Beauty: the best cushion makeup and skincare

If you’re not yet using a cushion, the beauty industry seems intent on your conversion. The Korean technology, whereby skincare and makeup is packaged beneath a cushion and released only when a sponge is pressed down on the porous surface, is popping up all over the western market. L’Oréal Paris’s new Nude Magique Cushion Foundation (£14.99) is the latest, and I like it. It’s a light, cooling base with a glowy, natural finish suitable for any skin type. There are no dark shades, but Kiko’s CC Cream Cushion System (£15.50) is racially inclusive and gives a similarly dewy, but ungreasy, look.

Cushions lend themselves to this sort of light, summery coverage, but their skill set is broadening. This month, Lancôme releases the first high coverage SPF50 foundation (in shades light to dark) dispensed from a cushion. Teint Idole Ultra Cushion (£30) is the brand’s liquid foundation of the same name, poured into a redesigned cushion that allows a thicker base to be filtered through the mesh for a thin, even coverage.

I adore cushions, with notable reservations. You’re paying a premium for the convenience and portability of the packaging, which invariably contains a smaller dose of product than in a traditional bottle or compact (though some cushion products include a refill). There’s also the matter of hygiene: dabbing the same sponge from face to cushion (almost certainly contaminating the product beneath) isn’t ideal long-term.

And yet somehow this doesn’t bother me in the case of blusher, which I’m already used to applying with fingertips that haven’t necessarily been steeped in Dettol. Cheek colour, for me, is where cushions are exemplary. The combination of round sponge and sheer formula makes it easy and quick to apply. Just dab in the colour and pat lightly on the face; there’s virtually no blending necessary.

I’ve been wearing Lancôme’s new Cushion Blush Subtil (£28) all summer, but I’m a long-time fan of IOPE Air Cushion Blusher SPF30 in Rose Pink (£16.92, from Amazon; refills cost around a tenner). The formula is so watery and subtle, it’s perfect for pale faces or those scared of getting blusher wrong. Even easier, and with more pigment, are Peripera’s Ah! Much Real My Cushion Blusher (£13.99, Amazon): five soft, pretty cheek colours with the cushion attached directly to the tube, to be dabbed on like a bingo marker.