The Best Foundations for Dark Skin Tones

Finding your perfect foundation shade, where the foundation blends in seamlessly with your skin tone, is inarguably a challenge. However, it’s more challenging for some than others. Those with dark skin tones likely find that searching for their foundation shade is even more of an obstacle. All too often, there simply aren’t enough shades that are compatible with deeper skin tones. If you’re struggling to track down your perfect foundation match, consider one of the foundations we’ve rounded up below from the L'Oréal portfolio of brands.  

 

1. Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation

Struggling to find a foundation in your shade? The Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation probably has one that could be a good fit, seeing as there are 40 shades in this range to choose from.

Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation, $7.99 MSRP

2. Giorgio Armani Naturally Silky Lightweight Foundation

This luxurious foundation from Giorgio Armani was inspired by charmeuse silk, offering a luminous lit-from-with glow. It also comes in 24 unique shades to match every skin tone—so you don’t have to feel like your options are limited. What’s more, the formula offers buildable, medium coverage.

Giorgio Armani Naturally Silky Lightweight Foundation, $64 MSRP

3. Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Long Wear Foundation

Here’s your regular reminder that having a dark skin tone doesn’t give you a pass from wearing broad-spectrum sunscreen every day. Everyone needs to protect their skin against the sun’s harmful UV rays—regardless of skin tone. The Skin Cancer Foundation shares that while it’s true that dark skin produces more melanin, which can help protect the skin, it can only help to a certain extent.  That’s why people of color can still get sunburned and develop skin cancer. Hence why you’ll want to make sunscreen part of your daily routine. Besides using a broad-spectrum sunscreen every day, an easy way to work SPF into your beauty regimen is with foundation. Try the Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Long Wear Foundation with broad spectrum SPF 15. Additionally, the long-wear, transfer resistant foundation comes in 40 shades, so you can help protect your skin when used with other sun protection measures and find your match.

Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Long Wear Foundation, $47 MSRP

4. NYX Professional Makeup Total Control Drop Foundation

Even when a line of foundations is available in seemingly ever shade under the sun, it’s possible that you won’t find your exact match. After all, there are countless, slightly different skin tones out there. In the case that you can’t find a bottle of foundation that’s mixed to be a flawless match for your skin, you can play mix master. The NYX Professional Makeup Total Control Drop Foundation allows you to do just that. While there’s a solid chance you’ll find a shade that suits you—since the foundation comes in 30 shades—if your skin tone does happen to fall somewhere in-between two shades, you can mix a few drops of each together to create your own custom shade. You can also customize how light or heavy your coverage is. The more drops of the velvety-matte formula that you use, the more coverage the foundation will provide—it’s that easy.

NYX Professional Makeup Total Control Drop Foundation, $14 MSRP

Need a concealer to go with your new foundation? Check out our top picks for the best under-eye concealers for dark skin tones, here!