Our Favorite Sheer Foundations for Lightweight Coverage

October 05, 2022

By: Caitlyn Martyn | Makeup.com by L'Oréal

While some prefer to wear full-coverage and matte foundation, for me, it’s all about finding a foundation that’s lightweight, natural-looking and provides a glowy finish. My makeup collection is stocked with complexion products that offer a second-skin look and feel. If you’re on the hunt for a sheer foundation, keep reading, because I’ve rounded up seven of my favorites, ahead.

1 / 7

YSL Nu Bare Look Tint Foundation

This multitasking skin tint melts into the complexion to improve the appearance of your skin without feeling heavy or clogging your pores. The water-based makeup-meets-moisturizer formula leaves your skin looking fresh, dewy and radiant.
2 / 7

L’Oréal Paris True Match Hyaluronic Tinted Serum

For the ultimate no-makeup makeup look, try a tinted serum. This one offers sheer to buildable coverage plus 1% hyaluronic acid for a hydrated, dewy finish that makes you forget you’re even wearing makeup.
3 / 7

Maybelline New York Green Edition Superdrop Tinted Oil

Clean beauty lovers will appreciate this lightweight tinted oil, which is made with 84% natural origin ingredients, including nourishing jojoba and marula oils. Shake up the bottle, then use the included dropper to dispense the product onto the back of your hand. One drop offers sheer coverage, while five drops offers medium coverage.
4 / 7

Giorgio Armani Beauty Neo Nude True-to-Skin Foundation

Whether you want to smooth out your complexion before hopping on a work call or the skinimalism makeup vibe is your everyday aesthetic, this light-coverage foundation is a must-have. It’s lightweight yet buildable and is packed with glycerin and hyaluronic acid for plump, healthy-looking skin.
5 / 7

IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better Foundation and Skincare

This foundation not only gives you a flawless-looking complexion once applied, but its good-for-skin ingredients (like hyaluronic acid and vitamins E and B5) actually make your skin appear smoother and healthier over time, too.
6 / 7

ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint

This skincare-makeup hybrid gives you a natural, luminous finish. The formula contains a blend of hyaluronic acids, plant-based squalane and niacinamide to even out skin tone and soften imperfections, as well as SPF 40 broad-spectrum sun protection.
7 / 7

Saie Slip Tint

As far as I’m concerned, a “tinted moisturizer” is just another name for “sheer-coverage foundation.” This multitasking product offers light-to-medium coverage in a hydrating moisturizer with SPF 35 protection. It’s non-comedogenic and gives a glowy finish.