If you haven’t heard of the foundation in water hack, blowing up on TikTok, you’re about to, and it couldn’t be better timing. With the heatwave melting our makeup off, this beauty trend promises to give fresh, luminous summer-ready skin that literally does not budge.
We can thank Huda Kattan for bringing the unlikely trend to our attention. She posted a TikTok response to a video posted by @rachelrigler who spotted it from another makeup artist. The hack involves dispensing a few pumps of your foundation into a glass of water, swirling it with your makeup brush, then applying the wet beads of foundation to your skin… Why does this give us the same sceptical feeling as cream-based cocktails?
Curdling fears aside, the technique has been pretty well-received. “This is a technique that is supposed to give you the longest wear application, that’s non-transfer and it’s supposed to make your skin look more beautiful,” Huda announced. We’re listening…
Giving it her stamp of approval, Huda admitted “I do have a little more luminosity on this side [where she applied her foundation using the technique], than I do on this side [where she applied her foundation dry] – just a hint, which is nice. But we need to try the transfer test to see if this is really worth the hype.” Patting a tissue into both sides of her face she confirms “I got a little bit of transfer, just a little and I was pressing a lot. I do think this works, I just think it’s a little complicated, a little gross and a little wasteful, but I will say, this is a hack that works.”
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As for the method behind the madness, @rachelrigler who posted the original video explained, “when you put a foundation in water, it actually separates some of the oil, but it also adds a little bit of hydration,” and you know what does go hand in hand? Heatwaves and hydration. Adding moisture to skin without the excess oil in foundations sounds like the perfect summer hack.
At first glance, she noticed that the water foundation side gave more of a ‘natural but better’ finish to the skin, while the foundation-only side looked heavier, and fuller coverage. As for the transfer test… Dabbing a clean paper towel on each side of her face, the transfer appeared to be significantly less on the water foundation side.
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However, others are torn, with some sceptical users commenting, “LITERALLY THERE’S NO DIFFERENCE” while others replied, “idk why there’s comments saying there’s no difference. THERES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE”.
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Content creator @stxph.h was among those impressed by the foundation in water hack saying, “it looks filtered, yet super skin-like and dewy.” She also decided to put the long-lasting claim to the test, filming a foundation update 5 hours after applying the water foundation combo, to see if it really didn’t budge through the day. After her close examination, she concluded “the foundation is still in one piece, nothing looks cakey, nothing is separating, and it still looks like skin!”
We’re off to put it to the test ourselves…
