A Million Dollar Question - What Product Should I Use?

If I had a pound for every time I've been asked this question, I'd be a seriously rich woman by now.

The thing is, I can't tell you what foundation you should use and what moisturiser is good for your skin. No one can.

You have to try the products on your own skin to know. It's almost like choosing a perfume, not everything smells good on each and every one of us. Hell, even certain perfumes smell differently on me depending where I am in the world! I had to throw away a few foreign purchases that smelled amazingly on me while abroad, got home and in humid British climate I could not stand them!

So the point I'm trying to make is.... There are loads of blogs about and lots of people claiming certain products are great. While I have no real reason to believe that they have your own best interest at heart (and are not paid by the PR companies to flog a certain product - you'd be surprised how many are and they claim they are not), you should not take some random person's opinion and take it as a given. Not even mine.

That's why I don't want to go there and I don't want to review the products.

So why have I started my blog?

I wanted to highlight the ingredients in products and figure out if they work or not. I want to take apart the list written in gibberish (for most people) and if a company makes up an ingredient and does not tell you that it's fictitious and that only exists in their marketing manager's imagination, I want to point that out.

Sure I'll mention products that I like and I use to make my clients and models up. If something is amazing, and was amazing on many people, I'll write about it.

But to find out if that will work for you, if that colour is any good on your skin, either try it on yourself or book a make up lesson with a pro.

Here's an example.... I love this foundation (Armani Luminous Foundation), it looks amazing on skin, it covers up well without looking like "too much".

Well, I can't wear it. And no, I'm not allergic to it either. I just don't like my skin while using it. I look too "poreless" and fake. Plus there are some silicones in it that don't gel with me so I my skin feels tacky and oily after a while. Becca's Luminous Skin Colour is much better on me, even though I'd sometimes wish it had more coverage.

But would I carry on using Armani? Absolutely!
 
Other people find it fine, so why would I base my point of view on only me?

Same thing with colours. Some colours in "theory" look good on certain skin tones. But that's not taking into an account that a person's skin chemistry can change that same colour and turn it into a something different.

There you go. I won't be recommending moisturisers, but if you're buying something with no active ingredients and paying loads of money for it, don't worry, I'll let you know!

How To Make Your Skin Glow

The trends are funny. The minute you get comfortable with one of them, lets say, shiny skin, some horrible people start telling you that it’s so over and you should be doing matte.

As one of those “horrible people” or make up artists, let me apologise.

What happens is that long before you, the general public, or whoever is reading my humble ramblings, are aware of the so-called “trend”, we the make up artists have been doing it for a while already.

Then the cosmetics companies notice and develop products and then the trend goes mainstream. The minute the trend has gone mainstream, make up artists have gotten sick and tired of the look and have moved on.

One of the easiest changes that makes so much difference is the shine versus matte.

Take the skin for example. In the 80s matte was the look that created a nice flat canvas for all the shading, blushing, and crazy colourful eyes and lips. Then we move onto late 80s and early 90s, as a knee jerk reaction to the previous excess it all got very neutral and nude. Yes nude make up came into vocabulary about then. And skin gradually became less matte.

Mid 90s it was shine central, Vaseline skin came into fashion. Then after that we got dewy, which to a lay person is something not matte and not shiny. But definitely more natural than the matte look. Your skin should appear "glowing" without apparent shine. And the glow is reserved on cheeks and nowhere to be seen on less flattering areas such as nose or forehead. 

Matte had another appearance not long ago with all the 80s revival trends, so we pretty much came full circle.

What I am trying to say that this season the skin is back to dewy. Total shine was never really that flattering, especially not on photographs, so we settled in the middle. Sheer skin, not too much coverage, the look that is very achievable these days with modern foundation formulas.

So how do you do dewy skin you may ask?

This is how I do it.

Apply foundation that you like by dabbing a few dots in the middle of your face and blend it well outwards with a brush. Good choice of foundations would be Armani Luminous Silk foundation, Crème de La Mer The treatment Fluid Foundation, Laura Mercier Moisture Supreme Foundation. I love La Mer foundation, but for such an expensive product, the colours are limited which is stupid really. Laura Mercier Moisture Supreme is excellent as well, and as a bonus it does not have silicones which I personally dislike on my skin.

Many companies sell foundation brushes that are made of microfibre or nylon, I personally like the real sable brushes that I get from Screenface in London, I prefer to blend with real bristle. You blend the foundation into the skin until the foundation kind of disappears and is not visible. You should have now a nice even base and move onto the concealer. The concealer is there to fix any problems you might have such as dark circles or spots or other “blemishes”. By the way, I don’t see freckles as blemishes so don’t go there.

Under eye concealer should be slightly paler than the foundation and blemish concealer should be the same colour. I like Nars concealer. 

You apply both with a fine brush and blend.

Then you apply loose powder. Take a large brush and fix the foundation, especially concentrating on the middle of the face, under eyes, nose, around the nose, chin and forehead. You need the powder to fix the foundation and the concealer. Becca does a really good loose powder (soon to be sadly discontinued grr), it’s called Fine Finishing Powder or use Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder.

And that’s generally it. If your skin is on the dry side, and you find that the powder just “sits” there, I have a trick that will fix that. Spray some Rodial Dragon’s Blood Hylaruonic Tonic on your face, then pat dry with a tissue.

There you go, a perfect dewy look.

And the more time you spend on your skin preparation, the longer your make up will last.

Oh and another point, whatever your skin tone, please don’t use a lighter foundation than your own skin colour. It will make you look weird, pale and unhealthy. If you must,  go a shade darker.  


Main image courtesy of Becca Cosmetic.