Foundation for combination skin

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation has the best record for combination skin: 17 of 20 reviewers said it worked on both their oily and dry areas. MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation is right behind at 23 of 28, and NARS Sheer Glow Foundation follows at 19 of 25. At the other end, NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation has the weakest record here at 15 of 28.

  • 286 store reviews counted
  • Ulta and Sephora shoppers
  • Aug 2018 to Sep 2026

Updated . How we count

Does it work on combination skin? What buyers said
  1. Too Faced Born This Way Foundation 20 said either way
  2. MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation 28 said either way
  3. NARS Sheer Glow Foundation 25 said either way
  4. ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint 28 said either way
  5. IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream 40 said either way
  6. Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick 25 said either way
  7. NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation 28 said either way

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

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation Best record Too Faced Born This Way Foundation 17 of 20 say it works on combination skin See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

Where a foundation fails combination skin, it tends to fail on one side. Shine is the complaint on ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint (29%), a cakey look on Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick (30%), and breaking up on oily areas on NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation (20%).

The ranking, product by product

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

1 Too Faced Born This Way Foundation

Too Faced

Born This Way Foundation

Best for buildable coverage

17/20 say it works on combination skin

33% praise the coverage and 33% say it looks like skin. Shade is the snag, with 10% finding it hard to match. Reviewers who list combination skin report 14 of 17.

What buyers praise

  • Good coverage 33%
  • Looks like skin 33%
  • Lasts all day 23%
  • Easy shade match 20%
  • Buildable 20%

What buyers complain about

  • Hard to find a shade 10%
  • Wears off fast 7%
  • Looks cakey or heavy 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 17 of 20
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light5 of 7
  • Light-medium to medium9 of 10
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked8 of 8
2

MAKE UP FOR EVER

HD Invisible Cover Foundation

Best for a skin-like finish

23/28 say it works on combination skin

27% say it looks like skin and 23% find it comfortable on dry areas. Complaints are 13% for wearing off and 7% for shine. Counted reviews are all from Sephora.

What buyers praise

  • Looks like skin 27%
  • Comfortable on dry skin 23%
  • Controls oil and shine 17%
  • Buildable 17%
  • Doesn't cling to texture 17%

What buyers complain about

  • Wears off fast 13%
  • Hard to find a shade 7%
  • Too shiny or greasy 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 23 of 28
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination16 of 18
  • Oily3 of 5
  • Dry3 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light13 of 14
  • Light-medium to medium7 of 10
  • Medium-tan to tan3 of 3
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked8 of 11

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

3

NARS

Sheer Glow Foundation

Best for lasting wear

19/25 say it works on combination skin

30% say it lasts all day and 27% say it looks like skin. Complaints are scattered, with shade match, orange oxidizing, clinging to dry patches and shine each near 7% of reviews.

What buyers praise

  • Lasts all day 30%
  • Looks like skin 27%
  • Good coverage 23%
  • Easy shade match 17%
  • Comfortable on dry skin 13%

What buyers complain about

  • Hard to find a shade 7%
  • Oxidizes or turns orange 7%
  • Too shiny or greasy 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 19 of 25
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light10 of 12
  • Light-medium to medium7 of 11
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked5 of 6

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

4 ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint

ILIA

Super Serum Skin Tint

19/28 say it works on combination skin

Shine is the main complaint, in 29% of its reviews, and 8% call it too expensive. Where it works, reviewers say it looks like skin (13%) and feels comfortable on dry areas (11%). On ILIA's own site, 12 of 15 say it works, which we show but don't count.

What buyers praise

  • Looks like skin 13%
  • Comfortable on dry skin 11%
  • Lasts all day 8%
  • Easy shade match 8%
  • Doesn't cling to texture 8%

What buyers complain about

  • Too shiny or greasy 29%
  • Too expensive 8%
  • Wears off fast 5%
  • Breaks skin out 5%
  • Looks cakey or heavy 5%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 4 of 6
  • Sephora 15 of 22
  • Brand site 12 of 15 shown, not counted
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination12 of 14
  • Oily1 of 4
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light6 of 7
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 8
  • Medium-tan to tan2 of 3
5 IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream

IT Cosmetics

CC+ Cream

Best for strong coverage

24/40 say it works on combination skin

More reviewers weighed in on it than on any other foundation here, and coverage is the draw, praised in 50% of its reviews. Results split by store: 17 of 24 at Sephora but 7 of 16 at Ulta. Shine (13%) and clinging to dry patches (12%) are the common complaints.

What buyers praise

  • Good coverage 50%
  • Lasts all day 25%
  • Comfortable on dry skin 15%
  • Looks like skin 15%
  • Controls oil and shine 12%

What buyers complain about

  • Too shiny or greasy 13%
  • Hard to find a shade 12%
  • Wears off fast 8%
  • Looks cakey or heavy 8%
  • Feels drying or tight 6%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 7 of 16
  • Sephora 17 of 24
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination13 of 18
  • Oily2 of 4
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light8 of 13
  • Light-medium to medium3 of 4
6

Hourglass

Vanish Foundation Stick

14/25 say it works on combination skin

A cakey or heavy look is the main complaint, in 30% of its reviews, and 13% call it too expensive. Praise goes to coverage (23%) and being buildable (20%). Counted reviews are all from Sephora.

What buyers praise

  • Good coverage 23%
  • Lasts all day 20%
  • Buildable 20%
  • Doesn't cling to texture 13%
  • Looks like skin 13%

What buyers complain about

  • Looks cakey or heavy 30%
  • Hard to find a shade 13%
  • Too expensive 13%
  • Feels drying or tight 13%
  • Settles into lines 10%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 14 of 25
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light8 of 13
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 8
  • Medium-tan to tan1 of 3
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked9 of 14

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

7

NARS

All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation

15/28 say it works on combination skin

Weakest record here, at 54%. 20% say it breaks up on oily areas and 17% say it clings to dry patches, so it struggles on both halves of combination skin. Reviewers do like how long it lasts, at 30%.

What buyers praise

  • Lasts all day 30%
  • Good coverage 27%
  • Easy shade match 17%
  • Looks like skin 10%
  • Comfortable on dry skin 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Settles into lines 10%
  • Too shiny or greasy 10%
  • Wears off fast 7%
  • Transfers onto masks or clothes 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 15 of 28
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination9 of 20
  • Oily3 of 4
  • Normal3 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light7 of 14
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 9
  • Deep3 of 4
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked9 of 19

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 91,977 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for separating and clinging and read the newest matching reviews, up to 30 per product and store, posted between Aug 2018 and Sep 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 most reviewers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.

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

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Too Faced Born This Way Foundation Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  2. MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  3. NARS Sheer Glow Foundation Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  4. ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint Ulta and Sephora (38 reviews counted)
  5. IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream Ulta and Sephora (52 reviews counted)
  6. Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  7. NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation Sephora (30 reviews counted)

People asking about it on Reddit

  1. Help me choose the right foundation for my combination skin. r/drugstoreMUA, Mar 2026, 29 comments
  2. Which Foundation Should I Splurge On? I have combination skin leaning to dry. r/Sephora, Sep 2026, 33 comments
  3. Best foundation for oily-combo skin that's medium coverage? r/drugstoreMUA, Apr 2026, 31 comments

Questions buyers ask

Which foundation works on combination skin?

In these reviews, Too Faced Born This Way Foundation comes first at 17 of 20, followed by MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation at 23 of 28 and NARS Sheer Glow Foundation at 19 of 25. More reviewers weighed in on IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream than on any other foundation here, at 24 of 40.

Does NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation work on combination skin?

Not reliably. 15 of 28 reviewers who mentioned it said it worked. Complaints are breaking up on oily areas (20%) and clinging to dry patches (17%). That is the weakest record here, at 54%.

Is there a foundation for combination skin on Amazon?

Yes. The best pick sold on Amazon is Too Faced Born This Way Foundation, at 17 of 20. ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint and IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream are also sold there through the brand.

Does ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint work on combination skin?

For 19 of 28 reviewers it did. The catch is shine, which 29% of its reviews mention, and 8% call it too expensive.

Related problems

Foundation Foundation for oily skin that lasts Top pick: Revlon ColorStay 504 buyer reports Foundation Foundation for dry skin Top pick: MAC Studio Radiance Face and Body 484 buyer reports Face moisturizer Moisturizer for combination skin Top pick: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream 363 buyer reports Foundation Sweat-proof foundation Top pick: Too Faced Born This Way Foundation 269 buyer reports

HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.