For those who really give it some thought (and we have really thought of it), foundations, concealers, and face-contouring products have essentially the most thankless job in the wonder world. As our editors tested products for our Base Makeup category within the 2023 Allure Better of Beauty Awards, we couldn’t help but notice our high expectations. We glance to those products to disguise every flaw and enhance every angle — while remaining totally invisible. Their job mainly involves hiding within the wings so we are able to glory within the highlight.

But ask any makeup artist or beauty editor to define the one nonnegotiable element in any beauty look they usually’ll let you know it’s clean, glowing, naked-looking skin. Consider this roundup of tone-perfecting, pore-obscuring, self-effacing winners our way of celebrating the cover-ups that no makeup pro (or makeup bag) could possibly do without.

When you’re done with this category, make sure to try the remaining of our winners for 2023’s Allure Better of Beauty Awards, or head to our fan-favorite Skin Care, Splurges, and Eye Makeup lists for the 12 months’s top products in those categories.

Better of Beauty Awards 2023: Base Makeup

Jump to your favorite category or keep reading to see every primer, foundation, and bronzer:

• Best Primers
• Best Foundations
• Best Concealers
• Best Blushes
• Best Highlight, Bronzer, & Contour Products
• Best Setting Powders
• Best Setting Sprays

Why it won: Pumped filled with peptides and ceramides, one small tube of Beautyblender Boost Firming & Smoothing Peptide Primer does the work of a whole medicine cabinet: It plumps skin, blurs pores, locks in moisture, and holds makeup in place for as much as 18 hours.

Why it won: Like putty in your hands, E.L.F. Cosmetics Liquid Poreless Putty Primer melts into skin, disguising pores and smoothing tremendous lines with a fresh matte finish. “I like that it doesn’t leave any residue behind,” says associate beauty editor Annie Blay. “My makeup blends seamlessly on top.”

Why it won: Maybelline Latest York Super Stay As much as 24HR Hybrid Powder-Foundation packs the seamless coverage of a liquid and the weightless feel of a powder into one touch-up-friendly compact (not that the long-lasting matte finish requires any upkeep).

Why it won: Westman Atelier Vital Skin Foundation Stick — from makeup artist Gucci Westman, who taught us all there may be to find out about luminous skin — is the whole lot we could ask for in a foundation. Infused with camellia seed oil, this silky bullet creates the form of bare-skin look we used to only find backstage during fashion week.

Why it won: Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint evens out your tone and texture, while allowing your skin to peek through (meaning it minimizes the look of pores, not freckles).

Why it won: And speak about a completely happy medium: Makeup by Mario SurrealSkin Foundation delivers the perfect balance of color and moisture, so you possibly can construct coverage that is not too sheer, not too opaque, but is excellent.

Why it won: With three molecular weights of hyaluronic acid, light-reflecting pigments, and the thinnest consistency in the sport, Tarte Shape Tape Radiant Concealer behaves like an eye fixed cream, brightens like a serum, and seems like nothing in any respect. Pro tip: Apply it with a dense brush (or your fingers) within the corners of your eyes to actually illuminate the world.

Why it won: The eyes is perhaps the window to the soul, but the world directly under them reveals the whole lot else: sluggish circulation, dehydration, tiredness, sun damage. That is why BareMinerals Complexion Rescue Brightening Concealer SPF 25 acts like an airy curtain. The whipped gel hydrates with hyaluronic acid, while mineral SPF shields transparent skin against future damage.

Why it won: If we had a nickel for each time a concealer claimed to be crease-proof, we might be writing this from our own private island. But Bobbi Brown Skin Full Cover Concealer really is one in a zillion. The flexible silicones move with facial expressions, then spring right back into place, maintaining a crease-free surface for as much as 16 hours. Cha-ching.

Why it won: Light bounces off the prism-like pigments in all nine shades (from orange-y apricot to deep plum) of Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Glow Blush, making a diffused flush that appears downright ethereal. “I like how easily it blends into my skin without leaving any harsh lines,” says deputy digital director Kara McGrath. “It’s almost like a cream formula, except this one actually lasts for longer than a number of hours.”

Why it won: The velvety texture of Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder Flushed is made for mixing. And sculpting. And TikToking.

Why it won: Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Matte Beauty Blush Wand delivers the blush of your dreams. The spongey-tipped applicator blends like butter and blurs the saturated pigments to present you an airbrushed yet natural-looking flush.

Why it won: Housed in a small glass bulb with a gold stopper, EM Cosmetics Color Drops Serum Blush is nearly too pretty to make use of. Almost. Infused with hydrating primrose oil and ceramides, the tinted elixir drapes your skin in a dewy sheen (after you’re employed up the nerve to make use of it).

Why it won: Unlike some warm hues that vanish on melanin-rich skin, Ami Colé Desert Date Cream Multistick is a standout formula with real endurance. Each multitasking tint — starting from deep plum to vibrant berry — gives lips and cheeks buildable, palpable color.

Why it won: We will not resolve if Jones Road Shimmer Face Oil is a hydrator or a highlighter. We’ll call it each. The glimmery cocktail of nine nourishing oils (including sunflower, sweet almond, and avocado) bathes your skin in ultralight moisture and ultralight… light.

Why it won: Rare Beauty Positive Light Silky Touch Highlighter is an iridescent pillow within the compact, a silky powder in your fingertips, and a pearly sheen in your cheekbones. Most of our testers skipped the comb — fingers only! — when applying to apples, Cupid’s bows, and even eyelids.

Why it won: Using cocoa powder to breed a sensible bronze (all warmth, no sparkle), Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Natural Chocolate Cocoa-Infused Healthy Glow Bronzer is a delicious-smelling treat for skin. “The packaging is so cute; it looks like a vintage makeup compact,” says art director Ingrid Fowler. “I feel like I ought to be wearing a polka-dot dress with Hollywood curls each time I exploit it.”

Why it won: Supremely creamy with a semimatte finish, Nars Laguna Bronzing Cream warms skin with wealthy color while sculpting the high points of your face. Apply it with an angled brush or a sponge, like shopping market editor Angela Trakoshis does, for added dewy depth.

Why it won: Infused with nourishing sunflower oil, Milk Makeup Sculpt Cream Contour Stick easily glides over your face and subtly plays up bone structure with cool undertones. Draw it on straight from the bullet, down the nose, across cheekbones, and along the jawline. 

Why it won: With its spongey applicator, E.L.F. Cosmetics Halo Glow Contour Beauty Wand navigates easily over curves and along your hairline, delivering fast definition. The cushy, screw-cap tip makes for a mess-free makeup bag.

Why it won: If a palette is more your speed, the Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Crème Contour & Powder Bronzer Duo is so well edited, we would offer it a job at Allure. The elegant compact houses a luminous cream for sculpting and a shimmery powder for highlighting. Done.

Why it won: For essentially the most polished and portable finish, Lawless Beauty Perfecting Powder Talc-Free, Skin-Smoothing Powder skims on like velvet and minimizes shine. Senior copy manager Dawn Rebecky found a favourite on this non-caking, no-creasing powder — even in the warmth: “It held up very well within the dog days of summer.”

Why it won: The chiffon texture and amino acids in Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder Ultra-Blur work like a soft-focus lens, providing a veil of coverage that obscures whatever you would like it to (blemishes, dark spots, redness). Higher yet? You will not discover a trace of talc in all that gossamer fineness.

Why it won: We might never go to sleep without first removing our makeup (cough, cough). But when we did, the airbrushed finish of Milk Makeup Pore Eclipse Matte Setting Spray would stay immaculate well into the wee hours.

Why it won: For those who’re a member of Team Dewy, the hyaluronic acid in Urban Decay All Nighter Extra Glow Setting Spray will keep makeup looking brand recent and skin looking… well, brand recent. Says associate beauty director Sarah Kinonen, “That is one in every of the one setting sprays that keeps my makeup in place, without sapping away the subtle, shiny look I like a lot.”

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