Calling all my oily gals and guys! If you struggle with looking shiny five minutes after finishing your makeup, these products will hopefully help control your oils throughout the day.
Cleanser/Face Wash​
Before we start beating our face to the gods, we need to have a nice and clean canvas. A few of the cleansers that have worked best for my skin are the Bioré Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser ($7.49 at Ulta), Mario Badescu Acne Facial Cleanser ($15.00 at Ulta), and St. Ives Blackhead Clearing Green Tea Scrub ($4.54 at Walmart). I swap out between these three cleansers every few months whenever my skin starts getting used to the cleanser. All of these cleansers work very well to get rid of all the dirt and oils on your face and doesn’t irritate the skin. Highly recommend all of these!
Moisturizer
After washing your face, you can use a toner or go straight to using your moisturizer. I don’t really use a toner because it’s never helped me, but when I used to use it, I liked the Witch Hazel toner from TJ Maxx. For moisturizer, I like using creams and oils. Moisturizers that have a creamy consistency that I like to use are the Shea Moisture African Black Soap Problem Skin Moisturizer ($12.99 at Ulta), Pond’s Caring Classic Dry Skin Cream ($6.02 at Walmart), and the Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel-Cream ($16.17 at Walmart). Although the Pond’s moisturizer says it’s for dry skin, it works great for oily skin because it keep your face very moisturized. The Hydro Boost consistency is very light since it’s water-based, but it still keeps the face hydrated all day. Using oils on your face sounds like a bad idea, since our face is hella oily sometimes; however, it’s best for our skin to be fully moisturized instead of our face producing more oils than necessary. The best face oils that I have tried are the Bahi Cosmetics Sunflower Sweets Serum ($37.00 for 2oz). These moisturizers are very good for oily skin, but can also be used with other skin types too.
Primers
Now moving onto primers. A few of my favorites are the NYX Studio Perfect Primer in Clear ($12.99 at Ulta), Ulta Professional Matte Prime ($18.00 at Ulta), and the NYX Pore Filler ($13.99 at Ulta). These primers really help with keeping the t-zone shine-free and making the base of the face smooth. The NYX Studio Perfect Primer is a silicone based primer that is lightweight and blends out smoothly and evenly on your face. The Ulta Professional Matte Primer is also lightweight, so you don’t have to worry about having too much product on your face, it’s very smooth, and it blends well into your skin. The NYX Pore Filler is a great dupe for the Benefit Porefessional in my opinion. It has the same consistency as the Benefit primer and it’s $17 cheaper, so you don’t have to sell an arm for this primer.
Foundations
For foundations, I have a few favorites: Too Faced Born This Way Absolute Perfection Foundation ($39.00 at Ulta), Maybelline Fit Me Matte+Poreless Foundation ($5.94 at Walmart), and the L’oréal Infallible Pro-Matte 24HR Foundation ($10.97 at Walmart). When using the Born This Way foundation, it’s like a your skin but better finish. It’s a medium-to-full coverage, so you can build up to the amount of coverage you would like without it looking cakey on your face. It’s a foundation for all skin types and it’s hydrating, but you don’t have to worry about your face getting very oily since it’s an oil-free foundation. The only problem I have with this foundation line is that the shade range could be better. My all-time favorite foundation is the Maybelline Fit Me foundation. I have never tried any other foundation that has great coverage and controls your oils like this foundation. For the $8 price, you can’t beat that with higher-end foundations. I have no complaints for this foundation and the shade is range is A M A Z I N G. Lastly, the L’oréal Infallible foundation is a semi-matte foundation, but I think it’s definitely a fully matte foundation. This foundation is for the gals and guys that want no oils seeping through. It’s very good at keeping your face matte all day without having to blot once. The only problem with this foundation that I personally had was that it was too matte for me. I can only wear this in the summer when I’m the most oily because it sucks out the natural oils of my face. Also, there’s only 12 shades so finding your close-to-perfect match was difficult.
Setting Powders
If you have oily/combination skin, you know a setting powder is a must when setting your face. A few powders that I have loved have been the Maybelline Fit Me Matte+Poreless Powder ($5.94 at Walmart), L’orĂ©al True Match Super Blendable Powder ($8.86 at Walmart), and Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder ($5.97 at Walmart). All of these powders help set your whole face without you looking dry and crusty. The Maybelline and L’orĂ©al powders have lots of different shades to match your skin. The Airspun powder only has five shades, but this is more of a translucent powder that doesn’t add coverage to your face.
Setting Sprays
Lastly, the best part of finishing your makeup: drowning yourself in setting spray. The ones I have tried have been the NYX Matte Finish Makeup Setting Spray ($7.99 at Ulta), ELF Makeup Mist&Set ($3.00 at Ulta), L’oréal Infallible Makeup Extender Setting Spray ($16.99 at Ulta), and the Mario Badescu Facial Spray With Aloe, Herb and Rosewater ($12.00 at Ulta). The NYX setting spray is perfect for keeping your face matte all day without it making your face dry. The ELF setting spray is one I like to use when I don’t have a lot of makeup on, since it really doesn’t help keep your face matte, but gives you a nice little glow. And for $3, it’s pretty good. The L’oréal setting spray is also very good at keeping your face nice and matte all day. My only problem with this is the smell. I don’t know why the smell bothers me, but it does. Still a good setting spray though. Lastly, the Mario Badescu spray. This isn’t a setting spray per say, but it’s a nice spray to refresh your face when you’ve gotten all your mattifying powders and you want your face to revive a little bit.
Now that I’ve shared these holy grail products, you can slay all day without having to worry about being too oily!