One of the biggest makeup challenges for the South Asian woman has to be finding a decent foundation, which is why we take out the guesswork in this product review.
Finding a foundation that doesn’t make you look too orange, grey or yellow can be harder than finding an underwire bra that doesn’t jab into your chest after 12 hours. Never fear, we’ve got your back! We tested foundations, tinted moisturizers, and BB and CC creams to find out which products work best for our darker shades of skin. Some illuminate and others enhance, while a few even cover-up what you don’t want to see.
- Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream
- Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream
This very affordable BB cream provides good coverage, a nice dewy glow and SFP 30 to protect your face from the scary sun. The colour match was reasonably good (there are 5 shades available) and it’s easy to apply with your hands or a brush. Downside: A few of us with oily and sensitive skin broke out when we used this product.
$8 – 13
London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart, well.ca
- Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream
- Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream
CC creams are like BB creams with built in moisturizer, primer, illuminator and cover-up, but with the added benefit of helping fade scars and hyper-pigmentation caused by sun damage and acne. Smashbox provides great coverage and colour selection, but we found it didn’t work well for those of us with sensitive skin.
$50
- Marcelle BB Cream
- Marcelle BB Cream
We wanted to like this well-priced, hypo-allergenic version of the ubiquitous BB cream, but with only three shades available, it doesn’t work well for our skin colour needs.
$22
Marcelle.com, Shoppers Drug Mart
- Tarte Amazonian Clay BB Tinted Moisturizer
- Tarte Amazonian Clay BB Tinted Moisturizer
We love this brand for its mostly vegan, gluten-free, paraben-free composition, but the colour selection is a bit of a letdown. It took our tester (no naming names) a few weeks to realise that the darkest shade available, Agent 16, made them look a bit like Valentino.
$36
- Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer
- Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer
With an expanded selection of shades, this illuminating tinted moisturizer with SPF 20 is now a regular in our makeup drawer. Coverage is light, so this is ideal for someone who is looking to even out skin tone rather than cover up.
$43
Sephora, Nordstrom, holt renfrew
- Maybelline FITME Shine-Free Foundation
- Maybelline FITME Shine-Free Foundation
This magic foundation-and-powder-in-a-stick goes on smooth, provides solid coverage and has a silky matte finish. While the colour selection is great, the product is a heavier than a tinted moisturizer, so we recommend this for days when you have more to cover up.
$7 – $13
London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart