#TheSOproject WEEK 3: Foundation

This week the Starting Off project is all about Foundation; one of my favourite things to buy! I've tried some absolute stinkers before,both high and low end but im going to keep this post positive and just tell you about my favourites!

As a teenager foundation was something that was quite daunting to me for a few reasons:
1)My mum discouraged me from using it as I didn't need it.  She was, rightly so, trying to protect my skin from becoming clogged up with an unnecessary amount of product.
2) Seeing other girls the same age experimenting with foundation and appearing at school with bright orange, muddy looking faces made me go for a more subtle look. My school was super strict and made us wash off any traces of make up if we were caught out wearing it, so I'd much rather have just worn a little mascara and powder and be undetectable.
3) Liquid foundation is scary: it's messy, not something I wanted to get all over my clothes and hands and I  didn't feel confident I'd be able to apply it without getting the dreaded tide line around my jaw.


My Recommendations

Young skin
Eventually vanity took over  around the age of 16 and I discovered  Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse.For years and years I used this in the shade Ivory, which was the a perfect match for my pale Northern skin. It served me well: it was cheap, lasted fairly well on the skin and was super easy to apply using my pinkies.

I started to find though that once I was working full time rather than dossing around at college or uni, it wasn't holding up too well by the end of the day and it begun to cling to any dry patches I had.

I think its hard to go wrong with this for teenagers just starting out with make up & I'd definitely recommend it. Currently £7.49 from Boots.

Drugstore/pharmacy

 

 

I would recommend Rimmel Match Perfection which I posted in detail about here. It's cheap and cheerful and the foundation I use the most.
Currently £6.99 from Boots.

Higher end foundation

 

My favourite higher end foundation is Clinique Even Better foundation. It gives a medium to high coverage with a moderately glowy finish but holds my persistent oil off pretty much all day. It is also SPF 15, which is really handy, especially for the winter when I prefer not to bother with a separate SPF. I've just finished this but I'll definitely repurchase, for about the 4th time. Clinique provides a generous choice of 25 shades for this foundation so there's no excuse for not having a perfect match!
Currently £24 from Clinique

Mineral Foundation
Mineral foundation is also a really good option, but for me I only crack this out for days at home and good skin days as I am far too lazy to buff and buff and buff to increase the coverage!

The one I'd recommend is Bare Minerals Original Foundation although its not cheap at £25 it does last ages, especially if you buff buff buff!!
It lasts really well throughout the day and it doesn't feel like you're wearing make up, which would be good for teens at school!

 

Application

Although most foundations can be applied by hand I pretty much always use a brush. I don't like to end up with messy hands when I'm about to go out and I like the smooth finish a brush gives.

 I posted here about the brush I use most for foundation: Real Techniques Buffing Brush. I'm yet to find a foundation that this brush doesn't work with!


What foundation would you recommend?  I'd love some ideas for what to try next!


Suzy
xx

 

MUA Review Series #3 1D Lipstick - Niall, 'Moments'

I mentioned in my Little Treats post that I'd acquired a 1D lipstick, and I've been using it for about a week now so I thought I'd let you know what I think of it.    I have no strong feelings either way about One Direction, and I'm 25 so definitely not the target market, but I absolutely love this little gem!

I picked 'Moments', which is Niall's shade, because out of the 5 I thought it would be the most flattering to my pale skin tone and because it is the easiest to wear for every day.  For work I want something I don't have to worry about bleeding or smudging and something I can quickly reapply without having to get a mirror out.

I have used this 6 out of 7 days this week and I love it. The neutral rosy shade is perfect for daytime and it lasts an amazingly long time. I'd say it stays put for 3 hours on me without needing to be touched up, which is better than my more expensive lipsticks. What I like best, aside from the pretty colour, is that it isn't drying on the lips at all.  The formula is really creamy and comfortable to wear and I'd say it does feel a tad more luxurious than the MUA £1 range.
Some cheap lipsticks taste and smell as though you're ingesting dangerous chemicals, or they smell like an elderly relative, but this doesn't have a strong scent at all.
The embossed 1D on the bullet is a nice touch, although it didn't last long. Considering it's a £3 product aimed at teenagers the packaging is okay.  It's not going to win any style awards but that's fine because the product itself is reeeeally good!  I'm definitely more enthusiastic about this lipstick than 1D themselves... i'm not sure that's what they were going for, but good work on the lipstick anyhow!

Have you tried the MUA 1D collection yet?

Suzy
xx

Little Treats!

As we're squirrelling away every spare penny for the wedding/honeymoon fund at the moment I haven't done a great deal of shopping lately. However, after finally plucking up the courage to go and trying on some wedding dresses (more on that soon), and a stinker of a week at work, I decided I deserved a little treat.

Or 4.

I've been seeing quite a lot of nail art posts on blogs and on Instagram recently  and despite having bought some tools earlier in the year I haven't really gone beyond dots yet. To be honest I'm not sure I have the capacity to go beyond dots - I can but try! So I ended up with a black nail art pen, confetti nail polish and a new top coat all from Barry M.

So far I've only tried the confetti nail polish, and have established it doesn't work on its own too dull and lumpy:

This leaves me a bit unsure when I could use it; perhaps one coat over a pale pink polish? Goodness knows.

I also ended up with a One Direction Lipstick from MUA - Niall's shade, which is called 'moments'. Now I'm 25..and not even a particular fan of 1D, but I didn't see anything odd about me making this purchase, until Adam looked at me as though I'd come completely mad and asked me in a rather derisory tone if I was really buying a One Direction lipstick. Err, yes?! 

I justified it because I liked the colour - it's a nice rosy pink colour ideal for every day.They had the other colours too but they were all a little bit extreme for me!

Barry M is currently on 3 for 2 at superdrug and the MUA One Direction lipsticks are £3 - bargain!

Have you tried the nail art pens or the MUA 1D collection yet?

Suzy

Xx

Real Techniques: Core Collection

When contemplating purchasing this kit around 6 months ago, having read review after review, I was led to believe this would be the best kit, with the best brushes. Ever. I hate any degree of hype surrounding a product, but admittedly these are pretty good brushes!

The core collection comes with a 2-in-1 case and stand which contains 4 brushes: contour brush, buffing brush, pointed foundation brush and detailer brush.

The case is lovely quality and nicely padded to protect the brushes and is also handy for holding your brushes upside down after cleaning them.

However, on your average morning getting ready for work it's way too time consuming and fiddly to be bothered (for me, anyway!) to put the brushes back in after use as they don't slide in easily. So whilst I started off with the best of intentions to mother and care for my new brushes, invariably I just chuck them into my cosmetics bag on my way out of the door and they have to fend for themselves along with the rest of my make-up. They seem to be holding up fine so far!

The actual quality of the brushes is really good and they are mostly lovely and soft. I haven't had a single hair fall out of any of the 4, which is impressive after 6 months' use. I love the bright colour of the brushes too and they are really easy to clean.

However, in effect I only use 50% of the brushes. 

The buffing brush I use daily: it applies my foundation wonderfully and blends it in so quickly, leaving a lovely smooth finish. I also use the contour brush every day, but usually for blusher as it's just the right shape. It's good for contouring too but I just think that's a bit overkill when I'm only going to work.

Now, as far as I can see, the other 2 brushes are really fillers in this kit, and haven't got much use out of them since my initial experimentation. 

I can't work out what the detailer brush is for; it's the least soft of all the brushes and I've tried it for concealer and around my eyes but its too sharp for either. Very strange. 

The foundation brush is bizarrely small and the finish it gives isn't worth the time it takes to paint my foundation on! It leaves a streakier finish than the buffing brush and I just can't see why you'd need both in one kit. I'd much rather have seen the powder brush (available individually) within this kit as I don't need to apply foundation twice - so why do I need two things performing the same task?!

This considered, I still think the price is pretty reasonable for this kit. I paid around £16 for mine when feelunique.com had a 20% off promotion on but the prices generally vary from around £17-18 online to £21.99 in Boots and Superdrug. It's great to see them available on the high street but I'm fundamentally tight and would rather pay £5 less and wait for a couple of days!

In the unlikely event the entire kit goes missing from my life, I would definitely repurchase.

Pros:

- lovely soft brushes with no shedding of hairs

- handy little stand/case 

- good value for money

- widely available in store and online

Cons:

- (in my opinion) 2 less useful brushes

- detailer brush a bit harsh