If you have oily skin, you probably already know the cycle. Your makeup looks great for the first hour. Then your foundation starts separating around your nose. Your concealer creases. Your makeup disappears in some places and looks heavier in others. By midday, you’re blotting, re-powdering, or starting over completely.
At HALEYS, we’ve never believed oily skin is the problem. The problem is that most makeup wasn’t designed for it.
We sat down with our chemist founder to talk about why makeup behaves differently on oily skin, what most brands get wrong about oil control, and how HALEYS creates makeup designed to defy shine.
A: Because most makeup wasn’t actually designed for it. As someone with oily skin myself, I struggled to find products that could actually control shine and stay looking fresh throughout the day. A lot of formulas look beautiful for the first hour, then separate, slide, oxidize, or disappear once oil comes through. Oily skin isn’t a flaw — it’s a formulation challenge. I wanted to create makeup that works with our skin instead of fighting against it.
A: They think oily skin just needs to be dried out. A lot of oil-control products are extremely matte, overly powdery, or uncomfortable to wear. But when skin feels stripped, it can actually produce even more oil throughout the day.
The goal shouldn’t be eliminating every trace of shine. Healthy skin naturally has dimension and movement.
For me, it was always about balance — creating makeup that helps manage excess oil without making skin look dull and lifeless.
A: Oil changes the way makeup sits and wears throughout the day. If the formula isn’t built to handle that interaction, pigments separate, texture gets emphasized, and makeup starts slipping around the face. Longwear isn’t just about making something dry down — it’s about creating flexible formulas that stay stable as your skin changes throughout the day.
A: We prioritize lightweight performance.
A lot of longwear makeup feels heavy because it relies on thickness or dryness to stay in place. But heavy makeup tends to break apart faster on oily skin.
We formulate differently. Flexible textures, lightweight layers, soft-focus powders, ingredients that help balance oil without suffocating the skin — everything is intentional.
The makeup should move naturally with your skin instead of sitting stiffly on top of it.
A: Because matte alone doesn’t guarantee longevity. Some formulas initially look matte, but they aren’t built to stay stable once oil comes through. We focus heavily on how products wear over time — not just how they look immediately after application.
A: That they need more powder, more coverage, or more layers to make makeup last. Usually the issue starts with the formula itself. If the formula is balanced correctly, you shouldn’t need to pile products on just to survive the day.
A: It’s our entire philosophy.
Not in the sense of “never let skin look natural,” but in the sense of creating makeup that can hold up against excess oil, long days, heat, stress, humidity — real life.
Every product we make starts with the same question: “How will this perform on oily skin six hours from now?” That mindset changes everything.
A: That oily skin isn’t bad skin.
In fact, oily skin often ages beautifully over time. The challenge is simply finding formulas that know how to work with it.
That’s why we’ve always focused on creating makeup that understands oil instead of fighting against it.
A: Re-touch Soft Focus Setting Powder.
It really captures what we’re about: shine control, blurring, longwear performance — but without looking chalky, heavy, or overdone.
That balance is incredibly important to us because people with oily skin are usually tired of having to choose between longevity and natural-looking makeup.
You should be able to have both.
A: “Would someone with oily skin actually want to wear this for 6+ hours?” If the answer is no, we keep refining.
At HALEYS, we believe makeup for oily skin should feel lightweight, comfortable, and wearable throughout real life — not just immediately after application.
That’s why every formula is thoughtfully engineered to help balance oil, resist excess shine, and stay looking fresh longer without feeling heavy on the skin.
Because oily skin doesn’t need more makeup.
It needs makeup that finally understands it.
DESIGNED TO DEFY SHINE™
Contributor: Ashley Ocampo
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