Like many people out there, I have bad skin. Unfortunately, I also prefer a light foundation for day-to-day wear and they often don’t cover the imperfections I wish to hide. But could they? If I apply a buildable foundation and concentrate it in the areas I am less comfortable with, can I (with the help of concealer!) get away with wearing a light base during the day?
In this ‘trial’ I am using MAC‘s Face and Body Foundation. 
Personally, I prefer Chanel‘s Vitalumiere Aqua however MAC‘s Face and Body is £25.50/$32.50 for 120ml/4.0 fl oz which is considerably better value than Chanel‘s Vitalumiere Aqua which is £31.00/$45.00 for 30ml/1 fl oz. In my search for value MAC‘s Face and Body won and it is a very good foundation. It has a very watery consistency, but it is a water based foundation! I tried to convey the consistency in the photograph below by running my foundation brush through it:
For this trial the foundation was applied to skin which suffers from acne but that is undergoing acne treatment in the form of PanOxyl which is a Benzoyl Peroxide gel. One of the side effects of using this gel can be dry skin, so as well as covering the redness and acne MAC‘s Face and Body also had to hide the dry skin that had developed.
1) The photograph below is of the skin without foundation. Unfortunately the camera hasn’t picked up the redness very well but you can still easily identify which areas are suffering from bad skin. Also, as this trial was being performed while the skin is being treated for acne it is also a little clearer than it was three weeks ago prior to treatment!
2) This picture is of the skin with one layer of MAC’s Face and Body Foundation applied. The foundation has done a good job of covering the redness however there are still spots visible.
3) This picture is of the skin with a second layer of foundation applied, but only concentrated in the areas where the skin is suffering. As you can see the red spots are now much less visible, but you can still see the raised ‘bumps’ of the spots. However, this is probably more down to camera flashes than the foundation itself!
4) This final photograph is of the skin with foundation and concealer. The concealer has covered the last of the redness.
I would personally be comfortable with this level of coverage for my bad skin. Although this trial was performed on someone with what could be considered ‘minor’ acne and is undergoing treatment for it, it gives a good idea of the level of coverage MAC‘s Face and Body can provide, or other light, buildable foundations. To wear a light base with bad skin I feel that you must be able to build the coverage up over the problem areas. This way you can cover any parts of your skin that you feel insecure about but don’t need to wear a heavy base on the rest of your skin.
The downside to light foundations is that they are not usually suitable for people with very oily skin, which many acne sufferers have. However, bad skin does not necessarily mean acne, it could be redness, dry areas, red marks, imperfections that you personally are uncomfortable with showing and I feel this trial has proved that you don’t need to have a heavy base to cover them. MAC‘s Face and Body is particularly good for dry skin. In this trial it covered it beautifully and I should also add that it lasted a whole working day (after powdering) in busy, rushed conditions.
I would recommend trying a light, buildable foundation with bad skin. You never know, you could be very surprised at the amount of coverage you get!
I have the same foundation! Unfortunately, it’s a little dark for me to use it right now.