Understanding Skin Types and the Makeup for Each

Have you ever struggled to find makeup that agrees with your skin? Knowing what type of skin you have is hands down one of the most important factors when building your skincare routine and makeup bag. 

Some ingredients work better for different skin types, and understanding your skin type is key to picking the right products with the right ingredients that will let your natural beauty shine—without greasiness or irritation. While everyone’s skin is different, there are five basic skin types that the American Academy of Dermatology Association recognizes. 

Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin can become itchy or inflamed by the weather, certain skincare products, or other stressors. Your skin may burn or become itchy easily, or you may have visible reactions like hives, rashes, or redness. 

Those with a sensitive skin type can react easily to certain products they put on their face, so looking at ingredient labels is crucial to avoiding irritation and blemishes.

Makeup for Sensitive Skin

Cool, clean makeup—and skincare—is our mantra. If you experience sensitive skin, our high-grade formulations give you plenty of options for products you want to try without worrying about skin reactions. 

Like our Light Moisture Cream—it's a gel-moisturizer hybrid that goes on smooth and is made with niacinamide, a powerhouse ingredient that evens skin tone and strengthens your skin's barrier. Once you've applied that as a base, our blendable and buildable What the Foundation is a great next step. It's packed with skin-nourishing ingredients like jojoba oil and sodium hyaluronate, so not only will you get as much as or as little coverage as you'd like to cover up signs of sensitivity, you can be confident that you won't experience any flare-ups.

Oily Skin

People with oily skin types tend to deal with shiny skin by the end of the day. Makeup can tend to slide off, and breakouts may be a big skin concern. Those with oily skin may experience blackheads on the nose, cheeks, forehead, and chin, or pores that are visible and enlarged. 

Those with oily skin may also have overactive sebaceous glands, causing pimples to form. While it might seem like you’d want to use products that dry out your face (like oil-free skin care products), this can cause an imbalance and make your glands think they need to produce even more natural oils. Combating oily skin is all about balance, which you can learn more about here. 

Makeup for Oily Skin

Powder is often a go-to for those with oily skin as it helps to absorb excess oil and keep your skin from looking too greasy. The Bronzer and The Best Blush come in silky powder formulas that give you a flush of color or a bronzed glow  without a cakey finish. 

Still want a little glow after you apply your powder products? Use Miracle Balm sparingly on the places where you want a highlight or subtle shimmer, like on your cheekbones or tip of the nose.

Dry Skin

Dry skin is essentially caused by a loss of water in the skin, and it is characterized by having dull or flaky skin. Dry skin may feel tight or itchy, or it may even crack after taking a shower, washing your face, or even thanks to the weather and humidity. And as we age, we tend to experience dryness in some form.

Your skin also produces less sebum, which sounds great when it comes to blemishes, but you may not feel that way when your skin is flaky and tight.

Makeup For Dry Skin

When it comes to makeup for dry skin, the important thing is to pick products that won’t dry your skin out any more. Lean into balms and creams that add moisture to your skin while providing coverage and giving you a hydrated look.

Our What The Foundation not only gives you the natural coverage you want but its jojoba oil and sodium hyaluronate, a humectant, keeps your skin moisturized and you looking fresh-faced. 

Shimmer Face Oil offers luminosity without a greasy feel, and it is the perfect product when you want to refresh a dull complexion. 

Combination Skin

If you have an oily t-zone (that’s your nose, forehead, and chin) but dry patches on other areas of your face, you likely have a combination skin type. 

Makeup for Combination Skin

Pay attention to where your dry and oily areas are, and use products appropriate for those concerns. Reach for The Face Pencil to cover any areas of darkness or redness in your t-zone; with over 25 colors to choose from, you have plenty of options no matter where you are using it. 

If you experience dryness on your cheeks, Lip and Cheek Stick will be an effortless wash of color while nourishing the skin with castor seed oil. It contains vitamin E, a holy grail in skincare, that softens the skin and soothes inflammation. 

Normal Skin

What is “normal” anyways? When it comes to skin types, normal simply means that you don’t have any sensitivities or skin concerns that need treatment or extra care.

Makeup for Normal Skin

With a normal skin type, your best course of action is to maintain your current skincare and makeup routine. You can experiment and find what works best for your lifestyle. We’re all about enhancing your natural beauty, so nail down your effortless look with a few of our staples. 

Keeping a few shades of our Miracle Balm on hand gives you options if you want a sun-kissed glow or the perfect pop of pink. Give some color and brightness to your eyes with Just A Sec, which offers a crease-proof wash of color. 

Prep Your Skin

No matter what type of skin you have, it’s important to prep your skin for whatever makeup you are applying. This allows your makeup to be applied smoothly and look flawless. Here at Jones Road, we have a few favorites to help out with that.

Cleansers

Keeping your skin clear and clean is easy with The Cleansing Stick, which will effortlessly melt away your makeup and other impurities that your skin picks up throughout the day. Good for all skin types, it leaves your skin feeling clean without stripping it of its essential oils. Perfect for those who experience dry skin.

While oils sound scary to those with already oily skin, our Cleansing Stick contains sunflower seed oil that helps the skin rid itself of breakout-inducing bacteria. Sunflower seed oil also contains fatty acids, and those with acne have been found to have an insufficient amount of fatty oils on their skin. 

Moisturizers

If you experience dry skin all over or just have areas of dry skin (looking at you, combo types), you already know that moisturizers are one of the most important pieces of your skincare arsenal. Miracle Cream will be the product you reach for to experience plump and refreshed skin. 

It may seem counterintuitive to moisturize your skin if you are not experiencing dry skin, but you want to keep those oil levels in check, so they don’t go into overdrive. Enter the Light Moisture Cream. 

This gel-hybrid moisturizer will absorb into your skin easily. It contains niacinamide to help support balanced sebum production, promoting a bright and even-looking skin tone. 

Prevention is Important

We can’t say this enough: sunscreen is a must-have product to apply every day, no matter what skin type you have. Yes, every single day. 
There are plenty of sunscreens out there for every skin type. Remember to use sunscreens that are broad spectrum, which means they offer protection against both UVA and UVB rays.  

Knowing Your Skin Type = Less Makeup Problems

When you know what ingredients your skin is calling out for, you can build a routine that will lead to a better complexion and highlight your natural beauty.

That means learning how to pick out the right products for your skin and letting your best features shine.