The Great Clean Foundation Search
Part of my wellness journey has been swapping as many of our personal care and cleaning products for safer, cleaner options. It’s been relatively easy for the most part, including beauty and makeup, aside from two products: mascara and foundation. I’ve given myself a pass on mascara for now as I have “hooded” eyelids and anything but a tubing mascara will be all over my face by noon. So, until they advance beyond the current options I’m not going to worry about it too much - especially since the tubing mascara does exactly that, tubes around your lashes and literally slides off like falsh lashes (i.e. I assume I’m not absorbing much).
Foundation on the other hand is a deal-breaker. Aside from body moisturizer, foundation covers the largest area of my skin and sits on it for at least 10+ hours per day. A good majority of it is absorbed directly into the skin - therefore, I knew it was critical to replace my cult favorite (but not clean) Chantecaille Future Skin. I’d seen many bloggers and media outlets raving about various options so I assumed it’d be an easy find.
Not so fast! Foundation has been by far the hardest item for me to replace. From my experience, clean foundation is fundamentally a very different product than traditional, “dirty” formulas. Similar to natural deodorant, I found it to be a true “process” to transition to a natural foundation. The pigments are mostly mineral, which sits very differently on the skin than synthetics and I found them ALL to be much less forgiving over all.
We all know I love a good experiment-therefore I figured I would try every single clean foundation that I’d seen recommended and do my own, independent research. I purchased every foundation myself (none were gifted) and unless a formula was immediately an absolute no (there were several) I wore each one for at least a week. I wore the “winning” foundation for a month before writing this post, just to be sure it was actually good once the novelty wore off (it’s a very…unique formula). Unlike synthetic foundations that have fillers, silicone, etc.. that in my opinion make them much more universal and less dependent on skin type, I feel that clean foundations are very fickle and must be closely matched not only to your skin tone but more importantly, to your skin TYPE. They also each required practice in application, they are not as “dot and go” as synthetic foundations. I do not have great skin (yet) - I’m still struggling with hormonal acne, pattern dryness, a tendency to pick my face (and touch it too much), and some acne scarring as well as normal early-30’s signs of natural aging. Therefore I needed a forgiving formula that wouldn’t emphasize my flaws (definitely a challenge with mineral pigments), would last well even on my combination skin, and would offer at least medium coverage.
It’s also important to note that because none of these products are made with synthetics, you absolutely must apply them to a well-moisturize face. I prep my face with both this toner essence and Vintner’s Daughter active botanical serum before applying my foundation and highly recommend both. I am “one of those” people that swears by Vintner’s Daughter (I’ve never seen anything heal cystic acne so quickly - but note that you need to commit to using it for a few weeks to really understand the hype). I received it as a gift from a very generous friend and now I’m hooked. It’s a pricey line for sure but it’s one luxury I’m willing to spring for. I prep with this natural retinol at night; it’s really helped smooth my skin and is the only retinol that doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin.
OK. Let’s get started!
What didn’t work: Right off the bat, I realized that options with coconut oil or beeswax as the primary ingredient did not work well for me. Although actual coverage ranges pending the product, I found all options with these main ingredients sat very heavy on my skin and I did not like their blendability. They felt greasy to me while also highlighting any dryness or texture challenges. This eliminated several popular cream foundation options such as Kjaer Weis and RMS “Un”Cover Up Cream foundation. RMS in particular felt like spreading body butter on my face and it sat on top of my skin.
What did work: highly blendable, medium-coverage formulas with a “glowy” finish.
Burt’s Bees BB Cream: My favorite budget buy (under $10!). It smooths on easily, can be applied with fingers, offers nice light to medium coverage and it build-able. I do think it sits on top of the skin a bit but no more than any other BB cream (natural or not) that I’ve tried. It’s forgiving(ish) to blemishes and imperfections but you definitely will need to reapply if you have after-work plans. For the price I think that’s reasonable.
Wellpeople Narcissist Stick Foundation: This is my one exception to the thick base rule. This is definitely a true stick foundation but for some reason still feels light on the skin. I also seemed to find a PERFECT color match with this one so perhaps that has something to do with it.
Burt’s Bees Foundation: This was a “pass” for me - the BB cream is so much better. I thought this left an odd cast on my face (more of that chalky mineral look) and did not blend well. It also is NOT buildable in my opinion, it dries quickly and gets very thick and patchy. It was still better than the pricier ones I first mentioned as not a fit for me, but ultimately didn’t make the cut in terms of my recommendation. C also commented on my face smelling weird the entire time I was trying this one by the way, so the orange-ish scent is definitely not for everyone!
DRUMROLL PLEASE…. time for my #1 Pick! The natural foundation you’ve probably never heard of.
Gressa Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation - This stuff is amazing. Every single time I’ve storied myself while wearing this I get comments about my skin looking great (when in reality it’s been quite a mess)… it’s a miracle product. I was tipped off to it by a reader on instagram DM and due to her rave review thought I’d give it a shot. It was a bit of an anomaly to find so I ended up ordering directly from them which I do NOT recommend, it took almost two weeks to get here! I’ve linked to it on Detox Market here for a better experience. Now for all of the details:
You MUST sample this before you buy it. The colors are very specific and I was a full two shades lighter than I expected. It looks like they get this feedback a lot so fingers crossed they correct their shade range in the future. Until then, I’d order the samples (click “sample it” right under “add to bag”).
Sampling is also key to understanding if this foundation is finish for you. It’s true serum…dropper bottle and everything. You have to shake it well and fill the dropper fresh for each application as it’s a serum and the pigment/oil separate a bit if you don’t. Make sure you squish around the sample packets before dispensing to get a good feel for the finish. Apply, blend well with a brush and then wait a few minutes for it to settle in before deciding to apply any more, finalize your color selection, etc.
A tiny bit goes a LONG way. I’ve been playing with it for over a month and I can safely say that 3 drops max is plenty for me. It’s a medium-to-full-coverage product and it’s literally amazing to watch the coverage from one tiny drop on your forehead, one on your nose, and one on my chin. I don’t agree with their suggestion to put the drops in your hand and spread quickly on your face. You definitely need to use a brush, apply the drops directly to your face (or on the back of your hand) and apply quickly.
It leaves a glow-y finish. If you like more of a matte look you’ll need to add a finishing powder. I like the glow so I simply set it with Caudalie Beauty Elixir.
The “Healing Complex” in this is no joke. My skin feels BETTER when I wear this stuff, it’s incredible. It’s softening, smoothing, brightening…it’s the only makeup I’ve ever tried that actually makes my skin better. I will say the key ingredient is Broccoli Seed Oil which smells…interesting, but it wears off as it dries.
It lasts really well. By the end of a full work day it’s still offering good coverage. If I’m particularly oily or dry it will settle into those imperfections but I’ve learned this is a tradeoff with any natural product. A light tap will put it back into place, which was not the case with the Burt’s Bees BB Cream etc, that really needed a full re-application by end of day.
There were also a few options that were recommended that I did not try:
Beautycounter: I have tried a lot of their products and felt that they were not great quality so I decided to skip this one, even though many people recommended the tinted moisturizer. Unrelated, but I do love their baby line! I’ve been using their baby oil on Nell since she was born.
Ilia True Skin Serum - it was sold out everywhere in my color (most colors, really). I spoke to a Credo Beauty rep via live chat (she was great) as they used to carry Gressa and said it was similar but less coverage. I was specifically looking for decent coverage and felt like I’d achieved that with Gressa so I didn’t worry too much about it.
Kosas Tinted Face Oil - if my skin was in better shape this would have definitely made my list - the coverage was simply too light for me. I’ll give it a try in the future (especially in the summer months) if my skin clears up a bit.
Feel free to leave any questions in the comments and I will answer - I will also try to do a live application on stories soon to show you how it looks in real life.
