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New to the Foundation Family

What is it with me and foundations, eh? I have *cough* three (albeit rather small) drawers *cough* of bases that really do cover all bases and yet still nothing beats the thrill of clicking checkout on yet another addition to the foundation family. Perhaps it’s cause I’m being a bit of a base floozy at the moment (the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk still wears the crown but my ‘everyday base’ slot could do with some more options), or it could be to do with my makeup mantra that preaches if you’re sorted on the foundation front then who gives two hoots about the rest of it. Gurl, you’re gonna look good. So with a lighter coverage focus, there’s been three new additions to the drawers…

The one for if you’ve tried every tinted moisturiser: By Terry Sheer Expert in 8 Intense Beige – £44 – from Space NK. So there’s already a bottle of this in my stash, but it’s in a slightly-off shade for me that I grabbed in a rush ‘no, it’s ok I’ll shade match myself‘ moment of madness. Big mistake. That was almost a year ago now, but two encounters lead to me giving this another go. One – I bumped into Ruth from A Model Recommends the other day and her skin looked unsurprisingly flawless, she credited this and dubbed it as one of her favourite foundations ever. Then I did some work with Space NK (am I dreaming?!) and the makeup artist used this on me. Shade match sorted I was sold with the finish and the next day I exited Space NK with this in my grips. Probably my favourite of the three spotlighted today – sheer, but with just the right amount of coverage for ‘ok’ skin days and with a light and luminous look.

The one for all-natural beauty lovers: RMS Beauty ‘Un’ Cover-Up in 11 – £28 – from Cult Beauty. I already have this too in a shade that’s slightly off for me right now – online shopping for foundation is not the one. But a mix of the newly purchased 11 and my old 22 works perfectly – plus I like the appeal of owning the same formula in two shades to custom mix your own blend, always makes me feel a little Lisa Eldridge-y in the morning. If the dewy look isn’t your thing then look away now, but if you like a little sheen to the skin and/or are into organic offerings and/or are a drier skinned lass then it’s worth a bit of researching into. I tend to use my Real Techniques Buffing Brush with it – pushing down into the product and then lightly sweeping all over.

The one for a no makeup, makeup base: CHANEL Vitalumiere Aqua in B20 – £32 – Selfridges. Eagle-eyed Instagrammers pointed out that this in fact a repurchase for me. Kudos. I picked this up originally when it first launched and wasn’t wowed – in fact I think it made the cut for an ‘overhyped, underwhelmed’-type video. But that was a while back now (I think I was in the grip of my Jemma Kidd Light As Air Foundation thang) and my tastes have changed a little so after passing that bottle onto a mate I thought I’d reattempt a love affair. So yes, the staying power still isn’t there and the coverage is more on the tinted moisturiser side of things, but the the colour match is spot on and I’ve been finding it to work best when I don’t want to apply foundation everywhere, just where it’s required. Tiny rice-sized dollops, blended out with my fingers – I think I’ve finally made amends with it.

So let’s call it a day there; no more room at the foundation inn (for now).

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