment-packed cream covers blemishes easily and visibly evens out skin tone with a light layer.
“I like using the Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation to create a moisturised, even, and perfected complexion that still looks like skin,” raves Kohn. “My aim would always be to have someone compliment a client on their skin, rather than their makeup, and this cream foundation allows for just that. It is also particularly beautiful on brides as the texture photographs beautifully.” We decided to test this theory and took a series of selfies wearing this foundation versus our regular glowy foundation of choice. Our Beauty Ed always thinks her naturally dry, dull-looking complexion needs maximum sheen to appear healthy, but in photos the Silk Creme Foundation looked loads better. It leaves the skin even and spotless. It’s not dewy but still manages to make the skin look bright and alive.
Reasons to buy: Long-wearing
Reasons to avoid: Watery if not shaken properly first
RRP: £59
Coverage: Medium to full
Finish: Luminous
If your skin is crying out for a big slurp of hydration, this foundation will pump skin with moisture. Enriched with organic coconut oil and wild-crafted buriti oil, it feels immediately quenching, like your loveliest, richest night cream. Except here you’ve got phenomenal colour payoff that immediately quashes dark spots and redness.
We enjoyed the dewy, light-reflecting finish. It made our skin look like it had just checked out of a 5* spa. We can’t say whether it would have a soothing effect on reactive skin as ours is fairly hardy (*touches wood) - but what we can say is it's a fantastic foundation for particularly dry or mature skin types.
Reasons to buy: Deeply moisturising
Reasons to avoid: Not suitable for oily skin
RRP: £14.99
Coverage: Full
Finish: Natural matte
It was bafflingly difficult to find cheaper options for the best cream foundations but Max Factor’s compact delivers on price point and formula. The case is sturdy, and the foundation solid, which means you can chuck it in your handbag without worrying about leakage. There’s a satisfyingly squidgy sponge nestled neatly in the top section, with the cream-to-liquid base housed underneath. The sponge worked well enough for us, and dug right into the nooks and crannies of our faces. The foundation applied nicely with fingers, especially when targeting areas that needed extra concealment. It also diffused nicely with a foundation brush, so you can go with the method of application you’re most comfortable with.
Enriched with moisture-magnet hyaluronic acid, which keeps everything nice and bouncy. This is the most ‘solid’ of any of the creams on our list, so we worried it would go flaky on our winter-battered skin. But it skimmed over dry patches without caking, blurred pores and seemed to flex with our facial creases. The online blurb was a bit misleading, using words like ‘radiance’ and ‘glow’ but for us, the finish was definitely demi-matte – velvety, rather than dewy.
Reasons to buy: Enriched with hyaluronic acid
Reasons to avoid: Sponge gets messy
RRP: £80
Coverage: Medium to full
Finish: Naturally radiant
Even the best cream foundations don’t always play so well with oily skin. That’s why we’ve included Chantecaille’s award-winning base in our round-up. The oil-free formula and gel-cream texture work well for those with oily and combination skin types. This was one of the longer-lasting foundations we tried – it still looked pretty even and uniform at the end of the day.
Again, the jar, with its extra internal plastic lid that is always inevitably covered in foundation (you know what I’m talking about, right?) was a bit messy. But once applied it was easy to blend and melted into skin, probably attributed to the 60% water formula, boosted by a raft of natural botanicals like aloe and arnica.
Reasons to buy: Provides immense coverage
Reasons to avoid: Expensive
RRP: £40
Coverage: Light to medium
Finish: Naturally radiant
Merit has stacked up a legion of unwavering fans since it's launch in 2021. Its luxury formulas are powered by vegan ingredients that actually improve skin from within. Everything in the range (there are only 10 SKUs in total) plays into that clean, glowy, no makeup-makeup aesthetic. This foundation is one of their most fawned-over products, offering mess-free application in a travel-friendly format, with the benefits of a foundation and targeted concealer in one twist-up stick. It’s got some great skin-loving credentials, enriched with plant-based squalane, vitamin B5 and antioxidants to keep skin soft and smooth, as well as sea daffodil to brighten up dark spots.
It has less dense coverage than others on our shortlist of the best cream foundations. It enhances rather than plasters over your natural-born skin. Although, the stick format means it is possible to build coverage on precise areas to hide imperfections to some degree. The stick itself is more 'solid' than Milk's twist-up foundation, and so we found this easier to blend out with a brush than using our fingers. If you thought stick foundations were heavy and cakey, this one will surprise you.
Reasons to buy: Foundation and concealer in one
Reasons to avoid: Coverage might not be enough for some
RRP: £39.50
Coverage: Full
Finish: Matte
If you’re looking for full, uncompromising coverage then meet your match. The long-wearing, waterproof formula, coupled with a matte finish, makes this a great option for the warmer months. Not all of us have the confidence to switch to a sheer tinted moisturiser – this one will mask all those skin niggles without melting off or clogging pores. Speaking of imperfections, this probably offers the best concealment of any foundation on this list, erasing the appearance of acne scars, redness, dark spots and even varicose veins. It is, quite simply, a confidence boost in a tube.
With such coverage, expect this to feel a little heavier. We learned that a little goes a long way and it looks best applied with a makeup sponge, on skin that is well moisturised.
Reasons to buy: Waterproof and 12-hour wear
Reasons to avoid: Feels heavy if over-applied
How we chose the best cream foundations
We wore each of these foundations for at least one full day, some two to three days in a row, and others even more. We were keen to ensure that all budget levels were catered to, but what we have found is that the caveat to rich, indulgent cream foundations loaded with skincare-inspired ingredients, was that there were very few buget options to choose from, and most of the offerings came from mid-range and luxury designer names.
We whittled down the list based on the number of shades available, coverage level and finish. We made constant checks to see how each one was wearing throughout the day. Was it shiny or patchy in places? Were our blemishes still covered up? What is left is a selection of the best cream foundations for every skin type – even oily – and catering to all skin tones.
Jessica Kohn works as Lead Artist as part of the Laura Mercier team. She has loved beauty since a young age and developed a signature look that involves glowing skin with a touch of lip colour.
Lan is a well established makeup artist who has worked with the likes of Beverly Knight, Paloma Faith and Nicole Scherzinger.
FAQs
Is cream foundation better than liquid?
Liquid foundations are certainly more familiar to most of us than their lesser-mentioned cream counterparts. So what’s the difference between the two? “As its name implies, cream foundation has a thicker consistency than liquid foundation,” explains Rose-Marie Swift, makeup artist and founder of RMS Beauty. “This usually means the ingredients are more hydrating than some liquid formulas.”
The other difference is coverage. “Cream foundation often contains a higher pigment load than a liquid foundation or even a powder,” explains Kohn. “Liquid foundations often have a more water-like base and therefore are thinner in texture and can vary in coverage from sheer to medium-buildable.” Because of this, creams tend to lend themselves better to evening out skin tone.
How should you apply a cream foundation?
The difference in texture between liquid and cream foundations means that application may vary slightly. “Since cream foundations are slightly thicker, they may require more work to apply so if you aren’t particularly good with blending, it’s best to use a foundation brush or beauty sponge to apply these to your skin,” says Swift.
Kohn likes to apply the Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation with her fingers. “This allows the warmth from your fingers to melt the product into the skin and means you use the smallest amount of product to get your desired result. This is important to prevent product overload and possible creasing throughout the day. I then take a damp sponge pressed over the top to make sure the product is diffused and blended to perfection.”
Is cream foundation good for older skin?
“Cream foundation is often recommended for mature skin for several reasons,” advises pro makeup artist Lan Nguyen-Grealis. The first is that ”mature skin tends to be drier, and cream foundations are typically more hydrating than say powder. They can help nourish the skin and prevent a cakey or dry appearance.”
Secondly, “they also provide buildable coverage, allowing you to conceal age spots, fine lines and imperfections without looking heavy or settling into creases,” continues Nguyen-Grealis. “They’re also easy to blend which gives a smoother appearance.”
“Finally, cream foundations are comfortable to wear, feel more lightweight and are less noticeable on the skin than other types of foundation.” They also (if you choose the right formula for your skin type) can last well throughout the day, so you don’t have to keep reapplying.
“Remember that the key to flawless makeup application on mature skin is proper skincare and preparation,” adds Nguyen-Grealis. “Ensure your skin is well-hydrated and use a good primer before applying foundation for best results.”
From our extensive testing, what we've found is that unfortunately, you do need to pay a premium for the best cream foundations, but that extra investment does pay off by leaving the skin with a comfortable, glowing finish that looks natural and wears well through the day.
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