What is NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation good for, according to the experts?

In their reviews, experts say NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation is good for dark spots and post-acne marks (1 expert) and redness (1 expert).

NARS

NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation.

Q: Is NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation worth it?

Mostly yes. 7 of the 10 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 76%.

Q: What is NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation's Guru Score?

NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation holds a Guru Score of 76%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 10 expert reviewers we have collected. At least one expert has named it a Top Pick in its category.

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Foundation

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About this product

A liquid foundation from NARS designed to give a light-reflecting, natural-looking finish with buildable light to medium coverage, formulated with skincare-oriented ingredients and sold in a range of shades.

Full ingredients

Water/Aqua/Eau, C9-12 Alkane, Butylene Glycol, Undecane, Tridecane, Isodecyl Neopentanoate, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Polyglyceryl-6 Polyricinoleate, Polyglyceryl-2 Diisostearate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Diisostearyl Malate, Glycerin, Synthetic Wax, Sodium Chloride, Ophiopogon Japonicus Root Extract, Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Extract, Curcuma Longa (Turmeric) Root Extract, Silybum Marianum Fruit Extract, Aluminum Hydroxide, Magnesium Chloride, Sodium Dilauramidoglutamide Lysine, Tocopherol, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Hydroxyphenyl Propamidobenzoic Acid, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Citric Acid, Sea Water/Maris Aqua/Eau De Mer, Trisodium EDTA, Barium Sulfate, Alumina, Chlorphenesin, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate, Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499), Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891)

Guru Score

76%

Yay

10 experts · Strong agreement

What the gurus are saying

This is the glow foundation that actually behaves like a foundation: a light serum texture with buildable medium coverage that settles semi-matte, without creasing or sinking into pores. The split comes hours later, when some find it turns shiny without powder and fussy about application, better with a sponge than a brush. Shades run warm, and the fragrance is a warning sign for acne-prone skin.

Synthesized from 10 expert reviews · most recent take September 2026

What they liked

Beautiful finish
Coverage beyond a tint
Settles to semi-matte

What they flagged

Fragrance concerns for skin of color
Not acne-safe
Some shades run too warm

Type

FoundationLiquid

Key actives

Vitamin CVitamin E

Formula notes

Fragrance-freeNo drying alcohol

Where to buy

Sephora → Ulta → Amazon → Google →

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What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored

Allie Glines

829k subs

✓Yay

"It's one of the best skin-like foundations. I love that I can layer it with more mattifying products and it kind of morphs it into something a little bit more smooth and glam and matte or like I did today. I kind of paired it with more glowy products and it will maintain a gorgeous glowy finish on the skin. This is so pretty. The texture is just right. It's so lightweight. As soon as you start to like swipe it on the skin, it just erases any discoloration, redness."

Top Pick: foundation

All 17 takes from Allie Glines

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"Their Light Reflecting Foundation is one of my holy grails. [...] I heard Makeup by Kellyanne over on Instagram raving about this new natural matte longwear foundation. She got to try it out before launch and she wore it to the Nars event party and she said that she didn't touch it up with powder. Like she never set the foundation with powder and in flash photos it looked flawless. And she had also been using it on a lot of celebrity clients. So I was like say no more. I have to try it."

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"This is one of my holy grail foundations. [...] I feel like this is such a foolproof foundation for me personally, and I love how it wears. It's not too glowy, not too matte. It's one that works well for everyday, but also you can amp it up for more glam looks. [...] It does feel a little bit more glamorous than like a tinted moisturizer, but it still looks natural enough and has a natural enough finish to be great for everyday. It wears really well on me. It's genuinely one of my favorites."

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"This is the NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation and I thought this would be a great foundation to test with these primers because I know how this wears on me. It wears very well, but it's not super matte at the end of the day. [...] The shade match is impeccable for me on this, I'm wearing shade L2 Mt Blond BL."

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"The Nar light reflecting foundation, I feel like it has made the world a better place."

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"The Nars Light Reflecting Foundation is my Holy Grail, I love this one so much. I'm going to [...] apply this starting on the cheeks, that's where I have the most discoloration, so I like to start with the most product in the area that I want the most coverage and then I'll just take what's left and kind of distribute that evenly across the skin. [...] I'm just pressing that into the skin with my sponge, that combo is actually so pretty."

If I Took You to Sephora, Here's What I'd Buy You! 😍

"If you were looking for a new foundation, if you hadn't ever tried the NARS Light Reflecting, I would buy this for you first. You guys know this is my number one foundation. It just looks good no matter what. I love how versatile it is. I can use this for every day all the way up to a more glam look."

It's HERE!!! My Heart in Your Hands 💕🥹😭

"I'm going to start off with like a sheer layer of foundation, this is the NARS Light Reflecting, my favorite. It's so surreal to me that like the products are available right now."

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"I have been hoping for more shades in this amazing formula. [...] This is something that I genuinely love so much, it's one of my favorite products of the year so far. I feel like it's one of my most used products, similar to my NARS Light Reflecting Foundation, like it's up there in quality and then just how it makes me feel, how it looks on the skin all day, like I'm obsessed."

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"The NARS Light Reflecting is my all-time favorite. I have so many that I love and there's been so many new launches too that are great as far as foundation goes, but this one is just simply the best. If I could go back in time and do my wedding makeup again I would use this as my wedding foundation. That's how much I believe in it and trust it."

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"I was reminded again with this Foundation that it looks pretty upon application but it's how it wears that actually floors me. [...] There's a lot of foundations that look really impressive upon first application but maybe they don't wear the best. This is almost the opposite where the longer I wear it the better my skin looks somehow. It doesn't look bad upon application but you kind of have to trust the process and know that it will look better."

Makeup YOU Said You'll NEVER Buy Again..

"Somebody said the NARS Light Reflecting Foundation it creases too much on them, which made me so sad because it works really well for me. And then somebody else said the NARS Light Reflecting Foundation doesn't work for me. It's okay, I won't take it too personally, but I am a little sad."

The Makeup I'm Thankful For This Year

"I feel like I've used this for the past like two Thanksgiving videos in a row but honestly I don't care because it is just so good. I'm thankful for the NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation because it just does everything I need a foundation to do and then some. Coverage is so spectacular, it's just reliable. I'm just glad this exists is what I'm trying to say."

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"This is my personal favorite foundation. [...] I love this one. [...] It's so so good, it wears beautifully on me and I love how it has buildable coverage as well. It [...] gives just the right amount of glow but it's not greasy. [...] It just looks healthy, like lit from within, but it still sets and wears well all day."

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"This one's amazing too. This is more glowy than the Givenchy and great for every day."

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"The NARS Light Reflecting is one of my holy grail foundations. It has a bit of glow and wears really well on me. I wear the shade Mont Blanc and combine it with the matte Guerlain Terracotta for longevity plus a little glow."

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"The NARS Light Reflecting Foundation is one of the best foundations I've ever tried in my life. [...] If you haven't tried it I'd recommend it first. It's [...] lightweight and glowy, you can wear it every day, and you can also amp it up for more coverage for evening. [...] It's a great one and done foundation that just works for everything."

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Dr. Vanita Rattan

1.23M subs

✓Nay

"It contains fragrance. The finish is beautiful. It's got good pigment coverage, but the fragrance creates cumulative inflammatory input in skin of color. Gorgeous formula, but not acne-safe."

CYoung

96k subs

✓Yay

"I always recommend it to my students because [...] compared to other glow foundations it has a lot more coverage, [...] this actually feels like a foundation instead of a tinted moisturizer. [...] It's semi matte, so [...] as time goes by it settles down instead of making the pores shiny, which makes it feel like a [...] more universal, amazing, well made foundation. I will definitely repurchase it."

The Style and Beauty Doctor

222k subs

✓Yay

"I love this"

Beyond50Skin

32k subs

✓Mixed

"The NARS Light Reflecting Foundation is loved by many of you, and if you can find the right shade, it's a wonderful complexion product. I had trouble finding the right shade, they all run a little bit too warm for me."

All 2 takes from Beyond50Skin

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"NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation is an absolutely beautiful foundation -- viewers' absolute favorite. Unfortunately, they don't make a color that matches my skin tone; it's either too yellow or too pink. I'm hoping they come out with more shades because I would love to be able to use it. I love the way it went on -- it just wasn't a great shade match for me."

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Jamie Genevieve

974k subs

✓Yay

"We're going to be using the light reflecting foundation instead in the shade Santa Fe. Yes, this is going to work. [...] I actually have mixed these foundations together before and I know this one is really nice."

Mixed Makeup

1.46M subs

✓Yay

"If you want something that's glowy, [...] this is way better. It's so far superior. It's lightweight, gives you glow, it looks beautiful, it's not going to crease, it just sits on your skin beautifully. [...] I absolutely love the light serum texture with light to medium coverage."

All 2 takes from Mixed Makeup

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"The two foundations are NARS Light Reflecting Foundation and the Chanel one. [...] I love it, I'm actually surprised how much I love it on my skin. [...] It's the first skin tint to me that truly is a foundation. You get that skin tint glow finish but you also get the staying power and the coverage of a foundation. [...] Sometimes it's a little too glowy, like if it's really hot outside or you're in a really humid climate. It's [...] just so glowy the minute you put it on your skin."

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Dimma Umeh

544k subs

✓Yay

"I'm going to be using my NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation, this one. In this foundation I'm in the shade Maau. I'm Maau in all the NARS foundations, to be honest. I'm going to use about three pumps of this foundation and buff that into my skin. One thing I'd say, though, is that [...] it has almost a paint-like smell to it, but overall it's a very good foundation."

HotandFlashy

1.23M subs

✓Mixed

"When I first put it on it looked so beautiful. It made my pores disappear. I was like oh golden, holy grail. By the end of the day I couldn't stand it. Definitely worth a try for some people, but I don't tend to reach for it even though it does look good at the beginning because I want something that's going to look good all day long. I don't want to think about it during the day."

All 3 takes from HotandFlashy

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"It gets shiny without setting powder and can be finicky about sunscreen and application. It worked great with a sponge but did not go on well with a brush or with my fingers. The wear time is inconsistent - I got two pretty good days out of it and one really good day, but the first day was not good at all. It also gave a lot of flashback when photographed with flash. I'm kind of on the fence on it - not the best I've tried, not the worst I've tried."

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"Within about an hour or two it kind of settled in my wrinkles and by the end of the day it was worn off. [...] I've been experimenting with it [...] and started to like it more. It's kind of a slow burn, not love at first sight. When I used a primer with a lightweight setting powder and setting spray, it looked really good and wore much better. It really does smooth your skin and help to hide imperfections."

Kelly Driscoll

91k subs

✓Yay

"This is the NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation and the color is Doville. [...] I like to start with about one pump and see where I end up because this is a not cheap foundation. [...] I like to put just a little bit on and spread it in a nice really even and thin layer. [...] I shear it out with a beauty blender."