Honest Beauty Everything Cream Foundation Review for Combo Skin

As someone who likes full coverage complexion products, I’m usually a big fan of cream foundation. The consistency typically lends itself for smooth application, evening out the skin tone easily, and most formulas work well with my combo skin with the help of setting powder. So, I was pretty excited to try the Honest Beauty Everything Cream Foundation, which promised radiance and buildable coverage with a hypoallergenic formula. Honest Beauty is a brand dedicated to cosmetics and skin care with safer, cleaner ingredients and I hadn’t tried many of their products in the past.

While Honest Beauty is considered a drugstore brand, available in retailers such as Target, it’s definitely mid-tier when it comes to price. This cream foundation costs $21.99, which is far higher than the drugstore average. The formula contains vitamin E and jojoba oil that is supposed to make it feel moisturizing, blend easily all with a demi-matte yet radiant finish.

Ya’ll… this foundation fell flat for me, and hard. Usually with cream foundations, I apply using a kabuki brush which picks up product most effectively from the pan and buffs it out easily. As soon as I dipped my brush into the foundation, I noticed that this was the most un-creamy cream foundation I’ve ever tried. It felt stiff as I tried to pick up product with my brush.

As I applied it to my face, it was still not feeling very creamy at all. I felt like I had to work hard to buff it out, and it had an overall dry texture and powdery appearance! Where was the vitamin E? Where was the jojoba oil?!

I will give credit where credit is due, though. The coverage is definitely buildable and you can reach a medium-full in just one layer. Most of my acne and dark spots were covered easily with the exception of a scab above my eyebrow. The coverage also mostly lasted all day in my more “normal” areas (not my T-Zone).

Also, Linen was a great match for my light/medium skin with yellow undertones. Even though it may look a little light in the photo, my face is naturally lighter than the rest of my body and I also am not wearing any contour above.

But… that’s about it. As the foundation set on my face over the course of an hour, it appeared to be clearly sitting on top of my skin, not really blending in. It had an overall dry-looking appearance, and it wasn’t long before it started settling into my fine lines and accentuating all my pores.

On a separate day, I tried application with a damp sponge. This definitely resulted in a smoother– but still dry-leaning– appearance, but regardless of application method, the foundation didn’t deliver throughout the day. After a couple hours, the foundation began to separate and became slippery in my oily areas. It would transfer easily with a light touch of the face. Setting with powder helped a bit, but then made the appearance look more dry and even less radiant.

When I review products that don’t work well for me, I typically like to share my thoughts on who would still like it despite my personal experience. However, I honestly don’t know who this foundation would be good for. The finish was dry to start out with, then broke down easily at the first sign of oil (though did not appear shiny, so I guess that’s a plus). Perhaps performance could be enhanced with a moisturizing and pore-filling primer, and then setting with powder or fixing spray, but I don’t like having to rely on extra products to get something to work how it’s supposed to.

You can find the Honest Beauty Everything Cream Foundation for $21.99 at Target.

Have you tried this foundation? Did it work for you? I’m genuinely curious to know if I’m the exception.