I never wear makeup, do I use powder with my foundation if my skin is dry?

[Anonymous]

I have to go to a thing for my college and we have to dress professionally and they ask that the women wear makeup. I literally never wear makeup, and have no idea what to buy.  I need a foundation for dry skin, preferably pretty cheap because I won't use it that much. Also, if my skin is dry and i get a foundation for dry skin, do I use a setting powder? do i bake? I have no idea what im doing. lol. I just need a light coverage but I don't want a bb cream or like a tinted moisturizer. thank you for any tips!

[Brutalitops]

@Anonymous Honestly I think that advice is outdated BS- if you feel most confident with no makeup then that's how you should go IMO, no need to add to the stress of a professional event by throwing yourself off kilter with your appearance. I know some industries/professions are different than mine so here's my 2 cents on your question.

If your skin is dry and you're inexperienced, I would go with a lightly tinted moisturizer since it is lower maintenance (an exact match isn't going to be glaringly as obvious as with a full coverage formula, for example) and will still give a more "flawless" finish. I would not purchase a powder or bake as I think that is wholly unnecessary in this case.

I also think there are some higher-impact makeup items that I personally would use to upgrade my look and still skip the foundation. Mascara, a tinted brow gel, and a tinted lip product that is comfortable to you would go a long way toward defining your features without needing foundation. If you wanted to take it a step further, a cream blush and/or highlighter (burt's bees has some wonderful stick options of both) and maybe an undereye concealer would finish the job. If you wouldn't use the concealer again, try getting a sample to take home in an appropriate color- concealer should be 1 shade lighter than your skin tone.

Good luck!