Have you ever noticed that your makeup never looks quite the same in photos? Many struggle with getting their makeup right for photos especially when it comes to foundation. Your foundation can be the make or break for an Instagram worthy image.
Imagine getting the wrong foundation for your wedding day... The last thing you want is a constant reminder of how your foundation looked streaky in your wedding photos.
Few people realize that there is an art to picking the right foundation for photos. Choosing any old foundation could alter the color of your skin tone or appear to look different under specific lighting.
A photogenic foundation should define all your best features by naturally contouring your face, it should absorb the light to produce a candid effect, it should minimize the appearance of pores and blemishes to create a flawless look.
To help to find the perfect foundation for your wedding photos we’ve put together a guide of the best photogenic foundations along with all the information you need to help you find the perfect product for your big day!
OUR TOP PICK
Giorgio Armani’s luminous silk foundation offers light coverage and a silky satin finish for a gorgeous and natural glow. This product helps to provide a luminous and healthy look ideal for your big day.
With a light coverage, this product enables buildable coverage for a natural and seamless finish. It also produces a satin finish providing a defined and professional look. This product is great for anyone looking for a light and glamorous finish for their wedding day.
This foundation offers a dewy consistency ideal for anyone with normal to dry skin. Its satin finish ensures that a little goes a long way as it glides weightlessly over skin revealing a subtle glow. This product works to improve the appearance of your skin texture and blur imperfections.
Giorgio Armani’s luminous silk foundation stays put providing natural and sheer coverage all day.
Pros
- Satin finish for smooth skin texture
- Luminous glow for defined and flawless photos
- Light coverage for a natural finish
EDITORS CHOICE
Estee Lauder’s double wear stay-in-place foundation offers long-lasting coverage for up to 15 hours allowing you to look flawless all day without interruption. This product's long-lasting wear resists heat, humidity, and intense activity making it a great choice for any wedding setting.
Estee Lauder’s double wear foundation doesn’t change color, ensuring you’ll have consistent photos throughout the day. It’s made from a lightweight formula for comfortable coverage. This also enables buildable coverage to allow you to achieve your desired look without making it look too thick.
This product is oil-free and offers a semi-matte finish making it an ideal choice for anyone with normal or combination skin. It is also fragrance free making it a great choice for anyone with sensitive skin.
Pros
- Fragrance free - ideal for sensitive skin
- Lightweight for buildable coverage
- 15 hours staying power for long-lasting wear
BEST VALUE
Charlotte Tilbury’s magic foundation offers light coverage for an airbrushed look. This is a great product for creating a natural and flawless look for your wedding day. This foundation is considered a miracle in a bottle with its power to transform and illuminate all skin tones, types, and ages.
This foundation is made from a hyper-intelligent formula that gives weightless full coverage enabling it to give you the best of both worlds. Its full coverage ensures easy application whilst its lightweight makes it comfortable on the skin as it glides and blends seamlessly.
This is a great foundation for anyone who suffers from acne, rosacea, or melasma, as the full coverage consistency helps smooth skin texture and mask imperfections.
Pros
- Hyper-intelligent formula giving lightweight full-coverage
- Ideal for smoothing skin texture and masking imperfections
- Contains natural undertones
RUNNER UP
L’Oreal Paris’ true match Lumi healthy luminous makeup offers a dewy finish with an instant glow. This foundation formula is made from liquid light technology which is what gives an instant glow. This is a great choice for anyone looking to be captured with a dewy and glistening finish.
This foundation is made with SPF for added sun protection as well as vitamin C and E which are all used to help improve skin clarity, tone, and complexion. All of which create a flawless and even finish. 40% of this product is made from water to ensure maximum hydration. This formula ensures that you not only look hydrated but also feel hydrated.
This foundation is lightweight providing buildable coverage for a natural airbrushed look. Its coverage lasts up to 8 hours ensuring you have a whole day of uninterrupted photos. This foundation is suitable for all skin types and is safe for sensitive skin.
Pros:
- Rich in antioxidants, vitamin C and E to improve clarity and skin tone
- Made from 40% water to ensure maximum hydration and moisture absorption
- Contains SPF for added skin protection
RUNNER UP
MAC studio fix fluid foundation offers a flawless, matte finish for a professional makeup look. This foundation offers medium to full coverage but its consistency is lightweight and buildable to allow you to get the look you desire.
This product is great for all skin types, particularly those with normal, combination, and oily skin types. This foundation works to control oil and shine without drying out the skin or disrupting the color of your foundation. This makes it a great choice for capturing high definition images.
Containing SPF 15, this is a great foundation for added protection, especially if your big day is in the sun. Its formula enables comfortable wear for up to 24 hours allowing you to forget about touching up your makeup and enjoying your day.
Its medium to full coverage along with its lightweight helps to prevent a cakey finish. Instead, the foundation sits comfortably in place smoothing skin texture and covering imperfections. MAC also offers a wide range of shades with a variety of undertones to help you find your perfect foundation match.
Pros
- Variety of undertones for a true match
- Medium to full coverage to mask imperfections
- Matte finish ideal for normal, combination, and oily skin types
RUNNER UP
Bobbi Brown's skin long-wear weightless foundation broad spectrum offers oil-free shine control. This is a great foundation for achieving a natural finish with a slight glow.
This foundation offers full coverage to provide a smoothing effect that helps to create an even complexion and works to correct and mask imperfections. This is a great foundation for anyone looking for a quick application. Due to its full consistency, a little of this product goes a long way.
This foundation offers oil-free shine control helping to reduce the appearance of greasiness in images. This is a great choice for anyone who suffers from combination skin, oily skin or is prone to getting an oily t-zone.
Whilst this product offers full coverage, it is made from a lightweight formula that sits comfortably on the skin to enhance your natural skin tone. This foundation helps to brighten the complexion and contour the face for a defined and flawless look.
With foundation shades containing different undertones, this product is great for correcting discoloration and brightening dull areas.
Pros
- Oil-free shine control is ideal for normal, combination, and oily skin types
- Up to 16 hours of coverage for long-lasting wear
- Full coverage helps to correct imperfections
RUNNER UP
NARS' sheer glow foundation offers a light and radiant finish. This product contains turmeric extract which helps to improve the tone and ultimately creates a radiant, bright, and glowing finish.
This is a great foundation for anyone looking for a natural dewy glow. The use of turmeric also helps to soften and smooth the skin.
With a dewy finish, this product is great for dry to normal skin types as it helps to prevent dryness by providing long-lasting moisture.
Its lightweight formula helps to provide subtle coverage and a buildable base for a natural look. Its brightening formula is great for anyone looking for a hydrated, luminous, and even finish.
NARS offers a range of foundations containing different undertones making it easy for you to find the right match foundation for your skin tone. Getting the right foundation for your skin will ensure your photos are pristine.
Pros
- Variety of foundations containing undertones
- Moisturizing and brightening formula
- Lightweight and dewy formula ideal for dry to normal skin tones
RUNNER UP
NYX Professional Makeup’s total control drop foundation offers a sheer and matt finish for an elegant and flawless finish. This foundation provides full coverage in a matter of drops to enable you to build your desired coverage.
To increase your coverage all you need to do is add a couple more drops. This product is really easy to apply and provides a velvety finish ideal for your wedding day. Fuller coverage will enable a more defined look in photos.
This foundation formula is lightweight and breathable, it’s great for anyone with combination or normal skin types. It’s also a great product for acne prone skin as its full coverage helps to correct imperfections and contour the skin.
This brand is cruelty free and acknowledged by PETA making it suitable for vegans.
Pros:
- Buildable foundation with a pipette for easy use
- Cruelty free and suitable for vegans
- A sheer and matte velvet finish ideal for combination and normal skin types
RUNNER UP
Clinique beyond perfect foundation and concealer offers a clear and natural finish. If you’re going for an au-natural look, then this is the foundation for you. With over 40 shades to choose from, this is a great brand for helping to find your perfect foundation shade.
This product contains a rich pigment level producing a more enhanced and flawless finish.
A little goes a long way with this product as its full coverage helps to create an au-natural airbrushed look. This is a great product for acne-prone skin as it helps to cover imperfections and create a smooth and blended texture.
Whilst this foundation offers full coverage it’s made from a lightweight formula that is breathable and provides a moisturizing effect. This allows the foundation to sit comfortably on the skin without drying it out. Its full coverage allows it to stay in place for long-lasting wear.
Its coverage lasts up to 24 hours resisting humidity and sweat. This is a great product if you’re planning on having your wedding photos taken in the sun or on a hot day.
Pros
- Over 40 shades to choose from
- Full coverage is ideal for acne prone skin
- Coverage lasts up to 24 hours for long-lasting wear
RUNNER UP
Dior’s backstage airflash spray foundation offers professional and seamless coverage. This foundation comes in the form of a spray ensuring an airbrushed complexion with precision and ease. This is a great product for anyone looking to perfect coverage with an elegant finish.
Dior offers this foundation in 19 shades ensuring you find your perfect match. This foundation range offers a variety of undertones to help enhance your natural skin tone.
This foundation contains light diffusing pigments that help to smooth the texture of the skin and create a radiant appearance and the perfect complexion. A unique micro-diffusion system ensures that the foundation creates a soft and velvety finish.
This product is made from a water-resistant formula ensuring maximum hold for long-lasting coverage. Its fine mist helps to lightly cover the face with a light but striking pearl finish. This is a great product for anyone looking to cover fine lines. This product helps to produce a radiant finish people can only dream of.
Pros
- Radiant velvet finish helps reduce the appearance of fine lines
- Water resistant formula ensures hold for up to 12 hours for long-lasting coverage
- The range offers 19 shades to choose from
Best Foundation for Wedding Photos Buying Guide
Determine your undertone
When it comes to finding your perfect foundation shade, there’s one critical thing that should be on the top of your mind…. Undertone.
Pinning down what the undertones of your skin are will help you find the most compatible shade for your skin tone. Going for a shade with the wrong undertones can result in your skin looking dull or too made-up.
Undertones are essentially the colors beneath the surface of your skin. Using a foundation containing the same hues will help to balance your foundation with your skin tone giving you a natural glow. There are three undertone colors that you need to look for; warm, cool, and neutral.
If your skin has warm hues of orange, yellow, or gold, then you have warm undertones. If your skin has a hint of blue, pink, or red, then you have cool undertones. And, if your skin has a mix of both warm and cool hues or you’re struggling to find hints of color, then you are considered to have neutral undertones.
There is a common misconception that fair skinned people have cool undertones and dark skinned people have warmer undertones. This is not the case.
To find what your undertone is, all you have to do is take a look at the inner part of your arm or the veins on your wrist. This is a great way to identify what your undertone is.
Consider your skin type
Before choosing your foundation, it’s important to pin down your skin type. If you’re someone who has combination skin or often gets an oily t-zone, you may want to opt for a matte foundation. If you have dry to normal skin, you can opt for a more dewy foundation that adds a little radiance.
Reviews
Whilst testing your foundation shade in person is ideal, if you’re looking to purchase your foundation online, it’s worth sifting through a couple of reviews first.
Reviews with images are a great way for you to see what the foundation looks like in images. Reviews are also a great way to hear honest feedback about the brand or product you’re considering.
Foundation coverage
Whilst you might be used to using a full coverage foundation for day-to-day use, wearing heavier foundation may look harsher and denser in photos. To keep your makeup looking defined but still natural, you may want to opt for a light to medium coverage foundation.
Unlike the single layer of full coverage foundation, light to medium coverage will enable you to build up to the foundation to your designed consistency to create a natural and glowy look.
Testing
Make sure to test the foundation on your face in multiple areas before making a decision. The most accurate area on the face to test the color of your foundation is on the lower part of your neck and chest area.
You’ll know you’ve found the right foundation when the color blends seamlessly into your skin.
Time
Sometimes foundations may look a certain color, but when they are applied, the color changes to oxidation or your ph level. Chances are you’re going to be wearing your makeup all day. The last thing you want when you’re having photos taken of you all day is to be retouching your makeup every two seconds.
To make sure that your foundation can withstand the test of time, why not try it out for the day to see how it reacts to your skin. You may also want to test your makeup beforehand to make sure that the formula works well with your skin and you are not sensitive or allergic to it.
Lighting
You want the photos of you on your big day to be flawless right? Whilst foundation plays a big part in how your skin will look in pictures, the lighting in the room will also have an effect.
Artificial lighting can affect a look by making the color of your makeup look different in pictures. The extremity of the alteration depends on the color of your foundation and the amount you have put on.
Before the big day, check what the lighting situation will be and look to see what your foundation looks like in both natural light and artificial light.
Preparation
Prepping your skin properly before the make-up application is just as important as finding the right foundation. Having a dry and unprepared base will leave the foundation looking worse for wear.
To ensure you make the most of your foundation, make sure to prep prep prep. Here’s what you need to keep in mind on the big day:
Moisturise - Moisturising before makeup application is a given. But, make sure that you leave enough time between moisturizing and applying your makeup to allow time for your skin to absorb the moisturizer.
After moisturizing, it’s always best to apply a good primer. The role of a primer is to help your pores look smaller and to help your makeup sit comfortably on the skin for a smooth and flawless finish.
Whilst you don’t want to go OTT, you may want to use bolder colors on your face than you usually would but still go for colors that complement your skin tone and the rest of your color scheme. Going a little bolder will ensure that the camera picks up your make for a more defined and glowing look.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better for the foundation to be lighter or darker than your skin?
When in doubt, it’s always best to go for a light foundation shade. This way, you can use bronzer and eyeshadow to balance out the hues on your face. It’s also always easier to make a shade darker than it is to lighten a foundation.
Should foundation match my skin tone?
Your foundation should match the color of your next and contain the hues of your skin's undertone.
Takeaway
Finding the right foundation for your wedding photos isn’t too difficult when it comes down to it, especially now you have a guide to go back to when you begin your search.
The list of products presented each offers a range of benefits that will help to enhance your look for your big day giving you a flawless, elegant, and radiant finish for the perfect wedding photo!
