Cushion Compacts Will Be Your New Best Friend This Summer
Summer beauty is a tenuous game of paring down to your utmost essentials—anything that can withstand heat, sun, and sweat. Oftentimes, we won’t see our foundation until the fall, opting for a tinted moisturizer with SPF or a BB cream. The only hitch in that plan is that with much of the traveling we do in the summer, packing liquid makeup can either leak, melt, or just separate from the heat. Enter the cushion compact—a very convenient way not only to transport liquid makeup but also to apply it. These makeup compacts come loaded with a sponge soaked in a BB cream or a light foundation formula and a little sponge pad applicator so you can dab the formula onto your face, focusing on targeted areas you want with the ability to build coverage. Originally a genius creation from K-beauty brands, we’re catching on over here—with more skin tone options to boot. Here’s a handful of the most celebrated cushion compacts that you probably won’t want to wait on snapping up.
Amore Pacific is one of the bigger skin care brands making its way from Korea to mainstream American beauty markets. You can even find them at Sephora now. The brand’s cushion compact offers a light to medium coverage with tons of antioxidants, and a hydrating formula that fills in teeny lines in your skin for a smooth canvas. With SPF 50, this is a definite summer do. Available in four colors, this one is best for those with a fair to medium skin tone who don’t have very pale or very dark skin.
(Amore Pacific Color Control Cushion Compact Broad Spectrum SPF 50+, $60, Sephora)
Dr. Jart’s cushion compact may look something more like a mesh screen, but the benefits are just the same with a bit more control to how much product you grab with the applicator. This formula is enriched with hydrolyzed collagen and pomegranate extract to support skin elasticity. Grapeseed oil and arbutin brighten and hydrate your skin, too. Not only does it even out your skin tone and conceal pores, it also works to improve your skin texture and tone overall, all while protecting you with SPF 30. So far this comes in two shades—a light/medium and a medium/tan.
(Dr. Jart+ BB Bounce Beauty Balm, $48, Sephora)
This cushion compact is a beauty blogger favorite, topping all sorts of lists for skin perfectors. Available in varying finishes like “natural”, “heavy coverage,” and “shimmer,” this one offers just a little bit extra. Vitamins B, E, and P condition your skin and keep it well hydrated. As an added perk, each cushion compact comes with an extra cushion refill and applicator pad for when you’ve dabbed your way to empty. The only downside? Since Korean beauty brands often cater to East Asian markets, the three shades this comes in range from pale to medium/beige.
(IOPE Air Cushion Sunblock XP [SPF 50+/PA+++], $41, Sokoglam)
IT Cosmetics always focus heavily on skin care, so of course their cushion compact has lots of skin care benefits in the formula. It’s called a “veil” because the formula is a buildable sheerness, but the actual stuff is full of anti-aging properties like peptides, niacin, algae, vitamins A, C, B, E, hyaluronic acid, and hydrolyzed collagen. Overall, your skin tone is evened and smoothed and imperfections are concealed. The five shades range from very pale to a rich tan.
(IT Cosmetics CC+ Veil Beauty Fluid Foundation SPF 50, $38, Ulta)
With Lisa Eldridge at the creative helm, the K-beauty enthusiast, of course, had Lancôme develop their own version of a cushion compact, the Miracle Cushion. The best part of this one is that not only does it give you a hydrated and glowing complexion, it comes in a whole range of 11 shades from super fair to deep dark. Lancôme’s foundation game has always been tight, and this new formulation does not disappoint—blurring your skin into an evenly smooth texture while also allowing you to feel like you’re barely wearing anything at all.
(Lancôme Miracle Cushion, $46.50, Lancome-usa.com)
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The popular K-beauty brands has hit home in the US at one of our favorite retailers—Target. The exclusive retailer has all of Laneige’s skin care and makeup products, including their cushion compact. It’s mineral water-based, so while hydrating it’s also cooling as you apply. It’s the perfect summer makeup quality to have… other than SPF 50, which is also has. This one also comes with an extra makeup cushion refill. In a light shade and a medium shade, you can grab one of these compacts if you have anywhere from an apricot to a tan complexion.
(Laneige BB Cushion, $34, Target)
Missha is the go-to for BB creams—their product often being touted the best in terms of coverage, skin care benefits, and price. Their newest cushion compact keeps up that standard with the same two shades that all their complexion makeup is generally offered in—in a compact form. Other than hydrating ingredients, this also contains witch hazel extract to calm skin irritation and silica bead powder to absorb sweat, oil, and sebum so that your makeup can last all day. The two shades offered are a light beige and a honey beige, falling in that narrow scope of east Asian skin tones once more.
(Missha M Magic Cushion SPF50, $16, Misshaus.com)
Pür Minerals adds a botanical twist in their cushion compact with a sheer to medium coverage foundation formula that has babassu oil to condition and hydrate your skin as your wear it. The mousse-like texture ensures that you can barely tell you even have it on. With four shades from light to dark, most people can get down with a little mineral makeup in their cushion compact.
(Pür Minerals Air Perfection Cushion Foundation SPF 50, $43, Ulta)
