Beauty
SHEGLAM’s New Cushion Foundation Gives Me Buildable, Glowy Coverage Without Hiding My Skin
This hydrating formula lets you decide exactly how much coverage you want with a dewy finish.
I’ve put too much effort into caring for my skin to cover it with makeup that makes it disappear. Full-coverage, airbrushed foundation can look incredible in photos, but in real life, I like seeing freckles, dimension, and a natural flush. That’s become even more important to me as I’ve gotten older. Heavy formulas tend to age my skin rather than improve it, especially once they start settling into fine lines or clinging to dry patches. My ideal base is lightweight, long-lasting, and low-maintenance: enough coverage to make me look polished and even-toned, but not so much that the foundation becomes the first thing everyone notices.
As a beauty editor who has tried hundreds of formulas at all different price points, it’s unfortunately harder to find than it should be. Then SHEGLAM’s Lumi Lock & Glow Hydrating Cushion Foundation came along and got it right — all for less than $12.
Best for: Buildable, breathable coverage that keeps skin hydrated for up to 12 hours.
What I Love: The skin-loving, serum-like feel; healthy, radiant finish; and accurate shade finder.
What I Don’t Love: How much I spent on luxury foundations before discovering this one.
Rating: 5/5
About The Foundation
SHEGLAM’s new Lumi Lock & Go Hydrating Cushion Foundation is the luminous counterpart to the brand’s Lock & Go Long-Lasting Cushion Foundation, which has a high coverage, liquid-to-powder formula with a matte finish. Lumi Lock & Go has a bouncier serum-cream texture and medium-to-high coverage, with a naturally dewy finish.
The hydrated glow comes from sodium hyaluronate, which helps draw moisture into the skin, and antioxidant-rich vitamin E, which helps prevent the loss of that moisture. The formula provides up to 12 hours of hydration and wears like a second skin, blurring the look of texture and building coverage without ever getting heavy or cakey.
The mirrored compact and included puff make it genuinely easy to apply on the go—something that can’t be said about most foundations. There’s nothing to spill and no separate sponge to pack or dampen. I can toss it in my bag and apply it in my car, after a workout, or whenever I need a last-minute touch-up.
My Review
Shopping for foundation online usually means I’m normally inputting “What’s my undertone?” in my search bar for the 50th time (Will I ever be able to tell whether my veins look more blue or green? No, no I will not.), and then saying a small prayer to the beauty gods at checkout. But SHEGLAM’s shade chart was impressively accurate, and the shade I chose — Shell — matched my skin tone perfectly. My first thought was how incredibly soft and plush the formula felt, both in the compact and on my face. It seemed to melt into my skin rather than sit on top of it, blending so seamlessly that I could barely tell where the coverage ended and my bare skin began.
Because the finish looked so light and fresh, I assumed I would still need concealer in the areas where I typically use it. Instead, one layer neutralized the persistent redness between my brows — the lasting reminder of countless late nights spent in front of a magnifying mirror with my tweezers. I’ve also been tapping on a little extra under my eyes in place of concealer. The formula builds enough to brighten and even out the area, but doesn’t become dry or stiff as the day goes on the way thicker concealers can.
And it really does build without pilling or caking. I can apply a light layer in the morning before work calls and still look like I’m wearing very little makeup. If I have dinner and want a more finished look, I can tap on another layer — no need to wash everything off and start over. Finally, there’s the finish: always hydrated and glowy, never oily or shiny. That’s a notoriously tricky balance to hit, because, really, what’s the point of a luminous foundation if it requires multiple blotting papers a day?
Final Verdict
This SHEGLAM foundation is for people who don’t like the feeling of foundation. I forget I’m wearing it until I catch my reflection and notice how fresh and healthy my skin looks — the effect of a refreshing facial mist and the Paris filter in a cushion compact.
