Face Basics | Steps to a Flawless Base: #3 Foundation..part I

Alright time finally to get that beautiful, picture perfect skin with the help of foundation :D I'm splitting this one into two because there was wayyy too much to talk about! So this is part I, part II will be up shortly after so you may read at your leisure :)

#3 Applying foundation

 Which Foundation?

I won't even begin to try and answer this question, it depends on YOU. Your skin is different to the next persons and the next and the next...and what may work for dry skin Susan, may not work for dry skin you, oily skin Laura may recommend something that gives oily skin you loads of spots! So I'm afraid it is about trying out lots of different ones to find the one you love.

 I've tried SO many, i kid you not. have used approximately...10 different ones over the past...5 years I would say? Which is a lot if you think about it, that's not 10 foundations in total that's just 10 different types. Which is a lot if you think had I found one I love I wouldn't have changed them around so much...so let's begin on my foundation journey... (not from the very beginning, thats boring)

1. MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC40/35/30/25

-  Started wearing this when I was in school, about 16 I think, I may be wrong - so my skin as pretty bad at this age, adolescent acne which just did not clear up.

So...I took a trip to the MAC store, it was all very exciting and colourful and grown up and the lady sat me down and picked the shade NC40 and NC35 and began to apply to see which was better. 

I had said I need a full coverage to hide away all the grossness, and at that age you just think 'Don't let anyone see my spots just give me a plain, brand new face' you don't think about letting skin breathe and healing the problem. And to be fair she did just that, MAC Studio Fix is a medium/full coverage liquid foundation, that masked everything and applied really well with a sponge or brush. At that age, I didn't know about setting with powders, but I would recommend it now as it is quite a slippery foundation. But looking back, it was far too cakey and thick on me and that is purely lack of knowledge on my part - I didn't know how to apply it well. (oh poor, naive 16 year old me... :( )

This broke me out like you will not believe. And the thing is, at that age, I did not know it was the foundation making it worse and I just applied more and more, it was a catch 22 situation and just awful. I then heard a lot of MAC foundations cause breakouts with different skin so if you are using MAC and you can't figure out where all these spots are coming from, try taking a break from that foundation and see if it makes a difference.

Also, why did my shade change you may ask? MAC staff do not always know everything guys! I am of Pakistani origin, I am quite fair, and despite what MAC staff think I do NOT have a purely yellow undertone -_- I think this is what irritates me the most, they categorise into NC and NW far too strictly, and looking back at pictures I hate how I resemble a Simpsons character and just look far too yellowy and dark in comparison to my real skintone.

Anyway so I was NC40 for quite a while, and my sister always said why are you so dark with foundation on? She went without the help of an MUA and picked NC20. Yes..NC20! Granted, she used it sheerly as she has very good skin, but still that was a better match for her than the probable NC30 an MUA would have chosen. I even proved this to the MUA instore by telling her to try NC25 and NC30 on me and she agreed there was hardly any difference. 

I stuck to NC25 in winter/NC30 in the end and it worked out a lot better for me, so definitely try a couple shades lighter and see if it does seem too ashy or if it lightens your complexion without being a completely different shade to your neck.

 Bobbi Brown Natural Finish Long Lasting Foundation - forgotten my shade I'm sorry!

So once my MAC ran out, ( I was on my 4th or 5th bottle I think of that) I decided to branch out into something new, and went to Selfridges around the concessions..coming across Bobbi Brown. She picked their 'bestseller' for me as I said I wanted something with good coverage ( I was still acne prone at this point, thank you MAC) but not so yellowy and cakey, and she recommended this. I came home, tried it twice and hated it! It didn't cover half as well as MAC Studio Fix and that was my biggest concern. I went back to the counter and made a huge fuss but she said 'It is our bestseller madam, and we don't do full coverage I'm sorry' and I was still standing with the stupid bottle in my hand. So, I stuck to it for a bit longer...

...and fell in love. It really was long lasting, and not cakey in the slightest. The reason I had hated it was that it was not so thick - it is more medium coverage than medium full and I found it hard to cover any acne scars with it. 

Almost a month into using this properly my skin cleared up a lot and that confirmed my fears of MAC Studio Fix, so with a clearer skin this looked so nice, it gave me a glowy, natural look without being shiny and lasted a really long time. I did finish the bottle quite quickly though, so I would say this is better for clearer skin than acne prone if you are looking for good coverage.

This cost about £31 and for a student that's a bit eek worthy, especially as it finished in about 3ish months ( my foundation lasts about 5-6 normally).

Wow okay I need a break...Part II coming up!