What is oil free makeup?

Here we're talking foundation. There are three kinds--oil-based, oil-free and oil-control.


Oil-based makeup contains some sort of fatty content--vegetable oil, lard, something like that. It's good for really dry skin and it's really thick so if you're trying to hide something like a port wine stain it's what you want. It doesn't dry, so you HAVE to powder it. This is used mostly as stage makeup--it's awful to wear all day.


Oil-free makeup contains either a water base or a silicone base. Normally it's water--silicone-base is another kind of stage makeup. This is what most of the makeup in stores is.


Oil-control makeup is sold mostly to teenagers. It's waterbase, but it has a lot of clay in it to absorb skin oils. You don't want this if you have naturally dry skin because it will really dry you out.