If you find yourself choosing between base makeup and going easy on your sensitive, dehydrated face, it’s time to grab one of the best foundations for dry skin. You already know the struggle of the cakiness, flakiness, and pilling that results from a drying foundation, and, delicately put, it’s no fun at all. While standard foundations can indeed slay, they don’t necessarily include hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and squalane, which are key to helping your glam go on smoothly and your skin stay quenched. And, no, we’re not just talking about tinted moisturizers—it’s 2024 and we can get hydration and medium, buildable coverage in the same bottle. So, shop these editor-beloved and MUA-approved foundations, and read expert advice from board-certified dermatologists on what makes a winning foundation for dry skin types.
Our Top Picks
Frequently Asked Questions
Best Foundation for Dry Skin Overall: Dior Forever Skin Glow
Why it’s worth it: Skin care meets makeup in the Dior Forever Skin Glow Foundation. This luxe, hydrating formula (shout out to restorative botanicals like iris, wild pansy, hibiscus, and nasturtium extracts) comes in a wide range of shades, each featuring one of six Dior, signature undertones. Pick between neutrals, warms, warm olives, warm peaches, cools, and cool roses to find a fitting match for your coloring. Regardless of SPF rating, we always recommend a standalone sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher—but any additional SPF is always a welcome boost.
Tester feedback: Shipin wears 3O Warm Olive and sings its praises. “With dry (often flakey) skin, I’m not a foundation-wearer. Instead, I prefer skin tints, tinted moisturizers, and the like—but if I ever do need foundation, Dior’s Forever Skin Glow has been my go-to for years,” she explains. “It’s everything someone with dry skin would want out of a formula: breathable, doesn’t seep into fine lines or accentuate dryness, and leaves you with a subtle dewy finish that’ll trick anyone and everyone into thinking you were born with richly hydrated, plump skin.” Shipin adds that it’s never bothered her facial eczema throughout her years of use, which is a huge win.
Key ingredients: octisalate (4.5%), titanium dioxide (4.23%), iris, wild pansy, hibiscus, nasturtium | Fragrance-free: no | Shades: 41 | Coverage: medium to full
Best Dewy Foundation for Dry Skin: Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Foundation
Why it’s worth it: When it comes to Chanel’s Les Beiges Healthy Glow Foundation, “light coverage” doesn’t mean “skimping on pigment.” Instead, this product bridges the gap between a skin tint and a true foundation, sitting nicely atop your skin, and hydrating with glycerin and vitamin E. The 40% water formula doesn’t skimp on antioxidants, which help your skin barrier combat irritation from pollutants and free radicals. “I love how light and fresh it feels, literally like pushing water into my skin,” says Kirin Bhatty, a celebrity makeup artist based in New York City and Los Angeles. “I like to apply it with my fingertips,” she adds.
Tester feedback: “I’m a sucker for a lightweight, dewy base, and Chanel Les Beiges delivers every time—it contains 40% water, after all, so no wonder it has that melt-into-my-skin texture I’m always looking for,” commerce editor Sarah Han previously explained. “I go in with my (clean!) finger at first, warming it up as I spread before buffing everything in with a foundation brush. It truly feels like I have nothing on and my complexion looks, well, perkier.” Han wears the shade BO53.
Key ingredients: glycerin, meadowfoam seed oil, vitamin E | Fragrance-free: no | Shades: 42 | Coverage: light
Best Light-Coverage Foundation: Kosas BB Burst
Why it’s worth it: The super hydrating Kosas BB Burst has our hearts. It goes on smoothly, helps your skin maintain and attract moisture, and soothes all the other pesky stuff accompanying dryness, like redness and a weak skin barrier. The formula goes on like a tinted moisturizer but builds nicely for your perfect coverage level, and you’ll dig the hydrating duo of sodium PCA and sugar molecule-derived saccharide isomerate, as well as copper peptides and zinc. In Kosas’s words, it’s “your skin but better.” Pair it with the Hailey Bieber-approved Revealer Concealer and bask in the glowiness.
Tester feedback: The BB cream is a favorite of shopping director Shanna Shipin. “This formula is the definition of weightless—if I don’t apply it using a mirror, I truly question whether I put it on or not,” she said. “It can be a little tricky getting the undertones just so, but once you’ve found the perfect color, it’s Second Skin City. Truly imperceptible coverage that blends easily and wears ridiculously comfortably..”
