How To Prevent Foundation Separating On Your Face

This post is all about how to prevent foundation separating on your face!

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I think I can speak for everyone when I say we’ve all been through the issue of foundation separating on our face. That uneven, cakey, “everyone can tell you are wearing makeup” look has haunted us at some point in our lives. Those splotchy areas on our face has infiltrated our dreams and kept us up at night and those cracks in our foundation has made us so frustrated that we want to pull out our hair.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic but when you’ve tried different products and different ways of doing your makeup, it can definitely be super frustrating. When it never comes out looking flawless like other ladies you see, you sometimes just want to bang your head against a wall, call it a day and hit the hay. I get it! For once you want to be able to enhance your features without your makeup slipping and sliding everywhere. You want to feel confident that when someone is talking to you, they’re paying attention to you and not your foundation.

All hope is for sure not lost though! You’re most likely overlooking important things that factor into the way your foundation looks. Here are the things to consider when doing your makeup and how to prevent separation going forward! 

Types Of Foundation

Knowing the type of foundation you are applying is crucial to preventing separation. There are 3 types to look out for which are:

• Water Based
• Oil Based
• Silicone Based

1. Water Based

A foundation that is water based will have water at the top of the ingredient list meaning that it’s the largest amount if ingredient in the formula. It also may contain silicones or oil but if it did, it would be very small amounts at the bottom of the ingredient list.

This type of foundation will have a lightweight consistency and tend to be hydrating on the skin.

Who Is It Best For?

Those with dehydrated skin, oily skin, sensitive skin, or if you are prone to breakouts.

Ingredients To Look Out For:

Let’s take for example the ingredients list of the Koh Gen Doh Maifanshi Moisture Foundation. As you can see below, the first ingredient is water and it’s lacking silicones and oils making this foundation water-based.

2. Oil Based

When the primary ingredients are oils, that is considered an oil based foundation. This type of foundation can be thicker and feel heavier than most. Because of the nature of the oils, it can tend to sit on the surface of the skin more than others but if you are dry, it will give a dewy, glowy finish to your makeup.

Who Is It Best For?

Best used by those with dry to very skin.

Ingredients To Look Out For

It’s pretty easy to spot an oil based foundation because all you really have to look for are any ingredients that basically have the word “oil” in it.

For example let’s take the first few ingredients of the Kosas Face Oil Skin Tint.

As you can see in the highlighted below, there are many oils at the top on the ingredient list making this oil based.

3. Silicone Based

A lot of foundations on the market contain silicones. Silicones are used in foundations because they act as a primer would creating a smoothing effect blurring out wrinkles or fine lines. Because of this, this type of foundation often lasts the longest on your skin out of the 3 types.

Who Is It Best For?

This type is best used by those who have normal to dry skin

Ingredients To Look Out For

To find out if a foundation has silicones, you just have to look at the last part of the word. Look for the main suffix of silicones that end in -cone, -col, -cane, -conol, and -xane.

To make this clearer, if we take a closer look at the Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, we will see what a silicone based foundation looks like.

Why Your Foundation Is Separating And How To Fix It

1. Using The Wrong Formula

Now that we went through the different types of foundations and how to spot them base on their ingredients, I think it’s safe to say you may very well be using the wrong formula for your skin type. When you are using the wrong formula for your skin type, of course it’s going to separate! It’s separating because you both don’t agree.

How To Fix It

The next time you go shopping for your next foundation, take a look at the ingredient list. Take note if it’s water based, oil based, or silicone based. You can use the below as general guidance.

Water based – For oily, dehydrated, sensitive skin types

Oil based – For dry to very dry skin types

Silicone based – For normal to dry skin types

2. Lack Of Skin Prep

A huge part of your makeup looking beautifully snatched all day starts with your skin prep. If you are not properly taking care of your skin, it’s going to to show in your makeup. Your makeup can start to look flakey, dry, too oily, or you guessed it, start separating!

How To Fix It

There 3 crucial things you must be doing before you apply your makeup.

Cleansing – This is such a huge step because if you are not cleansing your face, that bacteria, and debris your skin collects throughout the day will stay on your face and you want a clean canvas before applying makeup

Exfoliating – The key to smooth skin is exfoliating regularly about 2-3 times a week. This ensures that your skin is as smooth as possible to not allow texture issues to get in the way of your foundation.

Moisturizing – In order to have your makeup lay beautifully, you need to moisturize your skin with a face cream or lotion. Yes! Even you oily ladies should hydrate your face as well! This allows the foundation to become one with your skin and look more flawless and crease and break apart less.

3. Failing To Clean Your Tools

You may not think of it often or think, I can go a few weeks without washing by brushes or sponges, etc., but this makes a big difference in the way your foundation looks! Think about how often you do your makeup and how often you don’t properly clean your tools that you used it with. It’s probably more often than you’d like to admit. Now take into account what happens when foundation dries. It gets stiff!

When you then apply fresh foundation on top of that, you’re mixing it with dry particles from past foundation applications and applying that concoction to your face resulting in uneven coverage and possibly pilling.

How To Fix It

One of the best products to clean your brushes that is affordable and lasts a long time is the Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Soap. It’s extremely effective at getting the gunk out quickly and easily. Seriously it’s good stuff!

4. Not Setting Your Makeup

You can have the most beautiful looking finish when you have just completed your makeup look but will it last all day? Probably not without setting it. Setting your makeup allows the wear time of your makeup to last much longer hence the chances of your makeup separating are much lower.

How To Fix It

It’s important to set areas that will get shinier than the rest of your face. This secures those areas in place so that throughout the day you when oils start to peak through, you’ll look healthy and glowy rather than a whole greaseball.

I swear by the Beauty Blender Pocket Puff and the Laura Mercier translucent Loose Setting Powder combined.

Dip the puff into the setting powder, knock off the excess, firmly tap in, and watch your skin blur and set like no other and last hours.

5. Using Old Makeup

If you’re a beauty lover like me, you’re probably guilty of buying makeup you don’t need and they end up in your drawers for months while you try the next best thing. I get it, it happens to the best of us. Then when you do your seasonal deep clean/organization you realize you found an old favorite and want to use it. Quickly after applying you start to think, “Why did I even like this?” It looks decent from afar but up close it’s a mess and a half. Well my friend, it’s because it has aged and it’s time to part ways.

How To Fix It

To prevent using old makeup use these 4 ways to tell if it’s time to keep it or trash it

• Do the smell test. If it smells off or spoiled, get rid of it
• If it has changed in color or certain parts are a different color than the rest, trash it
• Has the texture changed? If it looks thicker, thiner, or clumpy, toss it.
• Lastly, most bottles have an expiration can icon on them. Look for an open jar icon with a number in it. The number means the amount of months it’s good for after opening.

6. Overapplication

Overapplication is definitely common and it’s the cause of foundation looking cakey, textured, and overdone. It’s understandable to want full coverage but some foundations just aren’t meant to be layered and if you start layering and layering until your desired coverage, it’s going to end up separating which is what you don’t want.

How To Fix It

Less is more. The less you apply, the more flawless your skin will look. That doesn’t mean to apply close to nothing and get no coverage. It just means to apply in thin layers and work from there.

Press in the foundation gently so it adheres to your skin better. Doing this also provides more coverage because you’re not dragging it everywhere and moving it around. Pressing the foundation into the skin with a brush or sponge will allow it to stay in place. Then you can build upon only the areas that are more red in the same way or use a bit of concealer on blemishes or red spots.