What is the most you'll pay for a foundation?

I will keep paying for La Mer’s The Soft Fluid, which is apparently $140 now (choke, gag, jaw on the floor), because the formula is really exceptional and I can afford to do so presently.

— Christine

20 Comments

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Seraphine Avatar

Whatever Estée Lauder Double Wear costs (which is $48 at the moment). I’ve tried many other brands over the years, but nothing works as beautifully as ELDW on my skin. I usually buy backups of it when there’s a beauty sale at Sephora or Macy’s.

Amanda Avatar

ELDW is the foundation I always come back to after straying. I can’t help myself and try others but nothing compares to it.

Ana Maria Avatar

For a foundation that has my perfect color match, is long wearing and looks good on my skin I would pay upwards to $10/month (~$50 if it lasts half a year, which is higher than my current one, MAC Prolongwear Waterproof).
Probably I wouldn’t mind paying even more, for me base is important and since I am always owning just one foundation I get all my money’s worth.

Cara Avatar

The most I’ve paid is around $65, for Lisa Eldridge’s Seamless Skin and YSL All Hours, but I’d have a hard time doing so again because my favorites, MAC Studio Fix Fluid at $40 and Lancome Dual Finish powder foundation at $50, cost less.

I would have gladly continued to pay $65 for All Hours but YSL recently destroyed its beautiful formula, finish & shade range with a reformulation. It was one of the very few foundations with a perfect match (BR10) for my very fair, cool toned skin but now the lightest shades are all straight up yellow…and I’m obviously very bitter!

Kristin Avatar

I am this same shade and I struggled too. Bare Minerals has a few shade matches for us, but I currently use Fenty Skin Tint in 001 and it’s perfect.

Genevieve Avatar

Waay back in the distant past, I paid $80 for a Chanel foundation that didn’t even match my skin shade – wrong undertones…
But nowadays, I am more selective. I would like to buy a Lancome foundation (heard so much about them), but I am afraid that if I love it too much, and I go through a lot of foundation, then there might come a time when I can’t afford to purchase it anymore… And also, like lipsticks and every other beauty product, brands change the formulations and the newest one might not work.
As is the case with Clarins – my very best foundation (d/c and not replaced).

So now, for everyday use, I have my L’Oreal True Match foundation – at around the $15-20 mark, which is quite reasonable for such a good foundation. At the moment, my ‘best’ one is Fenty’s Pro Filter Soft Matte Longwear Foundation – in the lightest shade with pink undertones. It’s quite good, but not as good as the Clarin’s one. It was around the $45-50 mark.

Helena Avatar

Maybe it’s silly, but I feel like I would be willing to pay more for a foundation than most other products. But that’s probably because it’s much more difficult to find a foundation to suits one’s individual preferences than most other products. If you told me that there’s a foundation out there right now that’s a perfect shade match for my neck (and doesn’t change colors), doesn’t emphasize texture, has a natural-matte finish and medium/buildable coverage, feels weightless, doesn’t smell unpleasant or contain ingredients derived from animals…yeah, I think I’d pay around $60 for an ounce of that.

Helene Avatar

Foundation is important so I think I’d pay around $75-ish.
I have tried loads of various foundations, and they all leave something to be desired, unfortunately. I have large pores and find that so many settles into pores, even over some of the primers I have, or they break up way too soon around my nostrils, or melt, or just haven’t got that perfect tone.
So far MAC Powder Foundation is my favourite, followed by ELDW.
I really want to try Haus Labs and Lisa Eldridge’s foundations.

Mariella Avatar

I posted a loooong reply and then forgot to submit it (well, I thought I had…). The short version – I rarely wear foundation and prefer tinted sunscreen or IT CC Cream. I’m willing to pay in the $70 to 80 range for a good foundation but my favourites from Dior and Guerlain (and also Clarins) have been discontinued or reformulated to such an extent that they ARE basically “discontinued”. If Dior Airflash (being phased out, I think) was still available, I’d (almost) happily pay for it; ditto the Dior liquid foundation that I love (they keep the name with slight modifications but the formula isn’t the same).

Audrey Avatar

Armani luminous silk is my favorite so I’ll pay the 65-75$ that it costs but that’s my limit and I usually get it when it’s on sale on their site- they have 20-25% off every now and then. I did try your favorite foundation the lamer a couple years ago when it was $120 but luckily for my wallet I didn’t really like it and returned it.

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