12 best foundations for dry skin, recommended by beauty experts for dewy finishes and full coverage

Showcasing signature Dior branding, the glass bottle has a pump dispenser releasing a midweight formula with SPF20 that instantly created radiance on our tester’s skin. Available in more than 40 shades, this foundation features hydrating skincare ingredients, including wild pansy and rose. There’s a light yet noticeably fresh floral scent, too, which we found appealing, and it’s suitable for sensitive skin.

We saw a full coverage smoothing effect without any heaviness, and a luminous glow that lingered for hours. This is a long-lasting breathable foundation, and it remained in place throughout our working day and well into the evening, without becoming patchy or sliding off.

An oil-free foundation coming in at less than a tenner, there are 40 shades to choose from in this offering from e.l.f. The light, fluid consistency is silky, ensuring a seamless spread across our sometimes dull and dehydrated skin.

As it’s oil-free, there’s no shiny residue, and we suspect the inclusion of hydrating glycerin is behind the slightly matte finish we saw, which covered skin evenly. Vegan too, this is an ideal lightweight or heavier coverage multi-tasker, as you can layer up and achieve either finish. We found this comfortable base stays in place for several hours.

Packaged in a handy squeezy bottle with screw-top lid, this lightweight veil formula is cooling and comforting on skin. Suitable for use across the face and body, its natural effect covered a patch of redness on our neck, too. There are 30 shades across different undertone options, including peachy and golden, and the 50ml size is generous for the price point. We saw a buildable, long-lasting, touch-resistant finish that felt gently moisturising, with competent yet light coverage.

This creamy balm – which comes in a pot with twist-off lid and an application brush for effortless use – transfers weightlessly onto skin. Not at all shiny or greasy, a little bit of this putty-textured product went a long way across our complexion. With a 20-shade range across neutral, yellow, and pink undertones, the coverage is buildable, thanks to the small, soft brush and smoothly blending formula. For that reason, we noticed you can either focus on specific areas or apply an evenly coated finish. 

Hydration-promoting ingredients include hyaluronic acid and vitamin E. We saw a full coverage effect, balancing out redness and dry patches while remaining consistently satiny.

The lavishly creamy formula comes in a tub with an applicator spatula, meaning we could carefully dot it onto our face. The 23 shade options span yellow beige, beige and pink beige undertones, so it’s not the widest range by a long way. However, for those it does suit, we found the complex successfully ticked both rich coverage and dewy glow boxes, while offering smoothing and soothing for dryness.

We saw a seamless, more even complexion, without product sticking to pores or lines. Key ingredients such as green tea and silk protein make up the Japanese brand’s blend – it’s undeniably an investment buy, but we only needed a tiny amount to cover our face, so, we can see the product lasting a long time.

Although technically a skin tint, rather than full foundation, this silky formula offers a subtle hint of coverage that’s particularly good if you prefer not to go heavy with a base – we wore this dewy formula on ‘no make-up make-up’ days, for breathable skin comfort.

The 13 shades come in tubes, and you can apply as little or much as you want, because the product layers up evenly to balance skin tone. Alternatively, we saw a highlighting glow from the product’s reflective pearl pigment and rose oil blend when adding this into or on top of a thicker foundation.

Available in 30 shades, beautiful skin comes in a squeezy recyclable tube to easily slot into any make-up bag. The formula is vegan-friendly, and key ingredients include hyaluronic acid, coconut extract and rose. We found the hydrating foundation easily smoothed onto skin, quickly creating buildable medium coverage and an impressive glow.

It feels super lightweight to wear, and our tester noted this radiant base stayed put well even after a rainy walk. We noticed how satisfyingly soft the foundation is on skin, too, and we appreciated the plumping finish it provided. Particularly as our dry skin can sometimes appear tight and parched.

Skincare ingredients included in this No7 serum foundation cover brightening vitamin C, soothing vitamin E, plumping peptides and nourishing ceramides. A base ready to boost dryness, we saw instant skin-softening as the formula glided onto our face. It didn’t settle in our fine lines or pores either, instead smoothing over any residual dryness. Although we still wore our usual SPF underneath, the factor 30 inclusion delivers welcome integral sun protection.

The finish is lightweight while still ensuring tone-balancing coverage. For less than £20, this is a premium-feeling hydrating foundation at a slightly cheaper price-point.

Using this lightweight foundation feels a lot like applying soothing skincare, and that’s because of ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, aloe vera and vitamins E and B5. Although it’s a very light, liquid formula, we still saw sufficient skin-balancing coverage and we could barely feel it during wear. We found you can easily add layers, too, whether looking for further coverage or a top-up throughout the day.

The foundation holds well and doesn’t rub off, instead just subtly fading as hours passed. We saw gentle radiance and comfortable skin, with the texture appearing more toned, too.

A cult classic buy, Estée Lauder’s double wear is available in more than 55 shades and neutral, cool, and warm undertones. The glass bottle doesn’t have a pump applicator nozzle, making it easier to recycle, and we avoided any wastage during application by adding a bit of product to our hand at a time.

The oil-free formula feels smoothing, while creating a matte finish that balanced out any visible dryness. Meanwhile, if you’ve got combination skin, we saw it help reduce excess shine on the T-zone too. We noted this foundation stays put for several hours, with the base still in place after a long day and well into a warm summer’s evening.

Available in 36 shades, this lightweight foundation instantly evened our skin texture and created a silky-soft finish. The pump nozzle releases a smoothing formula, which we saw improve the look of our fine lines while feeling noticeably comfy to wear. We alternated between light coverage and layering extra foundation when seeking a stronger look, although, even a tiny bit balanced out any redness.

We also loved how well it settled onto our skin and didn’t cling to pores, instead being adaptable and breathable. Although a splurge buy, the beautiful bottle with gold and black detailing looks suitably expensive in our make-up bag.

We appreciated this foundation’s chic, minimalist packaging, and its integral wand enabled easy mess-free application. There are 48 shades to choose between, and the vegan-friendly formula is suitable for sensitive skin. The ingredients list includes lots of botanical extracts, and while it’s recommended for normal to combination skin, our dry skin did still feel soothed. However, we tended to wear it with lots of skincare underneath, so, this product may be best for slightly dry skin rather than overt tightness or flakiness.

The serum-like texture is almost runny and rubs in easily, leaving a lightweight layer of tone-balancing base. We were impressed by how comfortably breathable the foundation felt and, being non-comedogenic, it won’t block pores, either.