The 18 Best Lightweight Foundations, According to Experts

You love Rare Beauty's liquid blush, now it's time to give its foundation a go. With an impressive 48-shade range, it’s a weightless serum formula that truly feels like nothing on your skin, with buildable coverage to conceal acne scars without looking cakey. The doe-foot applicator is great for on-the-go touch-ups, and can easily sub for an undereye concealer when you're in a pinch.

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If you need a specific shade, you’ll certainly find it in L’Oréal’s True Match. This lightweight foundation comes in 45 different shades, ranging from the palest pale to the darkest dark. It’s super hydrating and blendable. “It’s like you can’t tell where your foundation ends and your skin begins,” says Marlena Orlowska, a makeup artist at Paul Labrecque Salon and Skincare Spa. She recommends it for acne-prone clients who don’t want to wear heavy makeup. “It covers acne in a natural way, so it doesn’t look like a buildup of product on top of your skin.”

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Those of you with super-dry skin might not love a matte finish, but Glamour contributor Shanna Shipin loves how this one wears. “It’s weightless and goes on so smooth—whether I use a brush, Beautyblender, or my fingers,” she says. “The coverage is a pretty light to medium, which I don’t mind, because with flakiness, more isn’t more. There's also a subtle, luminous glow to the formula, which means everything to me and my Mojave Desert skin.”   

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When you want an added boost of sun protection, this product, which gets tons of buzz on social media, is a good bet, says Hartman. The buildable 30 SPF skin tint offers light to medium coverage and comes in an impressive 30 shades. It’s also cruelty-free and formulated with clean ingredients.

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If it’s important to you to keep your beauty routine as clean as possible, you’ll love Glossier's vegan and cruelty-free option. The cult-favorite brand offers a lightweight skin tint that has just enough pigment for a soft diffusing effect. It also packs a punch of glycerin, so it glides over skin like butter—and works overtime to keep skin hydrated throughout the day.

When this product, described as a “tinted moisture balm,” popped up on TikTok earlier this year, it instantly went viral. We tested it, and the creamy, buildable salve offers light-to-medium coverage that provides a subtle blurring effect—perfect for lightly veiling minimal blemishes and imperfections. It’s available in 12 shades, ranging from a fair Porcelain to a deep Espresso.

Though a lightweight noncomedogenic serum, this tinted product offers enough coverage to even skin tone. But because it’s specifically formulated with nourishing ingredients that help strengthen skin (vitamin B3), it won’t settle into fine lines, says Hartman. It also has an impressive SPF 50 to help protect aging skin from any further sun damage. 

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It’s no surprise that one of the most beloved makeup brands since the early '90s makes a reliable lightweight foundation. Brown’s iteration, which comes in more than 40 shades, is packed with humectants to visibly minimize pores and strengthen skin's barrier and hydratants like glycerin to support skin health. It also contains light-reflecting pigments that cover redness and imperfections in the most natural way—for an impressively long wear time of 16 hours.

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In Rihanna’s ever-popular makeup line, you’ll find this highly rated lightweight foundation. Available in 25 shades, it delivers long-wearing, natural-looking coverage for any number of skin tones. Experts say the vegan foundation goes on more like a tinted moisturizer but still manages to blur and smooth.

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This lightweight foundation does more than just improve skin’s texture. It also boosts brightness for a luminous finish, thanks to the addition of moisturizing glycerin and brightening vitamin C and turmeric extract.

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Orlowska calls this foundation “absolutely perfect for mature skin of 50-plus.” Why? It has a special proprietary IonCharged Water Complex, as well as probiotics and chia seed extract that’s not only incredibly hydrating but also nourishing. “It looks flawless and smooth on skin and also provides some UVA/UVB protection.” What’s more, it comes in 28 different shades.  

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A budget-friendly option packed with all of the good stuff (think antipollution, antioxidant, and anti-blue-light ingredients) and none of the bad—oils, parabens, phthalates, synthetic dyes, and fragrances. This lightweight formula glides on the way moisturizer does but dries like a lightweight foundation to offer a thin veil. It’s available in 16 shades to help you get the best color match too.

There’s nothing cakey about this foundation. The vegan formula harnesses the power of clean ingredients like glycerin and fruit extract to hydrate and brighten while smoothing out imperfections and redness.

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This drugstore product contains a star ingredient often referred to as “the beauty mushroom.” We're talking about tremella mushroom, which is meant to help keep skin smooth and glowing. Experts say this formula does just that too. It’s nongreasy and lightweight yet improves tone and texture to give you the perfect dewy look for everyday wear.

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All of the products in Neutrogena’s Hydro Boost line are beloved for their—no surprise—hydrating powers. And dermatologists like Hartman say this hydrating tint is no exception. The unique gel-based product is infused with hyaluronic acid to help retain moisture but feels nice and lightweight on the skin, he says.

A great choice for anyone with dry skin, this formula is infused with hyaluronic acid, an ingredient that helps skin retain water, says Hartman. The result is a more hydrated, smooth appearance. As an added bonus, this dewy formula comes in 25 shades to fit a wide variety of skin tones.