My foundation stash!

Foundation. *Prepare yourself for an essay*

Weirdly one of my favourite stages of makeup application, and something I like to think I'm getting better at. I love a good base. I guess that's most likely due to having problematic skin for so many years and therefore I've had a lot of practice with hiding imperfections. I always feel a million times more confident with this stage complete. 

Saying that, more recently I've learnt that really, skincare is what truly matters. You can have the best, most expensive, high coverage foundation in the world and you will still struggle to smooth out and cover irritated and raised areas of skin. Get your skincare routine sorted, look after your face (read my tips here) and then foundation is so much more than just covering yourself up. It becomes much more fun in my opinion. An experiment if you will. Here I go again trying to justify my addiction! Yes that's right I'll admit it. I can't stop buying foundations.

I just love how it can enhance your natural skin if you want it to, or completely change the way your skin looks. It can be so versatile and I don't think I always knew this. 

When I think back to my teens, I can remember just grabbing the first thing I saw in Boots and hoping for the best. I believe it was generally in the Rimmel section. Somehow most of the time I got lucky with the colour matching, but I definitely had no clue about the range that was available out there and what I was missing out on!
I now love to have a variety of products ready to go depending on my skin on the day. If I am going "out-out" or to an event I generally wear a heavier coverage, but for those quick 5 minute makeup / good skin days - I now lean towards a lighter version. You definitely do not need as many as I've listed in your collection, most people I know have one that they love and have stuck with for years. However, I like to think of this as exploring so that I can share and feedback on different ones and help others decide what might work for them. That makes it ok right? Here I go again...

Anyway - enough blabbering, see below for the deets on my collection. These are in order of coverage from light to slightly heavier/full and certainly NOT in order of favourite ones as that would just be too difficult!

Click the names for links, I hope it's useful!

1.  Estee Lauder CC cream  £43 - Now technically these first two in the list are not "foundations" but more of a light pick me up for the face. I absolutely adore this Estee Lauder cream. Perfect for anyone, and so easy to add in as the final step in your skincare routine. It's a light grey gel that when applied to the face transforms into a coloured layer of glow, adapting to your natural skin tone. It smells DIVINE, adds such an amazing amount of life into the face, and also has an SPF10 included. On top of that it has some skincare anti-ageing ingredients. I initially discovered this prior to my honeymoon and wore it every single day whilst there. It can be worn alone or under foundation. If you're looking for a natural quick and easy way of waking your face up in the morning, this is your guy. Pricey but oh so worth it.

2. Dr Jart Platinum BB Beauty Balm  £22 - As with the above, this has a similar effect but with slightly more coverage and slightly higher SPF of 30. I weirdly hated this at first (because it's slightly thick) but I've fallen in love gradually and now use this pretttty much every morning under my foundation. The great thing about this Korean product is that again not only is it makeup, but it also includes skin care elements too which hydrate and protect as well as adding a nice glow. The only down side to this is that there is only one shade (as far as I know) and it is slightly on the grey side in colour due to the high SPF factor, but as long as you rub it in fully its totally workable. It claims that once applied, you won't need foundation. Umm, not if you have my skin sadly, but if you have slightly clearer skin/are less fussy than me you could literally get up, whack this on and go! I really want to explore more of their range.  

3. Bobbi Brown Foundation stick £29.50 - I have the shade Porcelain. This is a great, versatile product that you can do so much with. It's a handy thing to chuck in your bag for cover ups, you can use it as your whole base, or even purely to spot cover. I love it, and it has lasted me forever. It's light coverage but you can build it up. Sleek packaging too. 

4. Bobbi Brown Long wear even finish foundation  £32.50 - I've got the shade Warm Ivory. As mentioned in my previous post about wedding makeup this was part of my base cocktail on the day. It passed the pre-wedding test - meaning that it is natural enough, can be built up if needed and as the name suggests, it really does last so so well. I'd class this as a light-medium coverage, but you can add a second layer if you need to. A lovely product and the Bobbi brown range has such fantastic amount of colour choices too. 

5. Georgio Armani Luminous silk - £37 - I have shade 2 for my paler days, and 3.5 for when tanned. At times I mix the two. I believe there are a fair amount of colours, but there could be more of the darker shades. Again this was a part of my wedding base. I LOVE this stuff. I don't know what it is, when you apply it, it almost seems as if you've put nothing on your face but at the same time skin looks refreshed, and imperfections become blurred. It is so lightweight, natural and flawless. I'd say despite this, it's somehow a medium coverage. It glows, but not too much. I've had to stop myself wearing this every day recently purely because of the price!! If you're looking to invest in an amazing quality foundation, then this is the one to try. Trust me you won't be disappointed. 

6. Bourjois Healthymix foundation  £9.99 I have the shade Vanilla Clair (51). This is an old favourite that I recently rediscovered. It's one of the only "drug store" foundations I find lasts for a long enough period on my oily/combo skin. It smells lovely and fruity (steer clear scent haters), has a good light-medium coverage and is so affordable. If you're in the market for a lower priced foundation, I'd highly recommend it. The down side? Only a few shades. 

7. Makeup Forever Ultra HD £29 - I have both R250/Y245, oddly these both match me. I think that's because I have some yellow but also some pink undertones in my skin. The Y and R stand for yellow or red undertones as far as I understand. This is in some ways similar to the Georgio Armani foundation mentioned above. I suppose the only difference is slightly lower coverage? Ish? I'd say its light>medium. It's also not quite as glowy. Such a good one though, and the final product mixed into my wedding makeup mix. 

8. Nars Sheer glow £31 - I have the shade Santa Fe but was totally tanned when I got colour matched which is annoying! I now mix in some lighter foundation or colour lightening drops from the body shop if I want to use it. When it suited me, I remember loving it. Again a lightweight formula but a good medium-high coverage. I'd say this one feels ever so slightly heavier on the skin than some of the ones above which is one of the main differences. It's also slightly more noticeable on my skin, but a good pick and lasts most of the day. 

9. Too Faced Born this way £29 - I have shade Vanilla. This is a good one, but I certainly wouldn't say it's a natural finish! It claims to be "undetectable". Nuh-uh. BUT it is a great coverage and also has skin hydrating ingredients in it which is a win. I like it a lot, but don't grab for it on a regular basis. I'm keen to try the concealer from this range.  

10. MAC Studio Fix Fluid £29 - I've sadly fallen out of love with this foundation which used to be a solid favourite of mine. I think this is purely down to the fact that now my skin is better, I lean towards a light/medium coverage on most days. This has some SERIOUS coverage. It is practically like paint. It feels that way too to me now after trying so many others. It is good for days when you want a flawless, heavy covered face to blank out literally all of your features, but for me, this sits at the bottom of my pile. Maybe I need to try it again sheered out with a damp beauty blender or something so that it doesn't go to waste. I have shade NW13.

11. Ex1 foundation £12.50 - Another budget buy! Initially I had the shades F200 and F400 which were hilariously orange for me once I lost my tan, but YAY they recently added so many new shades which means I can try it out again, and properly too. I now have shade 1.0 and 2.0 which I mix and match. They say all the celebs are wearing this, and I can see why. It really is a lovely foundation with a great amount of coverage and a great price tag. It lasts a fair amount of time on me too. Give it a go!

12. Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish foundation stick £42 - Hourglass in general has got to be one of my favourite brands. They are cruelty free too which is an added bonus. This one has snuck its way in after only one day of being in my collection (and on my face twice) but it needs a mention. I wore this for the second time today and it is just gorgeous. Coverage is buildable to full but it can also be applied minimally to just add a light layer of colour and cover. Similar to the Bobbi Brown (although MUCH more pigmented) it is very versatile in it's application. I added a couple of layers today and blended out with a brush. It is so silky smooth to apply and doesn't drag on the skin which the Bobbi Brown one can do if you work too hard. Why oh why do I always fall in love with the most expensive?

13. Cover FX custom cover drops - £36 - I have the shade G30 for tanned days and N20 for lighter times. These were part of my wedding experiments. They are really interesting, and I love the idea behind them. I've been talking about versatile (how many times can I write the word today?) but this is another level. You can literally add them to anything - foundation, serums, oils, moisturisers. You choose - and you can also choose your coverage. One drop is light - and you can build all the way up to four or more drops for full coverage. The pigment is insane. It contains something called Lecithin which is apparently biochemically similar to the skin, meaning easier blending and smooth application. I would agree with that claim, and really need to get back into using these. 

14. Estee Lauder Double Wear - £31 - I have the shade Ivory nude which was kindly gifted to me by a friend. I like this a lot - but the shade sadly isn't quite right for me. It is similar to the MAC studio fix in coverage but dries down and does not budge. Down side? You can feel it on your face more than any other foundation I've tried - but hey it's beauty, no pain no gain. As I say I tend to lean towards lighter coverage these days, but would definitely grab this for a night out. The formula itself is amazing - I must get colour matched, but maybe I should get through my stash first...

The only other items shown in the photos (no I'm not done hahaha) are the Body shop shade adjusting drops. 1 drop = 1/2 a shade lighter or darker. (See below - left foundation, middle made lighter then on the end darker) Add these into any foundation to adjust to your shade. I think for £10 these are pretty good! You could always just mix a lighter foundation in though if you wanted. Or just go and get colour matched again. The foundation world is your oyster!

OK fine, so if I had to choose a top three, **OH goodness can I do it?** 

I think..

It would be: Dr Jart's BB cream for a dewy and perfected initial coverage, Georgio Armani for a natural but medium coverage and then the Bourjois for an everyday, affordable base! Saying that, I have a feeling the Hourglass stick may nudge Georgio Armani out of the way for a while or at least get very close in the rankings. 

I truly do have too much choice which is why I often struggle to decide what to wear, and writing this has made me realise how much I have to use!!! 
New year new me and all that: I must start a rotation. Waste not want not. 

Let me know what your favourites are, and if I'm missing any gems!

xox