How Sunday Riley's New Foundation Will Make You An Influencer, According To Sunday Riley Herself

Introducing a new foundation to an already saturated market definitely presents a challenge. One scroll through the Sephora homepage shows just how many there are to choose from, and often, it's a matter of choosing between not just shade, but level of coverage, too. Amidst the vast array of options, skin care and now makeup brand Sunday Riley wanted to stand out and make a product that would appeal to many different kinds of people: That's why Sunday Riley's The Influencer Foundation was designed with everyone in mind. Everything from the new shade range and formula to the name was designed to make it feel like it was created specifically for the user.

"We want to make sure people feel like this is their brand," founder and CEO Sunday Riley tells Bustle.

What's different about the The Influencer Foundation is that it was created by a skin care brand, so attention to how the product interacts with your skin — and with other products — was key in the development of the formula. According to Riley, The Influencer formula works with in sync with Sunday Riley skin care.

"It's really important when we create skin care that we try to make sure that all the bases will play well together and you won't get the rolling sensation," Riley explains. "That same thing can happen with foundation. If the ingredients don't play well together it won't work as nicely. These [foundations] are all purposefully layerable."

This isn't the first time that the brand has dabbled in makeup, though all of the previous makeup products have been discontinued. The brand believes that The Influencer foundation represents a new chapter, and has been a long time coming. During the development process, Sunday Riley made sure to take feedback from their customers seriously. According to Riley, brand devotees have been asking for a foundation and foundation advice, so the brand gave their customers both in the form of a highly versatile, user-friendly formula. The long-wear foundation comes in an ombre tube and is available in 20 shades. It promises versatility, and you can tailor your shade and your coverage with every bottle.

"We wanted to make sure that we included everyone [and their preferences]. Each shade can be sheered out, so it can go about two or three different types of people," Riley tells Bustle. "If you want full coverage, you can keep layering it on. But you can do a little less coverage if you want, which is what we call a 'real skin finish.'"

According to Riley, naming products is really important to the brand's DNA. "The Influencer" was chosen to keep with the theme of inclusion and versatility — in other words, the branded wanted to offer a comprehensive approach to foundation that works for everyone.

"There's a lot of makeup influencers that talk about how to apply makeup," says Riley. "This is a tool that they can use and the average person can use to feel like they're also an influencer."

The new foundation is available on the Sephora website right now for $42. According to Riley, the brand has been working on lowering their prices as time goes on and keeping the brand affordable for people.

If you want a chance to try out the foundation before you buy it, you can head to the pop-up shop from now until April 15 at 201 Mulberry Street in New York City. Otherwise, you can cop The Influencer on Sephora, and keep your eye out for more: Riley says that there's much more to come after the brand's highly anticipated return to cosmetics.