Being a newly high-end make-up convert has meant that I have been spending (and will be spending :( ) more money recently than I would have been say a couple of months ago. I have had such bad luck with high street/drugstore make-up that I have now decided to change to premium brands and so far am LOVING it! It inevitably means you spent more but then you are getting a lot more in return. And you can trust these brands more too as I believe a lot of high street brands tell a few white lies. However, I will not be converting completely as drugstore brands still have some good, fun and quality products to sell.
So this change of heart all started with foundations. I could never, ever find a perfect colour match with drugstore foundations. Everything was too dark and even Ivory would make me look orange. I have bought the lightest shade of Maybelline 'Superstay', Max Factor 'Miracle Touch', Rimmel 'Stay Matte' and have tested many more but none have been right for me.
Then recently I found that premium brands offer a lot more shades, tones and colours. So I decided to try Clinique. About a month ago I purchased (with my Boots points so practically free!) Clinique anti-blemish solutions foundation. I loved it at first but now am starting to doubt the colour (Alabaster: lightest shade). Once on my face my skin becomes a pale orange with pink undertones in contrast to my neck which is a yellowy blue. This is because my skin is fairly transparent and rather white so it's difficult to find a foundation when there are so many colours in my skin. So Alabaster is not exactly right for me but still better than anything I have found on the high street and the product itself is quite nice with light to medium coverage (but not buildable) and helps to get rid of breakouts too (Multi-tasker!). The reason for it being good for spots/acne is that it contains an ingredient called Salicylic Acid (look at me getting all technical!) which is the one ingredient that can actually get deep into the follicles to really clean out those pores. So if you have breakout trouble look for a product with this ingredient in it.
I think with my skin though I will need to get some pore strips to clean around my nose more intensely as thats where most of my pore trouble is and the foundation won't get rid of this problem alone.
Another problem with this foundation is that it doesn't quite last all day on my skin even when using it with a primer and setting it with a powder. And it was horrible during the hot weather too. I wore it at a recent family reunion and I could feel it slowly melting off my face throughout the day. Not nice.
So the search still goes on for my perfect foundation! Next I will try Estee Lauder's Double Wear as I think I need more coverage for my red cheeks, nose and forehead and also it is Oil-free which is great for my oily/combo skin. Let's hope that one works better. If push comes to shove I will have to invest in a Chanel foundation as they are said to be the best!
A few other premium things I have ordered and can't wait to arrive: Origins A perfect World Eye Cream, Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser.
A few more premium products I am hoping to be able to get: Mac Paint Pot - Painterly, Urban Decay Naked Palette, Mac 217 brush, Laura Mercier Loose Powder, a Mac/Nars blush, and eventually build up a Mac eyeshadow collection. There's probably a few there that I've forgotten too knowing me!
Thankyou for reading and see you on Tuesday for my haul.
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Tip of the Day:
If you are new to make-up or just want some great tips, tricks and advice then I suggest watching youtube beauty guru videos. I have subscribed to a lot of their channels recently and have learnt TONS from their old and new videos.
I would say the crucial people to look at are:
I would love to set up my own youtube beauty/fashion channel as the people mentioned above (as well as many others I watch) are so inspiring and who knows, maybe I will one day if I get the confidence, but for now blogging is my thing.
