The Huda Beauty Faux Filter foundation promises full-coverage, flawless, airbrushed-looking skin and, for the most part, it lives up to this promise. Not only did it vastly improve the appearance of our dark spots, red spots, wrinkles, and dark circles – according to our smart mirror skin analyser – but this effect lasted all day.
Once dried, it doesn’t budge and this makes it an excellent choice for going to the gym, wearing all day at work, or if you have oily skin that has a tendency to cause makeup to melt off as the day goes on. The sacrifice you have to make for this, though, is that it can feel thick and heavy on the skin, and it’s quite drying.
It also dries faster than we can blend it during application which can cause problems with the overall finish, and this all makes it difficult to remove at the end of the day.
While the coverage of the foundation is impressive, it can leave the skin feeling a little flat. In our skin analyser, the foundation also made our pores and skin texture more noticeable so this may not be a great choice for people with a lot of texture, or blemishes.
Overall, the Huda Beauty Faux Filter foundation is a great choice for those with oily skin who are looking for a long-lasting, full-coverage foundation. However, those with dry, textured skin may want to look for a lighter formula that won’t leave their skin feeling weighed down.
| Cult Beauty | £36 |
| Boots | £36 |
| Sephora | £36 |
In our Huda Beauty foundation review, we test the Faux Filter’s luminous matte coverage, staying power and finish as well as how it improves the appearance and health of our skin
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How we tested Huda Beauty Faux Filter
Huda Beauty Faux Filter Formula
Huda Beauty has become a global beauty phenomenon since it was launched by one of the original YouTube influencers, Huda Kattan 10 years ago.
In that time, Huda has created a number of spin-off brands all under the Huda Beauty umbrella, including a skincare line called Wishful, a makeup range focused on creating sunkissed, glowing skin called Glowish, and Kayali fragrances owned by Huda’s sister, Mona Kattan.
Huda Beauty has become a favourite among makeup fans for its high-quality products designed to cater to more diverse skin tones and types than the majority of makeup brands today and one of Huda Beauty’s most popular products is the Faux Filter Foundation.
This full-coverage foundation is designed to provide a flawless, airbrushed finish and is infused with argan oil and centella asiatica to help nourish and protect the skin. It’s available in 39 shades and is available as a liquid, or as a foundation stick.
When we started our giant foundation group test over on TikTok, this foundation was one of the very first products we tested and since then, we’ve spent months putting it to the test for our Huda Beauty foundation review.
If you don’t know about our foundation group test or want to look at the rankings then head to our best foundation page, or keep reading to discover what we really think about his iconic, and hugely popular foundation.
Buy now from Sephora
mamabella Huda Beauty has become a favourite among makeup fans and one of Huda Beauty’s most popular products is the Faux Filter Foundation
Huda Beauty has a limited range of base products, in comparison to her eye products, with only three to choose from.
The liquid version of the Faux Filter is the most expensive of the three, at £36. The GloWish skin tint is £34, and the Huda Beauty Foundation Sticks are £32 each.
The shades in the liquid, and stick versions of the Faux Filter foundations are slightly different. For instance, if you’re a Vanilla in the liquid foundation, Huda Beauty recommends you opt for the Angel Food foundation stick.
This is partly because the Huda Beauty foundation sticks offer a medium, more natural-looking finish than the full-coverage liquid Faux Filter. This means the colour intensity will be different. You can check the various shades and how they compare here.
Buy now from Sephora
mamabella | mamabella The Huda Beauty Faux Filter Foundation is a full-coverage foundation that promises to “immediately unify skin tone and texture as it blurs skin to give a radiant finish”
What is Huda Beauty Faux Filter? The Huda Beauty Faux Filter Foundation is a full-coverage foundation that promises to “immediately unify skin tone and texture as it blurs skin to give a radiant finish.” The brand claims that it’s waterproof, transfer-proof, and will last all day, in all conditions, weather, and humidity.
Huda Beauty Faux Filter price: £36 (35ml)
Huda Beauty foundation shades: 39
Base: Silicone
Coverage: Full
Finish: Matte Luminous
Who should use Huda Beauty Faux Filter foundation? Suitable for all skin types but is particularly good for combination and oily skin, and skin prone to blemishes and redness
Where to buy: Cult Beauty | Boots | Sephora
Huda Beauty Faux Filter alternatives: NYX Professional Born To Glow foundation (£10); Maybelline Superstay 30hrFoundation (£10.99)
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For our Huda Beauty foundation review, we used it as our go-to foundation around three times a week for two months. We used the Huda Beauty Faux Filter alongside our regular makeup routine faves which at the time of testing, and writing, include the Embryollisse cream as a moisturiser and primer; CeraVe Repair Eye Cream, the Fenty Beauty Match Stix, and The Beauty Crop concealer.
By adding the Huda Beauty foundation to our current routine, and not changing anything else, it helped us to identify any differences it created in terms of coverage, oiliness, and finish, but also how well it played with our other products.
During our two-month test, we applied the foundation with a foundation brush, a stippling brush, our fingers and a beauty blender to see how each application method impacted on the overall finish.
We made notes on how well the Faux Filter foundation’s coverage and finish lasted throughout the day. We noted down how it made our skin feel if we experienced any cakiness, breakouts, or other skin concerns, and how easy it is to remove.
As part of our TikTok foundation series, we additionally tested the Huda Beauty foundation on fruit, to see how its coverage fared on an orange and a strawberry (we know that sounds weird but it’s because the fruits mimic skin…) before testing how well it hydrated the skin.
Elsewhere, we took images of our skin before applying the foundation, and after, using our smart mirror to see how well the foundation actually blurred our pores and covered imperfections and redness. This was also a good way of seeing how much it settled into our fine lines, wrinkles, and pores.
FURTHER READING: We’ve tested 100+ foundations to find out which is the best foundation makeup in the UK
Buy now from Sephora
There are two ways to find out which Huda Beauty foundation shade you need. Huda Beauty offers a Shade Match quiz, or you can determine your shade in the Faux Filter range by telling Huda Beauty which shade you wear in other brands.
For instance, if you know which MAC foundation suits you, Huda Beauty will recommend the most like-for-like shade in its own foundation range. The latter only works if you know what shade you are in other brands, of course.
We took the Shade Match quiz and were paired with Shortbread 200B. This is for light skin tones with pinky-beige undertones. On the first application, it felt too light for our skin tone but once it was blended it looked better than we had expected. You can see the difference in our Huda Beauty foundation before and after section below.
mamabella | mamabella The Huda Beauty foundation is thick and feels heavy on the skin
The consistency of the Faux Filter is thick and needs to be blended quickly upon application. This is because it dries incredibly fast and if you don’t work it into the skin fast enough, it can be really difficult to get an even base.
To get around this, we apply a hydrating mist before blending and then use a damp beauty blender. However, this seems like a lot of work.
As a result, Huda Beauty’s foundation does have a tendency to feel heavy and dry on the skin. This is common for full-coverage foundations, but we’ve also tried full-coverage products that don’t feel like this so we know it doesn’t have to be the case.
Namely the Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion and the more affordable Milani Conceal+Perfect 2in1. As a result, we don’t think this would be a great choice for people with dry skin.
One positive to take from this though is that the foundation doesn’t budge. All day. It doesn’t melt off our oily skin like many other foundations do and once it’s dried it doesn’t transfer.
So much so it’s quite hard to remove at the end of the day. You’ll definitely need to double cleanse and we recommend you opt for a cleansing balm as part of that.
In terms of coverage, this foundation can leave the skin feeling a little flat so you may need to add dimension using contour, bronzer, or blush. Again though, there is a positive from this and it covers blemishes and redness evenly.
We give a full breakdown of just how well the coverage of the Huda Beauty foundation performed in our skin analyser test in our Huda Beauty foundation before and after section below.
The TikTok video below also shows a before and after comparison of the Huda Beauty Faux Filter foundation and how it reacts to light. It’s part of our wider foundation group testing process.
@victoria_woolly_web I’m still not entirely sure if I’m a Macaroon or a Shortbread shade girl but this colour looks great when blended. It gives full coverage without being too heavy however it dries quickly. I have to keep it fluid with a hydrating mist otherwise it causes texture. It also has a tendency to gather on my oily skin during the day so it’s a mixed bag #mamabella #hudabeauty #fauxfilter #fauxfilterfoundation #macaroon #foundationtest #hudabeautyfoundation #huda #foundationreview ♬ Little Deer – Spellling
The image below shows how the Huda Beauty foundation looks before and after application, and how it photographs on the skin.
mamabella | mamabella The image above shows how the Huda Beauty foundation looks before and after application, and how it photographs on the skin
We also used our HiMirror Skin Analyser to see exactly what difference the coverage had on our redness, but also pores, and more. As you can see in the image below.
The skin analyser scores each of the seven skincare feature a score out of 100. The higher the score, the better the appearance of that particular feature. As a result, the maximum score possible on the Skin Analyser is 700.
mamabella Before we applied the Huda Beauty foundation, the total score was 429. After application, this rose to 500
Before we applied the Huda Beauty foundation, the total score was 429. After application, this rose to 500. The appearance of red spots saw the greatest improvement followed by dark circles and dark spots.
The foundation also helped minimise the appearance of our wrinkles, while the appearance of fine lines stayed the same.
Sadly it made our pores appear worse – dropped from 87 to 80 – and seemingly accentuated skin texture, judging by the fact our roughness score dropped.
The table below shows this more clearly.
| Before | After | Difference | |
| Dark Spots | 63 | 66 | +3 |
| Wrinkles | 73 | 76 | +3 |
| Red Spots | 69 | 78 | +9 |
| Pores | 87 | 8 | -7 |
| Fine Lines | 60 | 60 | 0 |
| Roughness | 67 | 65 | -2 |
| Dark Circles | 70 | 75 | +5 |
| Total | 429 | 500 | +71 |
For each score, the higher the number, the better. A negative difference shows that the skin got worse, and a positive difference shows it improved.
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The Huda Beauty Faux Filter foundation promises full-coverage, flawless, airbrushed-looking skin and, for the most part, it lives up to this promise. Not only did it vastly improve the appearance of our dark spots, red spots, wrinkles, and dark circles – according to our smart mirror skin analyser – but this effect lasted all day.
Once dried, it doesn’t budge and this makes it an excellent choice for going to the gym, wearing all day at work, or if you have oily skin that has a tendency to cause makeup to melt off as the day goes on. The sacrifice you have to make for this, though, is that it can feel thick and heavy on the skin, and it’s quite drying.
It also dries faster than we can blend it during application which can cause problems with the overall finish, and this all makes it difficult to remove at the end of the day.
While the coverage of the foundation is impressive, it can leave the skin feeling a little flat. In our skin analyser, the foundation also made our pores and skin texture more noticeable so this may not be a great choice for people with a lot of texture, or blemishes.
Overall, the Huda Beauty Faux Filter foundation is a great choice for those with oily skin who are looking for a long-lasting, full-coverage foundation. However, those with dry, textured skin may want to look for a lighter formula that won’t leave their skin feeling weighed down.
@victoria_woolly_web #fyp #foryoupage #tiktok #foundations #foundationreview #beautyblogger #spreadsheet #PepsiApplePieChallenge #stitch #mua #hudabeauty #huda #fauxfilter #fauxfilterfoundation ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz
The following list of ingredients is taken from the INCI Decoder website. You can hover over each ingredient to find out more about it.
The numbers next to each ingredient represent its Irritation Rating (the number to the left of the comma), and then Comedogenic Rating (to the right of the comma).
Both ratings are scored out of five and the higher the number, the higher the chance of it causing irritation, or comedones (spots). Green means it has a low rating so is less likely to cause problems. Yellow and red numbers represent high ratings and are more likely to cause problems.
sii|h 0 0, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate emu, Trimethylsiloxyphenyl Dimethicone, Alcohol Denat 
amic|solv|vc, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate emo, Disteardimonium Hectorite vc, Phenoxyethanol pres, Benzyl Alcohol pres|perf|solv|vc, Myristyl Lactate emo 2 4, Sodium Chloride vc, Sodium Dehydroacetate pres, Aluminum Hydroxide emo|h|vc, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil 
aox|emo, Tocopheryl Acetate aox 0 0, Parfum/Fragrance perf, Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate surf, Silica vc, Panthenol so|h 0 0, Disodium EDTA chel, Propylene Glycol h|solv|vc 0 0, Lysine, Centella Asiatica Extract so|aox|h, Magnesium Chloride vc, Hydrogen Dimethicone, Benzyl Salicylate perf, Coumarin perf, Hexyl Cinnamal perf, Hydroxycitronellal perf, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde perf, Linalool perfHover the mouse / tap over an ingredient for short explanation. Read more on INCIDecoder.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
