COVERGIRL Clean Fresh Skin Milk Foundation

I have combo skin, so I use this and mix it with Covergirl clean matte bb cream for the perfect skin tint/light foundation. I wear this combo pretty much every day! I think it’s so beautiful on the skin and it’s the perfect base for cream, liquid or powder products on top. Affordable too, which I love!

Maybe I got an old batch or something, as some other reviews have mentions. Because, this is just awful. And I’ve tried dollar store foundations! It went on ok, but then flaked so bad, ended up looking real cakey on, even though I used very little. I can’t expressed how bad this flaked, it exaggerative my pores, it was down right embarrassing the first time I wore it out, because it ended up looking so bad after an hour of it being on. It was super dry, got crumbly looking and was coming off in little clumps, when I touched my skin, yet it also never seemed to fully set or dry no matter what I did. I tried this 4 times, trying differing application methods , prepped skin with different moisturizers, primers, used/didn’t use setting powers. Even tried using it all by itself with no skin prep, or anything, just all different kinds of combinations experimenting with half and half on my face, all with the same horrible HORRIBLE results. I ordered 2 of these and even tried the other bottle thinking maybe the first one was just bad, and same results. I’ve always been able to make a foundation work, they may not be my favorite, won’t be my go, nor will I buy them again, but usually I can make them work in some way, enough to use them up on certain days where I’m not really going anywhere important. Lol. This one I’m going to just toss both tubes, it’s that bad!! There is no saving this one.

This, reminded me of my middle school years (90’s) when you caked on the foundation and then added a pound of powered on top of it, because we didn’t know any better back in the day. No thanks!

Let me start by saying I have had problematic skin my whole life. When I was younger I had acne-prone skin with an oily Tzone. Now that I’m older, the oily skin is gone but I still break out from hormones or by eating peanuts. My cheeks are uneven from the old acne scars, nothing extreme but it can make matching foundation tough. Both when I had younger oily skin and now that I have normal skin finding a foundation that covers without being visible, or too heavy, or settling in pores, or drying, has been near impossible.

I have bought drugstore foundations and brand name foundations. BB creams and CC creams. Mineral foundations and serum foundations. I even own an airbrush foundation machine. None of them were great, although my skin tends to hate occlusive products so the BB/CC creams and the mineral foundations (BE brand especially) seem to blend the best and don’t annoy my skin.

A few years ago I found ELTAMD tinted mineral sunscreen at my dermatologist office (now I buy here on Amazon) and that has been my holy grail product ever since. It offers lightweight coverage that I don’t feel on my skin. I use that, and spot concealer as needed, followed by a light tinted powder bake and then brush off excess. This gives me light coverage with concealment and a nice glow.

There are times, though, that I would like to use something on top of the eltamd tinted sunscreen to offer more coverage. Or when I need to have professional photos, since the titanium dioxide in the sunscreen isn’t great for photo taking. So I continue to try out different products for something that disappears into my uneven skin, improves the appearance of discoloration, but that isn’t visible as foundation. When I saw the COVERGIRL, Clean Fresh Skin Milk Foundation as a top item for tik tokers and influencers, I was excited to try it.

I bought the shade 540 Light. I am usually between a Fair and a Light. Because of my faded acne scares, I like a little more yellow as opposed to pink in the undertones, in order to even my complexion out. I almost bought the 530 Fair/Light but I have some other products that are too light so I figured I could lighten the 540 Fair by hand if it was too dark. It turned out to be a great match out of the tube for my fairly light skin. There are over a dozen shades offered but because of how lightweight this stuff is, I suspect that there is a bit of forgiveness in the application.

This Covergirl Clean Fresh Skin Milk is advertised to be “without Formaldehyde, phthalates, parabens, sulfates and talc. 100% vegan foundation. All day healthy glow: light coverage for all skin types. Nourishes skin with good-for-you ingredients: Infused with hydrating coconut milk and Aloe extract for a youthful, dewy glow”.

Description sounded pretty healthy and the price was great (single digits retail and the price from this seller was great. Worth noting that the different shades had different prices when I bought.) It arrived five days after my Thursday purchase.

I will get to the most important thing, first. This product contains silicones. The third ingredient is a ‘cone, and there are others further down the list. I don’t think silicones should be in any product that claims to be ingredient focused. Silicones are in a lot of products that claim to be “oil free”. When you apply them, they slide right on smoothly and seem great. However, I did a home experiment many years ago. I had an Almay moisturizer that came in two formulas. One was “oil free” with silicones and the other version was near identical but contained oils. I put one on each side of my face. The oil formula seemed heavier upon first application. But a few hours later, I looked at the “oil free” side that had the silicone ingredients was VERY OILY. Like in need of blotting papers oily. The oil formula side was NOT oily and looked much better. So the silicone oil-free formula made my skin produce MORE oil and the oil containing formula must have absorbed into my skin and not caused an oil production trigger.

I have also learned that while my hair loves silicone shine products, if I use them I start to get little pimples on my chest and should areas a few days later. Both of these effects (increasing oil and breakouts) are not uncommon with silicones. There’s plenty of data out on silicones but I think it’s important to test them out on your skin and hair. I am sure that some people are fine with them, but for others, they may lead to oily skin and breakouts. Ironically this is what many of us buy foundation to hide so if you aren’t cautious it can become a cycle of covering up pimples and causing pimples. I highly recommend that you test any new skin product for a day or two before applying it all over, especially if it’s full of chemicals and silicones. Testing on the skin behind your ear is a good way to check for breakouts.

Since I am older, my skin is a little more forgiving so I did try this product out even though it has silicones in it. I applied on bare skin, no primer or sunscreen. The color was great. The coverage was light but it did help to even out my skin color. I had a slightly dry area from where I had spot treated a breakout, and this product did seem to make that dry area more noticeable so I don’t think this would be good for dry flaking skin. It dried to a very matte finish. After a few hours, my skin still looked matte so it didn’t seem to make my skin oily with just a few hours of use. It did seem to handle visible pores well and slightly hid that areas.

One of the big differences between cheapo makeup and good quality makeup is that the cheap stuff will use whatever leftover petrochemicals from industrial manufacturing in them to save on cost. Cheap products often don’t improve your skin, they just work to hide problems but because the recipe isn’t meant to help skin, the products over time often WORSEN your skin. A good brand will care a lot about the formula and will try to IMPROVE your skin over time, in addition to working to hide whatever skin flaws you’re hiding. My EltaMD tinted sunscreen does this, it hides, blends and heals sensitive skin. That stuff is also expensive. This Covergirl Clean Fresh product does a good job for color and light coverage but I believe it will worsen many skin problems over time because of the cheap ingredient list. They promote that it does not have sulfates, etc which is just marketing because foundations don’t typically include detergents or surfactant cleansers like sulfates anyway. I really don’t like that Covergirl promotes this as a products for cautious skin care but then fills it up with cheap silicones. So I don’t have a lot of faith in a product that is blatantly misleading with cheap ingredients that are not healthy or good for skin.

That being said, overall, for the price point, I think this is a good product if you are not fighting acne and if you don’t have dry skin. Especially if you don’t have money for a better formula or brand. If you have oily or combo skin that never breaks out, it may be a holy grail for you. The price is great and performance wise it really was excellent for the price point. But if your skin is less than perfect or flaky or sensitive, I suggest trying this for a few days to make sure it won’t create issues. The ingredient list is tiny on the container, I will share below. You get 1 fluid ounce of product which isn’t a lot, I would think daily use would be a month’s worth of product. For the price point, if I forgot my foundation while traveling, or needed a quick product or something to leave in my desk for touch ups, I would use this but I won’t be using it daily due to the silicones. It is better to spend a little more for products that improve your skin over time. But for <$10 it is worth trying if you don't have holy grail products already.

Ingredients:

Aqua/Water/Eau, Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Acetyl Glucosamine, Niacinamide, Sodium Chloride, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, PEG/PPG-18/18 Dimethicone, Mica, Ammonium Acrylates Copolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Panthenol, Caprylyl Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Sodium Benzoate, Alcohol Denat., Dimethicone, Methicone, Disodium Deceth-6 Sulfosuccinate, Tocopherol, Laureth-30, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Pentylene Glycol, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Fruit Extract, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Citric Acid, Fructose, Sodium Hydroxide, Urea, Allantoin, Maltose, Sodium Lactate, Sodium PCA, Trehalose, Phenethyl Alcohol, Potassium Sorbate, Glucose, Silybum Marianum Seed Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Limonene, Linalool
[May Contain/Peut Contenir/+/-:Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)].

**I have rather yellow/warm undertones to my skin, have oily skin, and bought 520 FAIR**

I’m pretty sure it’s just not the color for me, but overall it’s not a bad product if it’s the right color for you! I’ll start with just the product basics and then go over my personal wear of it.

The foundation is very light and sheer and offers a nice, subtle dewy effect when applied. It isn’t thick, doesn’t have a strong scent, and comes in a cute little bottle about the size of my hand, just a little smaller. It’s quite moisturizing (personally won’t advise for oily prone skin, will detail below), and offers longer lasting wear than I’ve gotten out of other powders and liquid foundations (all without a primer/setting spray, including this one). Overall it seems like a good product for it’s price! It just wasn’t for me.

As I mentioned, I have rather yellowy/warm undertones to my skin. I don’t have pinker/cooler undertones to my skin. Applying this with a VERY, VERY sheer coat to my hand and face was okay and matched seemingly perfectly!, though it clearly didn’t offer ANY type of coverage that way. One more light coat and it proved to be too grey/whitening. Though it matches my skintone/lightness, it doesn’t match my undertone at all, and looks extremely unflattering lol. I also have very oily skin, and my skin oils up within about 8 hours of washing. This creates a weird build up and unflattering appearance to the foundation when the oil builds (didn’t use a primer/setting spray btw, don’t know how it will change with those added).

If you have oily skin, and if you’re warmer/more yellow undertoned like I am, the 520 Fair might not be for you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t see any other reason not to buy this foundation. It’s good for it’s price!

After being unable to purchase my usual natural foundation, I was looking for a replacement that wouldn’t cost the earth. I was super surprised to find that CoveGirl now has a range of products that are not only natural but inexpensive. I love that this foundation is free of phthalates, parabens, sulfates and talc and that it is also moisturizing.
I ordered it in fair and it was a good match for my skin. It goes on smooth, blends well and feels light on my skin (which is normal with an occasional hint of dryness in the winter). It is not a super thick foundation, but it’s ideal if you want a natural look. It evens out my skin tone perfectly and hides small imperfections. If I had a pimple or something else that stands out more, I’d definitely need to use concealer too, but that is to be expected.
This is one of the best products I’ve found in a long time and it works wonderfully for my skin. If you want a natural product that makes your skin look and feel good, you should definitely give this a try.