Fenty's Stay-in-Place Foundation Is Perfect for Summer, According to a Celebrity Makeup Artist

For our 26th annual Best Beauty Buys, the InStyle team worked with leading dermatologists, makeup artists, hairstylists, wellness experts, fragrance connoisseurs, and manicurists to find out which products they can't get enough of. Now, the votes are in — and you'll want to get a hold of these 229 beauty game-changers.

Aside from fragrance, there's nothing as utterly, irrefutably personal as your foundation shade. But for something that's so uniquely different from one person to the next, foundation and concealer shade options have been extremely limited for people of color. Even for brands with shade options in the double digits, the spectrum was only most expansive for light to medium skin tones. It wasn't until Rihanna launched her Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation in 2018 with 40 tints across the skin tone spectrum, did many finally acknowledge the dumbfounding and disappointing lack of representation in foundation shades.

Since then, Fenty Beauty's Pro Filt'r Foundation expanded its range to cover an additional 10 skin tones, making it all the easier to find the right shade. And apart from its inclusive range of shades, the foundation has long been praised as one of the most long-wearing, easily absorbed, and buildable options. All of this (and more) is exactly why InStyle's experts voted for it in the list of Best Beauty Buys, and why celebrity makeup artist Vincent Oquendo loves it as one of the many tools in his "arsenal of tools."

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Oquendo, one of InStyle's Best Beauty Buys experts who chose the Pro Filt'r Foundation as an All-Star product, has worked with A-listers such as Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Lily Collins, Diane Kruger, Janelle Monáe, Ella Balinska, and Jurnee Smollett. In fact, he definitely used the Pro Filt'r on Smollett for her recent makeup looks, he said.

"I love that it's inclusive, and that there's shade for almost every skin tone," Oquendo says, remembering how difficult it was for him to find the right shade for his medium complexion while growing up. "I don't think it's a good look if you don't have a shade for every skin tone… Any foundation line or any makeup line that has a wide range of shades definitely gets an A+ in my book."

His one word to describe the foundation? "Versatile," Oquendo told InStyle over the phone, while also praising it for being extremely long-lasting. "When you work with celebrities, you don't want to constantly have to be touching them up, especially for skin stuff," Oquendo explained. "So when I finish my makeup I like to just let them enjoy the press and focus on that… [The Pro Filt'r Foundation] wears really well — it doesn't wear off easily."

To prevent it from transferring in summer's sweaty heat (especially if you're wearing a mask), Oquendo recommended first putting on one of his favorite primers, Kat Von D's Lock-It Hydrating Primer. "If you find that your makeup transfers a lot, use the Kat Von D and then put [the Pro Filt'r Foundation] over it and it just stays," he said. To apply, the makeup artist suggested just using your fingers to get a sheer look, a blush brush for medium coverage, and a foundation brush (for which Oquendo also recommends Fenty's) for a full look. Hot tip: Put on a first layer and let it dry, before adding a second layer when you're trying to achieve a full-coverage look with a foundation brush; the Pro Filt'r Foundation will "build beautifully."

Rounding out your makeup bag alongside the Pro Filt'r Foundation, the Maybelline brand ambassador and Shiseido global makeup ambassador further suggested Maybelline's Superstay Under Eye Light Concealer and Shiseido's Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Liquid Concealer for a look that truly stays in place while erasing dark under-eye circles and spots. Oquendo also raved about setting powders from Tatcha, Kevyn Aucoin, and Laura Mercier to add a final touch.

If you're ready to wear a full makeup look with foundation every day this summer, Fenty's Pro Filt'r Foundation is InStyle's iconic pick for getting a stay-in-place, buildable, and natural beauty look. Shop it at Fenty Beauty now.