I Finally Found a Medium-Coverage Foundation That Feels Featherlight and Stays Put All Day

You search and you search for that perfect foundation, looking high and low on every beauty retailer’s site and all over TikTok and Instagram. It needs to blend imperceptibly, match your skin tone perfectly, and cover blemishes all at once, for sure—but it also should hydrate and leave skin dewy. It should be go on in, like, 10 seconds flat. And it should be able to be applied with fingertips, a brush, or sponge. After plenty of searching, I found that foundation, and I’m never letting it go.

Introducing, Ilia True Skin Serum foundation: It’s a buildable, medium-coverage foundation infused with serum so that it leaves your skin bright and radiant. And best of all? You never actually feel like you’re wearing foundation.

Ilia True Skin Serum Foundation — $54.00

Lightweight and formulated with ultra-hydrating ingredients, your skin will love this medium-coverage foundation. It’ll love it so much, it’ll forget it’s there.

With key ingredients like aloe (soothing and moisturizing), mastic (oil-fighting and pore-refining), and squalane (more hydration), this foundation (which comes in 18 shades) might feel more like a tinted moisturizer, but it’s much easier to use if you want actual coverage, since it’s got the perfect amount of pigment. The formula is lightweight and naturally color-corrects any redness (my problem areas tend to be my nose and forehead) as it blurs pores and erases acne scars and dark spots.

It’s suggested you use a primer (like Ilia True Skin Radiant primer—or your go-to), but I usually skip this step (and found it still stays put all day). In terms of application, I go back and forth between applying with my fingers (that I wash beforehand, don’t you worry) and my Beautyblender—both methods do the trick. If I’m combatting more blemishes that day, I just dab on a little bit more, and a small dollop goes a long way.

Generally, I do blot my T-zone with a setting powder, since I tend to get oily throughout the day, but you don’t need to if you like a dewy sheen (my dewy sheen just quickly transforms into a greasy sheen in a couple hours, no matter what). I typically don’t even apply highlighter when I’m wearing True Skin, since it already gives my cheeks natural shine. I just swipe some blush and I’m done.

I’m not the only one who’s declared this foundation a winner. One Sephora customer writes: “This is a beautiful foundation. It looks completely natural although it is still a radiant finish. I’m in love with this foundation. And its good for my dry, aging skin. I’d give it 10 stars if that were possible!”

Another left a review that said, “I really like the ILIA products. The foundation went on very light, not heavy. They color I had which was ‘Martinique’ matched well with my dark skin. It didn’t give me a chalky look. I had a nice soft natural look with medium coverage. I have very sensitive skin [and] had no reaction or break outs.”

Just a fair warning for those who prefer thicker foundations: This one is very liquidy. You either need to be okay with consistency on the thinner side, or applying enough until you’re satisfied with coverage. However, if you’re looking for a lightweight foundation that will give you natural-looking coverage, this will be your new favorite on rotation. You’re welcome.

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