Tried and tested

Lighten up with our pick of the greatest new summer-weight bases

As the mercury creeps towards something resembling reasonable (“See ya Snow!”), there’s no better time to revisit your make up foundations. Switch your full-coverage, matte formulations for peek-a-boo balms, dewy tints and sheer, luminous fluids that blur and bestow a believable glow without smothering skin as the temperature rises…

{The all-rounder}

A featherweight base with a long list of heavyweight credits, IT Cosmetics’ cult {Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream} sates all of your daily face cravings. Its barely-there texture is jam-packed with pigment that blends to perfect with a scarcely detectable veil, while its skin-loving extracts perfect while correcting.

Laced with SPF to shield your skin from daily sun damage (not to mention the harmful effects of pollution), this comes in a choice of three finishes – demi-matte, velvet and luminising – to tackle your skin’s individual needs (and accelerate daily face maintenance)! We don’t think the Swiss army make a foundation but, if they did, this would be IT…

{For a post-workout glow}

Shiseido’s {Synchro Skin Glow Fluid}, reporting for DEW-ty! Fresh from the Far East, this cutting-edge formula lends skin a glorious, ‘glass skin’ effect – polished, plumped-up and as if every cell’s overflowing with moisture! Blurring imperceptibly (and effortlessly blended with your fingers), this serum foundation feels slinkily silky – lending your face a sheer whisper of tint and a perfectly spring-worthy radiance.

{Best for great face days}

If your skin’s doing perfectly well on its own but you don’t fancy going completely ‘au naturel’, reach for Milk Makeup’s incredible {Blur Stick} – a magical bullet of ‘face-tuning’ magic that unifies skin tone and optically ‘shrinks’ every pore so you look like you’ve been through an Instagram filter… without any giveaway artifice. Quick and convenient (this bae is great on the go), keep this on hand to help minimise shine and ‘refresh’ your complexion pre-after-work rosés.

{Not as you’ve CC-een it before}

A serum but not as you know it, BY TERRY’s new and exclusive (AND EXQUISITE) {Brightening CC Serum Powder} is shaking the beauty world’s make up foundations… Each beautiful, rose-embossed pan ‘lifts’ your post-winter skin with a dusting of subtle, light-scattering pigments that grant a ‘soft focus’ effect with a sweep of smooth, buildable coverage. Housed in a breathtaking, rosy-toned compact that’s perfectly clutch bag-compatible, this will become your new beauty best friend…

{If you’re still craving coverage}

If a hint of tint just will not do, equip yourself with BECCA’s {Ultimate Coverage Complexion Crème}. This full-coverage formula has an unprecedentedly high volume of water (22%), so it feels light without compromising its skin-perfecting capabilities.

What’s more, it can be customised – simply mix with moisturiser to counteract dryness and prolong its wear, or mix one pump of ‘Complexion Crème’ with one pump of {Shimmering Skin Perfector} to create an enviably dewy, ‘backlit’ base. This is seriously long-wearing, so ideal for those hectic days of back-to-back meetings, or any desk-to-dancefloor situation (we’ve all been there).

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Verity Douglas

Verity Douglas

Content Editor

Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...