Foundation that doesn't transfer

Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation has the best record at 30 of 50, but that still leaves 20 of 50 reviewers who mentioned transfer saying it does. Shoppers tend to bring up transfer when it happens to them, so every share on this page runs low. The leader also swings by store: 25 of 29 at Sephora but 5 of 21 at Ulta.

  • 295 store reviews counted
  • Ulta and Sephora shoppers
  • Mar 2018 to Oct 2026

Updated . How we count

Does it transfer? What buyers said
  1. Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation 50 said either way
  2. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Foundation 29 said either way
  3. Too Faced Born This Way Foundation 25 said either way
  4. Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick 29 said either way
  5. Estée Lauder Double Wear Lightweight Foundation 20 said either way
  6. IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream with SPF 50+ 57 said either way
  7. MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation 27 said either way

Share of reviewers who stated an outcome for transfer. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.

Best record Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation 30 of 50 say it doesn't transfer Check price on Amazon
What stands out

Same brand, different result: Estée Lauder's Stay-in-Place Matte Double Wear gets 30 of 50 saying it doesn't transfer, against 3 of 20 for its Lightweight Double Wear.

The ranking, product by product

Praise and complaints are the points buyers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.

1

Estée Lauder

Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation

Best for long wear

30/50 say it doesn't transfer

55% say it doesn't transfer and 40% say it lasts all day. 13% have trouble finding a shade and 7% say it broke them out.

What buyers praise

  • Lasts all day 40%
  • Good coverage 20%
  • Easy shade match 11%
  • Looks like skin 9%
  • Controls oil and shine 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Hard to find a shade 13%
  • Settles into lines 7%
  • Breaks skin out 7%
  • Too shiny or greasy 5%
  • Looks cakey or heavy 5%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 5 of 21
  • Sephora 25 of 29
  • Brand site 1 of 3 shown, not counted
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination13 of 14
  • Oily5 of 6
  • Normal4 of 5
  • Dry2 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light8 of 10
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 5
  • Medium-tan to tan5 of 6

How often it comes up: about 1 in 48 of this product's 18,223 store reviews mention transfer.

2

Fenty Beauty

Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Foundation

12/29 say it doesn't transfer

63% say it transfers onto masks or clothes, though 27% like the coverage and 23% find a shade match easily. Fair-light reviewers report better results (8 of 13) than medium (2 of 6) or tan (2 of 6), but the groups are small.

What buyers praise

  • Lasts all day 27%
  • Good coverage 27%
  • Easy shade match 23%
  • Buildable 17%
  • Controls oil and shine 13%

What buyers complain about

  • Looks cakey or heavy 13%
  • Oxidizes or turns orange 13%
  • Wears off fast 13%
  • Too shiny or greasy 10%
  • Settles into lines 10%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 12 of 29
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination8 of 17
  • Oily2 of 7
  • Dry1 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light8 of 13
  • Light-medium to medium2 of 6
  • Medium-tan to tan2 of 6
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked4 of 7

How often it comes up: about 1 in 55 of this product's 17,424 store reviews mention transfer.

See it at Sephora

Share of 30 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

3

Too Faced

Born This Way Foundation

Best for buildable coverage

10/25 say it doesn't transfer

60% say it transfers. Reviewers who like it point to buildable coverage (30%) and a skin-like finish (27%).

What buyers praise

  • Buildable 30%
  • Good coverage 30%
  • Looks like skin 27%
  • Lasts all day 23%
  • Easy shade match 17%

What buyers complain about

  • Wears off fast 20%
  • Hard to find a shade 10%
  • Too shiny or greasy 10%
  • Separates or breaks up on oil 10%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 10 of 25
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination7 of 18
  • Oily1 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light2 of 8
  • Light-medium to medium3 of 5
  • Medium-tan to tan3 of 7
  • Deep2 of 3
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked6 of 12

How often it comes up: about 1 in 40 of this product's 15,107 store reviews mention transfer.

See it at Sephora

Share of 30 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

4

Hourglass

Vanish Foundation Stick

9/29 say it doesn't transfer

70% say this stick transfers, and 23% say it wears off fast. 27% like the coverage.

What buyers praise

  • Good coverage 27%
  • Lasts all day 20%
  • Easy shade match 17%
  • Looks like skin 13%
  • Buildable 10%

What buyers complain about

  • Wears off fast 23%
  • Too shiny or greasy 17%
  • Looks cakey or heavy 10%
  • Settles into lines 10%
  • Too expensive 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 9 of 29
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination5 of 16
  • Normal1 of 5
  • Dry2 of 5
  • Oily1 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light3 of 18
  • Light-medium to medium5 of 8
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked4 of 15

How often it comes up: about 1 in 50 of this product's 6,643 store reviews mention transfer.

See it at Sephora

Share of 30 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

5

Estée Lauder

Double Wear Lightweight Foundation

3/20 say it doesn't transfer

3 of 20 say it doesn't transfer, and 18% say it oxidizes or turns orange. 23% say it wears off fast.

What buyers praise

  • Easy shade match 14%
  • Lasts all day 9%
  • Controls oil and shine 9%
  • Buildable 9%

What buyers complain about

  • Wears off fast 23%
  • Too shiny or greasy 18%
  • Oxidizes or turns orange 18%
  • Hard to find a shade 14%
  • Looks cakey or heavy 14%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 3 of 20
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination0 of 7
  • Normal1 of 6
  • Oily2 of 5
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light3 of 8
  • Light-medium to medium0 of 8
  • Medium-tan to tan0 of 3
By age (reviewers who gave one)
  • Under 403 of 10
  • 40 and over0 of 4
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked1 of 6

How often it comes up: about 1 in 28 of this product's 8,174 store reviews mention transfer.

See it at Sephora

Share of 22 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

6

IT Cosmetics

CC+ Cream with SPF 50+

6/57 say it doesn't transfer

It has the weakest record here at 6 of 57, from the biggest group of reviewers on the page. 21% call it cakey or heavy, though 24% like the coverage and 17% find a shade match easily.

What buyers praise

  • Good coverage 24%
  • Easy shade match 17%
  • Comfortable on dry skin 12%
  • Looks like skin 9%
  • Lasts all day 9%

What buyers complain about

  • Looks cakey or heavy 21%
  • Too shiny or greasy 14%
  • Wears off fast 10%
  • Separates or breaks up on oil 10%
  • Settles into lines 10%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 2 of 29
  • Sephora 4 of 28
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination3 of 16
  • Dry0 of 6
  • Oily0 of 4
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light1 of 18
  • Light-medium to medium1 of 6
  • Medium-tan to tan1 of 3
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked0 of 7

How often it comes up: about 1 in 111 of this product's 30,738 store reviews mention transfer.

See it at Ulta

Share of 58 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

7

MAKE UP FOR EVER

HD Invisible Cover Foundation

Best for shade matching

3/27 say it doesn't transfer

24 of 27 reviewers who mentioned transfer said it transfers. 37% praise the shade match and 23% the coverage.

What buyers praise

  • Easy shade match 37%
  • Good coverage 23%
  • Looks like skin 17%
  • Buildable 10%
  • Comfortable on dry skin 10%

What buyers complain about

  • Too shiny or greasy 20%
  • Settles into lines 17%
  • Wears off fast 13%
  • Too expensive 10%
  • Hard to find a shade 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 3 of 27
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination1 of 13
  • Oily1 of 7
  • Dry0 of 4
  • Normal1 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light2 of 14
  • Light-medium to medium1 of 3
  • Medium-tan to tan0 of 5
  • Deep0 of 5
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked1 of 13

How often it comes up: about 1 in 247 of this product's 13,594 store reviews mention transfer.

See it at Sephora

Share of 30 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

Where these numbers come from

The 7 products ranked here carry 109,903 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for transfer and read the newest matching reviews, up to 30 per product and store, posted between Mar 2018 and Oct 2026.

A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (0 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.

Ulta also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. They run much more positive than store reviews of the same products (across 19 products with both, 76% of brand-site reviewers said the product solved the problem, against 55% of Ulta shoppers), so we show them on product cards but never count them.

Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.

Skin type, skin tone and age splits use what reviewers chose on Sephora's review form (and age on Ulta's when given). We only show a split when enough reviewers fall on each side.

Amazon buttons appear only on products that Amazon sells from the brand and that most reviewers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else links to the store page, unpaid.

An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts and link to the product pages, never the reviews themselves.

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation Ulta (55 reviews counted)
  2. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Foundation Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  3. Too Faced Born This Way Foundation Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  4. Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  5. Estée Lauder Double Wear Lightweight Foundation Sephora (22 reviews counted)
  6. IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream with SPF 50+ Ulta, Sephora (58 reviews counted)
  7. MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation Sephora (30 reviews counted)

People asking about it on Reddit

  1. Most transfer proof foundation? r/Sephora, May 2024, 28 comments
  2. Non transferrable liquid foundation r/Makeup, Feb 2022, 24 comments
  3. Foundation Transfering r/drugstoreMUA, Jul 2022, 17 comments

Questions buyers ask

Is there a foundation that really doesn't transfer?

Not reliably, by these reviews. Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation comes first at 30 of 50. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Foundation follows at 12 of 29 and Too Faced Born This Way Foundation at 10 of 25, so more than half of the reviewers who raised transfer said those two transfer.

Does Estée Lauder Double Wear transfer?

Sometimes. 20 of 50 reviewers who mentioned transfer said it does. It depends on the store: 25 of 29 at Sephora said it doesn't, against 5 of 21 at Ulta. Across all of its reviews, about 1 in 48 mention transfer.

Does Fenty Pro Filt'r foundation transfer?

Often. 17 of 29 Sephora reviewers who mentioned transfer said it does. 37% of its reviews praise it for not transferring, and 27% like the coverage.

Does the IT Cosmetics CC cream transfer?

Almost always, by these reviews. 51 of 57 reviewers who mentioned transfer said it does, which is the weakest record on this page.

Related problems

Foundation Foundation that doesn't look cakey Top pick: MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation 256 buyer reports Foundation Foundation that doesn't oxidize Top pick: Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick 502 buyer reports Setting spray Setting spray that lasts all day Top pick: Milk Makeup Pore Eclipse Setting Spray 357 buyer reports Lipstick Lipstick that doesn't transfer Top pick: Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink 257 buyer reports

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