Patchy foundation is a makeup lover’s worst nightmare — especially if you’ve spent a significant amount of time perfecting your beat. As it turns out, there are ways to completely avoid patchy makeup and foundation, and all it takes is hydration and the right makeup base. Ahead, we broke down how to keep patchy foundation at bay, plus how to fix it if it happens to you.
What Causes Patchy Foundation?
There are many reasons why your foundation might be patchy. The wrong formula of foundation, mixing products with ingredients that don’t match or dehydrated skin are all culprits. For example, mixing a silicone-based primer with a water-based foundation is going to separate on the skin because the ingredients don’t mesh well. How to know if your foundation or primer is silicone based? It can be tricky, but the most commonly listed silicones (you’ll nearly always find them at the top of the ingredients list) include cyclopentasiloxane, siloxane and dimethicone. Also, most people are not as oily as they think they are, and using ultra matte foundation on already dry skin is another recipe for a patchy face.
How to Avoid Patchy Foundation
When it comes to avoiding the patchy foundation phenomena, we suggest that you want to pay extra attention to the products you use, and make sure your skin is well hydrated and prepped for makeup. A good moisturizer, a primer that mixes well with foundation and setting the foundation will all help to make sure your makeup stays where you want it.
For this, we recommend beginning your routine with a hydrating moisturizer like the NYX Professional Makeup Bare With Me Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil Moisturizing Primer SPF 30. Next, apply a hydrating, gripping primer like the Tula Brighten Up Smoothing Gel Primer that will not only moisturize your skin, but it will also lock in foundation. Apply a water-based foundation on top, like the Urban Decay Stay Naked Lightweight Liquid Foundation.Â
How to Fix Patchy Foundation
If the skin isn’t properly hydrated, it will draw the moisture from any product you apply on top of it; hence, your poor dehydrated skin will suck up all the water and emollients from your foundation, leaving you with small and unevenly dispersed splodges of color pigment. The moral of the story? Always make sure to apply an even layer of moisturizer over the skin before reaching for the foundation bottle.
Prepping the skin correctly before foundation is the true way to eradicate patchiness before it starts, but if your foundation is already patchy, here is another trick that can help, take a damp sponge and blend out the patchy spots.
More Primp Tips
If we neglect the exfoliation step within our skincare routines, it will likely result in our foundation applying unevenly, and gripping on to (and exaggerating) our dry patches and textural issues. Using a mild liquid exfoliator will help to keep dry patches at bay, and will keep the skin looking even and smooth.
Will you be taking any of these tips on board, or do you have any methods or tricks you’ve found helpful? Let us know!
