The other day I went to go about doing my makeup for the day and there I am sitting in front of my once pristine white dressing table now littered with smudged eyeliner shavings and used cotton buds, about to dispense some of that miracle skin smoothing goop we girls call foundation. And to my shock horror it dawned on me that the reason nothing was coming out was not because the bottle was clogged due my careless ways of preserving the stuff as I had thought, but because it was empty. Thus this week I had the joys of searching for a new foundation.
On Monday I went to Myers in search of my new foundation and was drawn to the Dior counter, for no other reason than it’s my favourite designer. I talked to the sales assistant, told her what I was after and the problems I had with the Lancôme and she suggested something from the Dior Skin Nude range. She gave me a little to try on my face and I was really impressed how light it felt and how smooth my skin looked, even after I took a walk around to all the other counters to see their selection and got battered by sales-assistant bullshit, it still felt like I was wearing no makeup at all. So in the end, with a little help of eeny-meeny-miny-moe I decided to settle with the liquid Dior Skin Nude which cost me $75 and a matching concealer stick costing me $69. It is a bit pricy for what it is, but I don’t mind paying up knowing that it does what it’s supposed to do thus worth my money.
My last white lie of choice was a bottle of Colour Ideal by Lancôme that cost me about $60 which I bought from Myers. Now the one good thing about the Lancôme was that it never made my face feel dry. When first applied it seems as though you have flawless Photoshop-like skin but after more or less four hours or so my skin starts to feel greasy again. I used to conquer that by delicately brushing on some Clinique Clarifying Powder over the top of the foundation, it costs about $48 and you can pick it up at most department stores such as Myer or David Jones. It also allows you to re-touch yourself to picture perfection whenever you begin to feel self-conscious during bathroom visits. Despite from being that tad bit too greasy for me, it is a good starting point for first time foundation users. It offers good coverage and very close colour matching so the skin looks smoother but not unnatural.
The Lancôme would probably have been the third bottle of foundation I have bought over my makeup wearing days, my first being a $29.95 tube of Maybelline’s Pure Makeup I picked up from the local pharmacy because it was cheap and I was sixteen and didn’t know any better. It felt like padding mud on to my face every time I used the stuff and then after an hour or two it felt like it would start dripping off my face at any moment. In short, stay clear of cheap supermarket brand makeup unless you desire to look like you’ve just slathered on a jar of peanut butter all over your face.
When I decided it was finally time to upgrade my foundation, my mother took me to Myers where I was taken to the Estée Lauder counter because she liked that brand. Not knowing any better I had a bit of a poke around and was spotted by one of those overly happy sales assistants with lipstick drawn too far away from her actual lips and pale blue eye shadow a hooker wouldn’t even consider wearing...
Just on a side note, what’s with makeup girls and their incredible inability to apply makeup themselves?
Anyways, after explaining what I was after she picked out the Individualist Natural Finish Foundation which was okay I suppose, but to be honest I couldn’t really tell the difference at all. And after a few uses, I discovered it felt rather flaky and it would dry my skin out around the cheeks but made my nose really oily. The fact I was only seventeen when I was using it might have some part to do with it. I think Estée Lauder is really designed for the more mature woman as opposed to the everyday-to-day sort of girl. Therefore it’s probably not the best one to go with unless you fall into the category of the ‘mature age group’.
On another note, I do realise that not everyone can afford to just shell out $100 on makeup on a whim like that, which is understandable I mean being able to eat is usually a good thing too. A good alternative I’ve come to really favour is using a tinted moisturiser which can be found in most leading retailers, and then dusting all over the face with a decent powder foundation. For myself I like to use Dove Protective Tinted Moisturiser, which I just pick up from the supermarket and then I use the Clinique Clarifying powder over the top. This particular technique is ideal for those on a tight budget and for people like me who enjoy sleeping in that extra half an hour instead of flustering over doing makeup. Although the tinted moisturiser alone can feel a little sticky and a little greasy because it is mainly a moisturiser, so the powder foundation helps to dry it out a little and also give a little more coverage. You don’t have to use such an expensive one like I do, with the wide range of different brands out there to choose from, it’s easy to pick something that is more suited for yourself and your wallet.
In the end the best advice I can give is having a play around with different brands to see what really suits you. Another tip is try to stick to the one brand at a time, meaning use the same brand concealer as the foundation or powder as different brands tend to have slightly different formulas which might sit well with each other when used together. But then again, each to their own I say, it’s all a matter of trial and error when it comes to make up anyhow.
And so there you have it, a noobs guide into buying foundation. I hope it was somewhat amusing to read if not a teensy weensy bit helpful.
Well, until next time.
Adieu.
On Monday I went to Myers in search of my new foundation and was drawn to the Dior counter, for no other reason than it’s my favourite designer. I talked to the sales assistant, told her what I was after and the problems I had with the Lancôme and she suggested something from the Dior Skin Nude range. She gave me a little to try on my face and I was really impressed how light it felt and how smooth my skin looked, even after I took a walk around to all the other counters to see their selection and got battered by sales-assistant bullshit, it still felt like I was wearing no makeup at all. So in the end, with a little help of eeny-meeny-miny-moe I decided to settle with the liquid Dior Skin Nude which cost me $75 and a matching concealer stick costing me $69. It is a bit pricy for what it is, but I don’t mind paying up knowing that it does what it’s supposed to do thus worth my money.
My last white lie of choice was a bottle of Colour Ideal by Lancôme that cost me about $60 which I bought from Myers. Now the one good thing about the Lancôme was that it never made my face feel dry. When first applied it seems as though you have flawless Photoshop-like skin but after more or less four hours or so my skin starts to feel greasy again. I used to conquer that by delicately brushing on some Clinique Clarifying Powder over the top of the foundation, it costs about $48 and you can pick it up at most department stores such as Myer or David Jones. It also allows you to re-touch yourself to picture perfection whenever you begin to feel self-conscious during bathroom visits. Despite from being that tad bit too greasy for me, it is a good starting point for first time foundation users. It offers good coverage and very close colour matching so the skin looks smoother but not unnatural.
The Lancôme would probably have been the third bottle of foundation I have bought over my makeup wearing days, my first being a $29.95 tube of Maybelline’s Pure Makeup I picked up from the local pharmacy because it was cheap and I was sixteen and didn’t know any better. It felt like padding mud on to my face every time I used the stuff and then after an hour or two it felt like it would start dripping off my face at any moment. In short, stay clear of cheap supermarket brand makeup unless you desire to look like you’ve just slathered on a jar of peanut butter all over your face.
When I decided it was finally time to upgrade my foundation, my mother took me to Myers where I was taken to the Estée Lauder counter because she liked that brand. Not knowing any better I had a bit of a poke around and was spotted by one of those overly happy sales assistants with lipstick drawn too far away from her actual lips and pale blue eye shadow a hooker wouldn’t even consider wearing...
Just on a side note, what’s with makeup girls and their incredible inability to apply makeup themselves?
Anyways, after explaining what I was after she picked out the Individualist Natural Finish Foundation which was okay I suppose, but to be honest I couldn’t really tell the difference at all. And after a few uses, I discovered it felt rather flaky and it would dry my skin out around the cheeks but made my nose really oily. The fact I was only seventeen when I was using it might have some part to do with it. I think Estée Lauder is really designed for the more mature woman as opposed to the everyday-to-day sort of girl. Therefore it’s probably not the best one to go with unless you fall into the category of the ‘mature age group’.
On another note, I do realise that not everyone can afford to just shell out $100 on makeup on a whim like that, which is understandable I mean being able to eat is usually a good thing too. A good alternative I’ve come to really favour is using a tinted moisturiser which can be found in most leading retailers, and then dusting all over the face with a decent powder foundation. For myself I like to use Dove Protective Tinted Moisturiser, which I just pick up from the supermarket and then I use the Clinique Clarifying powder over the top. This particular technique is ideal for those on a tight budget and for people like me who enjoy sleeping in that extra half an hour instead of flustering over doing makeup. Although the tinted moisturiser alone can feel a little sticky and a little greasy because it is mainly a moisturiser, so the powder foundation helps to dry it out a little and also give a little more coverage. You don’t have to use such an expensive one like I do, with the wide range of different brands out there to choose from, it’s easy to pick something that is more suited for yourself and your wallet.
In the end the best advice I can give is having a play around with different brands to see what really suits you. Another tip is try to stick to the one brand at a time, meaning use the same brand concealer as the foundation or powder as different brands tend to have slightly different formulas which might sit well with each other when used together. But then again, each to their own I say, it’s all a matter of trial and error when it comes to make up anyhow.
And so there you have it, a noobs guide into buying foundation. I hope it was somewhat amusing to read if not a teensy weensy bit helpful.
Well, until next time.
Adieu.
Hmm.. sorry, I've seemed to just stumble across this blog. =) But very helpful none the less. I've recently just ran out of foundation myself T_T oh dear. I've been using Estée Lauder, and I have the same problem you've mentioned. Probably cause I'm only 18.
ReplyDeleteI may indeed have a trip down to Myers @ Chaddy to see how things go. ^^ Thank you for the advice though~