super natural; Do you suffer from foundation-phobia-avoiding makeup out of fear it will make your face look fake.(Column)

Byline: Ivy Tomkins

There are two types of women in the world: those who wear foundation and those who don't. I have always been an emphatic don't. Foundation-the idea of covering one's face in base-has always baffled me. Would Katharine Hepburn wield a trowel in poppy beds wearing a faceful of foundation? Would Amelia Earhart wear makeup under her goggles as she piloted over Tonga?

This is why when a seemingly bare-faced, un-made-up friend confessed that she wore foundation-not to mention powder and concealer, and lots of it-on a daily basis, I was genuinely stunned. "Foundation is the ultimate magic trick," she said, explaining that when it's correct in texture and tone, it helps create an airbrushed, slightly more perfect version of yourself. Unlike old, heavy formulas, new light-diffusing ones make today's foundation weightless, sheer, practically invisible. "If it's worn right, no one should know you're wearing it. That's the point," she said. A more perfect version of myself. This was appealing.

And so I began my quest-to explore the inner depths of my own cosmetics aversion, to overcome my foundation-phobia. It was Fear Factor, Vogue-style.

First stop: the Internet. Did you know there are chat rooms where women across the English-speaking world convene to discuss foundation pros and cons; share arcane foundation-application tips; rant and rave about foundations loved, foundations loathed, foundations lost?

I soon discovered just how seriously the pro-foundation camp takes its makeup. Passions rage. Nostalgia runs rampant. On Epinions.com, each "consumer reviewer" is the star of her own cosmetics drama. "I was scared of foundation for years and years," wrote a preschool teacher in Oregon named Kimm. "It seemed to be something that women spackled onto their faces and then spent hours blending, covering, concealing, and matching. It was not for me." But that was before she discovered Cover Girl.

Inspired-and having educated myself on the basics, from straightforward liquid to the alchemical "liquid to powder" to futuristic color-correctors-I stepped intrepidly into the unknown: Saks Fifth Avenue.