Makeup You May Not Have Heard About: bh cosmetics Liquid Foundation – Naturally Flawless

A good foundation at a great price can be hard to find… unless you know where to look.

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I am on the hunt for my Holy Grail foundation.

I have a few requirements for such a foundation to meet: must be the right shade and undertone for me, should not oxidize, needs to look natural on the skin, should not feel or look heavy, should not settle into pores and fine lines, and needs to stand up to my oily skin without shifting, separating, breaking down, or being too drying. I would also prefer that this wonder foundation cost less than $20.00. I really don’t feel like that is too much to ask.

When bh cosmetics came out with their Naturally Flawless Foundation, I have to admit I was curious. At the time I had been eyeing a few things on their site and getting ready to make an order, so I added a couple of bottles of the foundation. Why two bottles? Because it was hard to tell on the screen which of the 18 shades would be my best match.

From the bh cosmetics web site:

If you’re curious as to what’s in this foundation, here’s the ingredients list:

Ingredients/Ingrédients / Made in PRC– 1 fl oz / 30 ml (Liquid Foundation / Fond De Teint Liquide/ Flüssig-Foundation) Water/Aqua/Eau, Isododecane, Propylene Glycol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Mica, Prolatum Oil / Paraffinum Liquidum / Huile de Prolatum, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Dimethicone, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Steareth-2, Ceresin, Sodium Hyaluronate, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Ethylhexylglycerin. May Contain/Peut Contenir [+/-: Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891)] <7205.2>

Naturally Flawless Foundation comes in a 1 ounce frosted glass bottle with a pump and a black plastic cap. The price on bh cosmetics is listed at $9.99, but the price varies as the bh site often has sales. Ulta has 12 of the shades available for $4.79 as of this posting.

Okay, that’s good info to have, but how does it apply?

I like the way this foundation applies on my skin. My preferred method of application is a damp blending sponge like this one from Real Techniques. I have used a brush to apply this, but I’m really not a fan of brush application for foundation.

With a sponge, this foundation blends out easily and is buildable if you need more coverage in some areas. It doesn’t really smell like anything. It also plays well with color correctors and concealers. I wouldn’t call this foundation full coverage. To me, the coverage is light to medium. It usually takes two to three pumps to get medium coverage on my face and jawline using a damp sponge.

How does it feel on your face?

The Naturally Flawless Foundation feels really light on the skin. I wouldn’t say that it feels like wearing nothing, but it doesn’t feel heavy at all. It takes a few minutes for this foundation to dry down, and it does not dry down matte. It does seem to stay a little tacky to the touch. I have to powder this foundation to set it, but I have to powder all my foundations since I get pretty oily down the middle of my face.

This foundation has several reviews on Ulta’s site where people said it was heavy, sticky, greasy feeling, and hard to blend. I don’t find that to be the case at all.

I have two shades of this foundation, shade 201 – Ivory and shade 205 – Fair Golden. I decided against shade 204 – Natural Beige because it looked like it might be too pink for me on the bh site.

Shade 201 – Ivory is definitely fair and neutral. This is a good winter shade for me. Shade 205 – Fair Golden is exactly that – fair and golden but a little deeper than shade 201. That one is definitely a summer shade for me, if very slightly dark. I mix the two foundations to get the best shade match for me. I don’t have any oxidation issues with these foundations. If there is any oxidation, it is very slight.

How does does this foundation wear?

How well this foundation wears depends on what primer I use. I feel like if I wear this with a more silicone feeling primer, like the High-Adherence Silicone Primer from The Ordinary, this foundation doesn’t last very long and starts breaking up halfway through the day. If I use a primer that feels more like lotion, like L’Oreal’s Infallible Matte-Lock Primer, or primer that is a little tacky, like bh cosmetics’ Studio Pro Mattifying Face Primer, this foundation wears much better and lasts longer.

I also need to note that this foundation doesn’t really hide texture on the skin very well. I can still see my texture and pores when I wear this foundation, but it doesn’t exaggerate them either.

So, would you buy it again?

Yeah, I think I would.

Is it the best foundation I’ve ever tried? No. Is it pretty good for the price? Definitely. It is a foundation I like having in my makeup rotation. It feels light on the skin, doesn’t oxidize, doesn’t exaggerate skin’s texture, and wears pretty well with the right primer.

However, it is not a Holy Grail foundation for me, so my search continues.

Have you found a Holy Grail foundation for oily/aging skin? Have you found a primer that makes any foundation look and wear great? Tell me about it in the comments below!