The Best Korean Foundations and Base Products: Your Guide to Flawless Skin

Welcome to the first post in our series on Korean makeup products and techniques! In this series, we'll explore how to achieve the best results for your unique features, starting with the foundation of it all—literally! Korean foundations and base products are beloved for their innovative formulas, skincare benefits, and versatility. Whether you're looking for a natural glow, a satin finish, or even a matte look, there’s something for everyone. Let's dive into the world of Korean foundations and discover what makes them so special.

The Korean Foundation Market: An Overview

Korean beauty (K-beauty) offers a diverse range of foundation options beyond the traditional liquid and powder formats. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you can expect:

• Cushion Foundations: These are incredibly popular in Korea and have revolutionized the foundation game. They offer buildable coverage, a dewy finish, and often include skincare benefits and SPF protection.

  
  

• BB Creams, CC Creams, and Tone-Up Creams: These products provide lighter coverage and are more akin to skincare with a tint. They’re perfect for those who prefer a more natural look while still evening out skin tone. In this category, you'll also find plenty of tinted or tone-up sunscreens.

  
  

• Color Correcting Products: Widely available and used in Korea, these products help neutralize redness, dullness, or uneven skin tone before applying foundation by selectively covering up these discolorations with complimentary colors.

  
  

• Finishes: While Korean brands offer a range of finishes—from matte to satin to glowy—the dewy look is especially popular. However, you can find something to suit your personal preference and skin type.

  
  

• Shade Range: Traditionally, Korean foundations have been limited in shade range, with most small brands offering only shades 21 and 23 (sometimes a few more) in a single undertone. This is beginning to change, especially for brands that sell internationally. For example, TIRTIR recently expanded their shade range to 30, which is a huge step forward. It’s worth noting, though, that many Korean “cool shades” tend to lean more yellow, making it tricky for those with true cool undertones to find a perfect match.

  
  

• Lighter Shades: It’s common in Korea to use a lighter foundation shade than your true match for a brighter, more luminous look. Tone-up creams can also be applied to the body to ensure color consistency and prevent an unsightly contrast between face and body. However, it’s perfectly fine to embrace your natural skin color and choose a foundation that matches your true shade, and it will save you some steps when applying makeup.

  
  

• Skincare Ingredients: Many Korean foundations are infused with skincare ingredients that help improve your skin while you wear them. This can make them less cakey and more comfortable, but also means achieving full coverage like that of some Western brands can be challenging (though not impossible).

The current available shades for the TIRTIR red cushion: a great improvement!

Top Korean Foundation and Base Product Recommendations

Now, let’s get into the specific products that I recommend for different needs and preferences.

1. Tinted / Tone-Up Sunscreens:

• Heimish - Artless Glow Tinted Sunscreen: Lightweight with a dewy finish, this sunscreen offers light coverage and sun protection in one.

• ROUND LAB - Birch Juice Moisturizing Tone Up Sunscreen: Part of a fantastic sunscreen line, this sunscreen hydrates while providing a slight tone-up effect.

Note: Both of these products come in a universal shade, which might not work for everyone, and I’m still on the lookout for a good physical filter option.

2. BB Creams:

• MISSHA - M Perfect Cover BB Cream: A classic with SPF protection, this BB cream is affordable and offers a decent shade range.

• Purito SEOUL - Cica Clearing BB Cream: Another great budget option, this BB cream also includes sun protection and soothing ingredients.

• MIZON - Snail Repair Intensive BB Cream: A more skincare-focused BB cream with snail mucin and SPF, great for hydrating and repairing the skin.

3. Tone-Up Creams:

• Color Correcting Tone-Up:

  • TIRTIR - Mask Fit Tone Up Essence: Brightens and color corrects for a more even complexion, available in different colors like mint and lavander.

  • numbuzin - No.2 Goodbye Redness Derma Tone Up: Targets redness using a green hue and evens out the skin tone.

• Beige Tone-Up:

  • numbuzin - No. 3 Porcelain Base-Skip Tone Up Beige: Works well for lighter skin tones but has limited shade adaptability.

• White/Translucent Tone-Up (literally designed to leave a "whitecast" to lighten the complexion, I wouldn't recommend these to shades deeper than a 25 at maximum because they will make you look ashy if the color difference is too big):

  • RiRe - Lucent White Tone-Up Cream: Brightens the skin with a subtle glow.

  • Anua - Watery Tone Up Cream: Lightweight and refreshing, with SPF.

    These kind of tone up creams are also available in products specifically for the body, great for brightening your overall skintone when using a lighter face foundation:

  • WATERCOME - Brightening Body Tone Up Cream: Simple and effective.

  • Nacific - Phyto Niacin Brightening Body Tone Up Cream: Resistant and smudge proof, can be applied directly in the shower

4. Color Correcting Products:

• Dr. Jart+ - Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment: A great cream-like correcting product that soothes and neutralizes redness and contains SPF, but may turn a bit yellow on some skin tones.

• The Saem - Cover Perfection Concealer Palette: A more traditional pot concealer-like correcting option,offers a wide range of bright colors for precise color correction.

• FOCALLURE - Color Correcting Concealer Palette: Features more skin-like colors for a natural finish.

5. Powder Foundations:

• JOOCYEE - Mini Silky Soft Powder Foundation: While powder foundations aren’t as popular in Korea, this one is a solid option with a silky finish. However, it only comes in three shades.

6. Liquid Foundations:

• FOCALLURE - PerfectBase Lasting Poreless Liquid Matte Foundation: Offers a matte finish with buildable coverage.

• THE FACE SHOP - fmgt Ink Lasting Foundation Glow: A glowy foundation with SPF protection and a smooth finish.

• ZEESEA - Silky Lasting Liquid Foundation-Hydra & Blemish Concealing: An affordable option with a decent formula.

  Tip: Try applying your liquid foundation with a makeup spatula before blending with a beauty blender or powder puff for an even, natural finish: it allows the application of extremely thin and uniform layers, and it's one of the most common practices in Korea right now!

7. Cushion Foundations (the packaging Korea is really known for, great for easy application and reapplication throughout the day):

• TIRTIR - Mask Fit Red Cushion: Boasts the widest shade range (30 currently, but constantly expanding), though the cool tones tend to be more yellow, and the lighter shades oxidize darker. Great for deeper skin tones.

• romand - Nu Zero Cushion: Popular, with 5 shades ranging from 13 to 25, though undertone options are limited.

• UNLEASHIA - Satin Wear Healthy-Green Cushion (Satin Finish) / Babe Skin Baby Blue Cushion (Matte Finish): Both offer about 5 shades, going up to a shade 27. These cushions have great skincare benefits, sun protection, and offer very light, truly cool shades for those with fair skin.

Final Thoughts

That wraps up our introduction to Korean foundations and base products! Stay tuned for more articles in this series, where we’ll delve deeper into Korean makeup techniques, tips, and more product recommendations tailored to your unique features. Remember, your skin is beautiful just the way it is—these products are here to enhance, not cover up. Embrace your natural beauty, and have fun experimenting with these wonderful products!

All the linked products are from Yesstyle, you can save 5% on your order by using my code CLAUDIA252 at checkout!