This post has been sponsored by Physicians Formula.
Physicians Formula has been a longtime favorite of mine when it comes to drugstore brands. Whenever I’m on vacation and find myself in need of some essentials, either because my eyeliner broke, or my blush palette cracked during travel, or I simply forget to pack something, I’ll head straight to their little section of the store.
And the best part is, they added a ton of new products – including both makeup and skincare – to their collection over just the last year. From their super comfy Healthy Lip Liquid Lipsticks (which I’m personally loving – and I’m not typically a fan of liquid lipsticks!) to their glow-getting skincare products, which I featured a little while back in this post here. (I still use the lip treatment to this day – the tube lasts a long time! – and the handy little Vitamin C stick I brought along with me on my recent beach vacation!)
And now I have some new favorites to share! From their 2018 collection, I’ve loving their Killer Curves Mascara (which rivals my long-time luxury fave!) along with their Brow Last Longwearing Brow Gel and skin-boosting The Healthy Foundation. I decided to put together a full-face look using all of these products, along with some other classics from PF. Keeping reading for my review and thoughts on The Healthy Foundation, followed by a super quick makeup look for fall!
Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation
Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation is a long-wearing, buildable, medium coverage foundation that adds a satin-matte finish. The best part? It also packs extra skincare benefits! It contains a brightening complex to add radiance, hyaluronic acid to hydrate, and a Vitamin A, C & E antioxidant blend to help nourish and heal, while SPF 20 protects from the rays.
The Healthy Foundation is also great for all skin types, even sensitive and acne-prone skin, as it’s fragrance-free, hypoallergenic, and non-comedogenic (i.e. it won’t clog pores). Also vegan and cruelty-free.
The foundation comes in 16 shades — from very pale to the very deep, so there’s something for pretty much everyone. To better categorize all these shades and make it a bit easier to find your best match, Physicians Formula created a 3-part system –
- First, there’s a letter indicating skin tone: L for Light / M for Medium / D for Dark / Dp for Deep
- Then, another letter indicating undertone: C for Cool / N for Neutral / W for Warm
- And finally, there’s a number indicating the intensity of the shade within its skin tone category: 1, 2, 3, 4 (1 being the lightest, 4 being the darkest)
I did a little of preliminary swatching and actually found a couple of shades that worked well on my NC25-NC27 skin, including LN3 and LN4. After going on vacation though, I jumped up a shade to MC1, which better matches my NC30, slightly tanned skin. (This is the shade I used in the look below.)
One thing to note is that the foundation does dry down a bit darker, so be aware of that when you’re swatching/choosing colors. On the plus side, the final shade looks very similar to what you see on the bottle, so you can use that as a pretty accurate reference.
Now let’s talk packaging – something that I don’t usually emphasize, however, for a drugstore foundation, this little bottle is one of the sleekest I’ve seen so far! It’s base is glass with a classy-looking silver top. And the most interesting in part? It opens to a soft wand applicator that basically looks like a giant lipgloss stick – it has a soft pointed tip that can be applied directly to the skin.
Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation Review
Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation provides a lot of flexibility when it comes to coverage. I prefer to go light with my foundation application, and this is formula perfect for that. It’s not super thick or heavy, so it can be thinned out for more natural-looking, barely-there coverage that hides facial redness but still allows your skin to show through. Below is a before and after of it applied in just one layer (no other products applied). Prefer more coverage? Just add another layer to take this to medium coverage.
The foundation sets to a semi-matte finish with just a touch of satiny radiance. On my combo skin, it keeps my oily T-zone looking glowy but not overly shiny. I do have to be careful around the drier spots though, as the formula tends to cling to flakes (to solve this, I always make sure to keep up a daily exfoliation routine).
Longevity-wise, I get more than 10 hours of wear time out of this foundation, even in the more humid weather we’ve been having this past summer. It really stays put – even if I don’t set it with powder – and provides excellent coverage without feeling heavy or looking cakey.
For that reason, along with the great coverage, natural-looking finish, and extra skincare benefits – not to mention the price (it’s only $14.99, and you can get it for even cheaper at Walmart!) – it’s a stand out to me when it comes to drugstore foundations!
5-Minute Fall Makeup Look
Here’s a quick fall look I put together using Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation for the base, paired up with a few other Physicians Formula favorites to create full brows, spicy bold lips, and long, lengthy lashes.
Face – First, I applied the Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation in shade ‘MC1’ (shown in the before & after further above). I used one layer to get light coverage.
Next, I applied the #InstaReady Full Coverage Concealer in ‘Light’. The formula is pretty heavy, so I’ll use just a couple of dots around the eye area, and then blend it in with a damp sponge to thin it out a bit (bonus – a sponge comes included with the concealer!). I’ll also use it to spot conceal any blemishes or redness that the foundation didn’t cover completely.
Since my face tends to get pretty oily, I set everything with Physicians Formula’s Airbrushing Pressed Powder in ‘Translucent’ (you can skip this step if you have drier skin and/or prefer a more satiny finish).
Finally, I added a touch of their Mineral Wear Blush in ‘Natural’ to the cheeks.
Brows – Next, I filled in the brows and shaped them using PF’s Brow Last Longwearing Brow Gel in ‘Medium Brown’ (I recommend choosing one shade lighter than your natural brow color).
Eyes – For the eyes, I grabbed the #InstaReady Multi-Finish Eyeshadow Palette in ‘Smoky Nude’ (shown above) and used a medium taupe-y matte shade on the lid, followed by a deeper cool brown in the crease and along the lower lash line. I finished off the eyes by applying two coats of PF’s new Killer Curves Mascara. (No liner required here! The mascara helps build a ton of volume and intensity at the base of the lashes!)
Lips – To complete the whole look, I applied The Healthy Lip Liquid Lipstick in the shade ‘Nut-ritious‘. It’s the perfect warm muted red for fall!
You can find all the products I used for this look, including The Healthy Foundation, here at Walmart!
Have you tried Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation?
