Without a Doubt, These Are the Best Foundations For An Effortless Glow

Beauty editors are obsessed with this glowing foundation. Just a couple of drops of this foundation offer impressive coverage that is pretty much undetectable on the skin—you just look incredibly dewy and radiant. It's also packed with glow-boosting niacinamide and hydrating squalene, so it leaves your skin looking plump and dewy day-long. While it's on the pricier side, you don't need very much, so it will last for a long time. Read our full review of Ilia's Skin Tint.

This foundation is so beautifully silky that is really melts into the skin with buildable coverage, making your complexion still look like your skin, but better. And fear not, it doesn't slip and slide like some glow foundations, in fact, it somehow manages to look better as the day goes on.

Without a doubt one of favourite makeup launches of recent years, this foundation is healthy skin in a bottle. It’s juicy, hydrating and jam-packed with natural-looking radiance. It packs some impressive coverage, too. On top of all that, it also helps to improve your complexion as you wear it—genius.

Some say this is the best foundation ever made, and I’m not going to disagree. Luminous Silk is basically the gold standard of glow-giving bases. It’s full-coverage and radiance-boosting without leaving behind even a hint of oily residue. It's often the foundation of choice for many brides on their wedding day, as it photographs beautifully too.

This is potentially one of the very best foundations ever created. With a medium-coverage, natural-looking finish, it's a go-to for industry insiders and beauty editors far and wide. It has a long-lasting luminosity to it that doesn't appear glittery or artificial—more like you're glowing from the inside out. 

Another cult classic, this foundation is one of my longest-standing makeup-bag essentials. Unlike so many other luminous foundations, this stuff sticks around, and it requires hardly any powdering. Its slightly fuller coverage makes it my evening go-to.

For your-skin-but-better coverage, look no further than this super-easy-to-use, easily blendable base. "This might be my favourite lightweight foundation base this year—it makes my skin look naturally flawless while still letting my skin shine through" says Who What Wear UK beauty editor, Eleanor Vousden. "In fact, I had a total stranger tell me how good my skin looked the first time I wore it, so I know it's a keeper," she says. To achieve a super-dewy finish, apply with a damp blending sponge, but if you find yourself in a bit of a rush, it applies like a dream with fingers too.

Another Shiseido favourite of the Who What Wear UK team. This stuff is like liquid silk. It merges with skin in seconds and delivers a blurring but convincing veil. Infused with 70% skincare ingredients, it’s lightweight, refreshing and won't cause skin upset. It also contains SPF 20, which helps give my morning SPF a bit of a top-up. Oh, and unlike so many other skin tints, this stuff lasts. In fact, it has a 12-hour wear time. 

Nars has been known for its elite base products for many years, and its latest foundation cranks things up a notch. Formulated with an impressive amount of skincare ingredients (70%), it leaves skin looking dewy and natural but expertly blurred. Most impressively, it contains a special light-reflecting complex containing powders to ensure skin stays glowing without risking glare in photos. I have a big feeling this will be a major bride favourite this wedding season.

Many of the Who What Wear UK team count this skin tint as their holy grail for delivering an unrivalled glow that makes your complexion look like you just stepped out from a facial. Made of 90% skincare (including hydrating hyaluronic acid) it keeps skin looking and feeling fresh all day long.

For those with oily skin, like mine, you might need some powder for this one because the glow is basically out of this world. The coverage is full, but the formula itself is hydrating and dewy, making it ideal for those with drier skin who are desperate to up the luminosity.

Any beauty product that comes jam-packed with vitamin C is going to up that glow, and this super-hydrating foundation is no exception. It comes in at a very reasonable £14 and rivals some of the more expensive skin tints we have tried.

If I had to tally up every single time I’ve applied a different foundation, this one would probably come out on top as my most-used. Branded a CC Cream, this is a foundation in disguise. Sure, it does a stellar job at evening out skin tone and discolouration, but it also does so much more. It’s perfecting, blurring, radiance-boosting and brightening all at once. For such a great (and best-selling) product, it’s seriously disappointing that the shade range is so limited. If you ask me, It Cosmetics could (and should) do a lot better with this one.

When I first tested this product, I really didn’t get it. The coverage is seriously lightweight and at first appears almost invisible on the skin. However, the more I used it, the more my love for it grew. Sitting somewhere between a skin tint and a foundation, it’s non-oily, semi-matte and subtly perfecting. It’s my secret weapon for no-makeup days.

Another affordable option. When this stuff launched last year, I wasn’t sold. I like my makeup to feel luxe, and as shallow as it sounds, I didn't love the packaging. But from the minute I swatched it, I was totally head over heels. For days when your complexion is looking a little drab and tired, one layer of this stuff leaves you looking more alive than ever before.

A more full-coverage version of the aforementioned tint, Shiseido's Synchro Skin foundation is beloved by beauty editors thanks to its intensely hydrating formula that actually binds moisture to the skin for up to 24 hours. The result? Genuinely plump, dewy, naturally glowy skin that looks good from the minute you apply it to the moment you take it off.

The newest foundation launch from the queen of glow herself, Charlotte Tilbury, really delivers when it comes to healthy, glowy skin—and it's been making waves in the beauty community since it launched at the start of the year. The thing I love most about it is the way it walks the line between decent coverage and still letting your natural skin shine through.

Initially, the name of this foundation made me think that this glow-boosting formula would be more of a skin tint or tinted moisturiser than a full-on foundation. However, while it feels as hydrating and lightweight as the aforementioned formulations, this is a medium-coverage foundation that delivers glow aplenty. I find it works best when applied with fingers for a natural finish.

Merging skincare benefits with a beautifully luminous finish, this luxurious foundation not only leaves skin looking velvety-soft and fresh, but it actually improves your skin's hydration levels over time.

I was first introduced to this foundation when researching a celebrity makeup story. I read somewhere that Margot Robbie and Miranda Kerr are big fans of Suqqu's foundation offering, so I thought I'd give it a go. Every foundation product that this Japanese brand creates is exquisite, but this one is by far my favourite. It is luxurious, buildable and full of moisture, delivering one of the best finishes I have ever come across.

I really didn't think I was going to like this foundation, but I couldn't have been more wrong. First of all, it smells lovely and fresh, which makes it a treat to apply first thing. It also feels cooling and plumping from first swipe, only adding to the freshness. In terms of the finish, it's medium-coverage and blends into skin seamlessly for a true second-skin finish. I genuinely can't get over the glow. 

This is quite literally a filter in a bottle. It doesn't give a tonne of coverage, so if you prefer sheer finishes, this one is for you. It's a foundation/highlighter hybrid that leaves a veil of luminosity to your skin that makes you look healthy and radiant. It's become a modern icon, and you'll always find this in beauty editors' makeup bags.

Infused with refreshing botanicals like white water lily, lotus and gardenia, this lightweight foundation feels beautiful on the skin and offers impressive coverage despite its weightless texture. It feels much more like a serum, than a classic liquid foundation, and can be worn sheer or layered up. The best thing about it though? That dewy finish that makes skin look plump and juicy. 

Glossier's new foundation is a gel-cream formula that feels lightweight on the skin and offers light to medium coverage. It gives the most gorgeous, glowy finish without being too dewy, which makes it an ideal choice for both dry and oily skin types.