Kosas' New Foundation Gave Us Our Dream "No-Makeup-Makeup" Skin

If your love for makeup tutorials, beauty reviews, and skincare hacks landed you on #BeautyTok, then you’re probably familiar with the Kosas Revealer Concealer ($28)—a product that instantly developed a cult-following thanks to its countless positive reviews on TikTok. The concealer caught the attention of makeup enthusiasts on the platform last year, who fell in love with the formula's creamy consistency and natural finish. And when some users started mentioning how they were using the product as both concealer and foundation, the clean beauty brand immediately took note.

Keeping its community at the forefront of its product development, Kosas set out to create a sister foundation for the popular concealer, just as their loyal fans had requested. Today (February 10), marks the launch of the Revealer Skin-Improving Foundation ($42), a medium-coverage complexion product enriched with skincare ingredients and SPF 25. 

“We received so many comments, emails, and DMs asking when the formula was going to be made into a foundation,” Sheena Yaitanes, founder of Kosas tells Byrdie exclusively. “It really was the amazing response to Revealer Concealer that led to the creation of the Revealer Foundation.” Eager to try out the brand's "most requested product ever," we asked Byrdie editors to put the new Kosas Skin-Improving Foundation to the test. Ahead, get all the details about the launch, and read our honest reviews.

The Inspiration 

Yaitanes knew exactly what she wanted to achieve when creating the Revealer Foundation, as she too fell in love with applying the brand's concealer all over her face to achieve a “super smooth finish.” 

“As a makeup lover for life, I wanted to create the dream foundation," she tells us. "Something that just instantly blends in, looks like a second skin, blurs, smooths, minimizes pores, and does it all while being super comfy and not looking cakey."

Since the new launch was so highly requested, Yaitanes says the team took their time to make sure every aspect was well thought out, including the packaging. Since the founder is a big believer in how colors can affect our moods, the brand wanted to include yellow accents on the packaging to help customers feel confident whenever they reach for the foundation. "Yellow offers that real feeling of power and confidence,” she explains.

And just like its sister product, the new foundation was also inspired by a lightbulb, of all things. "I wanted to get away from the idea that makeup is about fixing or covering something that’s wrong," says Yaitanes. Instead, the product is meant to illuminate rather than hide: “Revealer is about stepping into your light and revealing your brightest skin.

The Formula 

Creating a foundation that lives up to the hype of Kosas' best-selling concealer was no easy feat, and Yaitanes is the first to admit that the brand didn't get the formula right on their first (or second, or third) try. “It definitely took a lot of work and endless trials to get here, but I'm so proud of the result," she says of the new Revealer foundation, which comes in 36 shades with options for different undertones.

To make the product feel like a second skin, the brand infused the formula with a number of skincare ingredients, including niacinamide to help even out skin tone, squalane to balance oil and moisture levels, and arnica to calm irritation. Meanwhile, the inclusion of hyaluronic acid ensures a juicy, hydrated finish.

Not only do these ingredients help the foundation look amazing on, but they also work to improve the texture and tone of your skin overtime. And since Kosas wanted the new foundation to be a one-stop shop for dewy, vibrant skin, the brand also added SPF 25 to the formula to provide broad-spectrum UV and blue light protection.

The result is a weightless, blurring foundation that feels like a skincare treatment but offers the coverage of a complexion product. Best of all, it lasts all day with zero cakiness whatsoever.

Kosas Revealer Skin-Improving Foundation $42.00

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The Reviews 

Star Donaldson, Senior Social Media Editor

This foundation is like a creamier version the Kosas Tinted Face Oil ($42). It goes on majorly sheer and dewy but is buildable when you need it to be. I blended it into my skin, and then added some additional product where my blemishes were still a bit darker. I let it sit for two minutes or so before blending and it gave me the coverage I needed. Kosas really has the whole "glowy-skin-with-one product" thing figured out. If you like the Tinted Face Oil, this is your winter alternative.

Jasmine Phillips, Social Media Editor

I was pleasantly surprised by Kosas’ new foundation. Not only was I impressed by their shade range for deeper skin tones, but the formula gave me a "my-skin-but-better-glow." It blended very easily and gave the perfect amount of coverage without looking cakey. I love that it’s packed with so many skin-loving ingredients like caffeine, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and SPF. My oily skin approves.

Emerald Elitou, Beauty News Writer

For a flawless base, I like to apply my foundation with my hands before pressing it into my skin with a beauty sponge, a technique I picked up from TikTok creator, xoxoEmira. While I've had a couple of occasions where my foundation looked a little patchy after using this method (nothing is perfect), the Kosas Revealer Foundation was nearly undetectable. It went on so smoothly with the hand and sponge application method that I felt like I wasn’t wearing any makeup. 

I absolutely love the shade range, and while the 320 shade I chose wasn’t a perfect match for my skin, it was still very close. I appreciated that it allowed my freckles to shine through and made my skin look like the best version of itself. Overall, the formula felt hydrating but not oily, and it didn't leave my skin feeling dry at the end of the day. 

Karli Bendlin, Senior Editor

My favorite part about this foundation is that it feels like absolutely nothing on my skin. Normally by the end of the day, I’m all but running to the sink to wash my makeup off. The first time I wore this foundation, I genuinely forgot I was wearing anything at all, and nearly went to bed without taking it off. And while the formula feels invisible, the glow it leaves behind is anything but.

Jesa Marie Calaor, Editor

This creamy, comfortable-wearing foundation started out looking a little too light on my medium-tan complexion, but ultimately blended out to look like my skin (but, you know, better). It seems like the stuff of magic, but is actually its brilliant formulation. Cosmetic chemist Ginger King explains that this effect is thanks to its encapsulated pigments. "Upon pressing, it releases the right amount of pigment," she says. The end result: A skin-like finish that hides my redness, but not the beauty marks on my cheeks that I love so much.