How many times in the past year or so have you taken your mask off, whether for a meal or when you’ve gotten home, only to see foundation and makeup smearing the top seam? The answer is a very likely “all the time”. The solution, it turns out, is a glaringly simple and obvious one: face and body foundations.
Part of the magic and convincing quality of face and body foundations is their use in professional makeup artists’ kits. MAC Cosmetics’ Studio Face and Body Foundation, a celebrated icon of the category, is exalted by Mary Greenwell, red carpet makeup artist to celebrities like Cate Blanchett, as “the ultimate foundation of all time.” The thin, watery texture of it makes it a complete joy and ease to blend. Crucially: “It dries, so you can put it over the body and it’ll dry and set so it won’t ruin a red carpet dress.”
Peter Philips, the Creative and Image Director for Dior Beauty, at work backstage at the Dior Spring/Summer 2021 fashion show.
It’s a very limited category but one that’s worth checking out. The logic is simple: if it’s good enough not to smudge and transfer onto red carpet dresses – think haute couture that Cate Blanchett regularly wears – chances are it’s good enough for the humble face mask.
While MAC’s Face and Body is, presently, discontinued, the brand has plans to relaunch a revamped version in 2022. In the meantime, here are two other face and body foundations that stand up to the present-day demands of masked makeup wearers.
