Day make-up

On my never ending search for the perfect foundation, I was shown the Double Wear foundation by Estee Lauder, and I must admit I have really fallen for it.  Usually I struggle with the foundation colours, as I always feel that even the lightest colour is too dark for me.  But I got this one in the lightest colour, which is Shell, and it is really light and there is no visible difference between my face and my neck.  That alone already qualifies it to enter the inner circle of foundations I like. 

I managed to bring myself to post a photo of myself without any make-up and to therefore publicly display what not many people get to see.  Whilst my boyfriend thinks I look cute with hardly visible eye lashes and eye brows, I feel like my face lacks definition and expression, which is the reason why I never leave the house without mascara.  

So the first picture shows me just after moisturising, without any colour or coverage.  You can see that my skin is a little bit red in some areas, like the cheeks.  The second picture shows me with the Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation applied.  I know, I look very very pale, but the next darker colour was already too dark and during the day, with the oil of my skin, it darkened even more, which is why I stuck to the Shell colour.  The texture is like a normal foundation, but it is on the thicker side.  The coverage is really good, but I try to use it lightly unless my skin is really bad.  I might try to mix it with some moisturiser on the days where I don't want a full foundation, and just a little bit of colour.  It really evens out the tone of my skin and gets rid of the red bits really well.

Alongside the foundation, I used the Clarins Beauty Flash Balm underneath.  I got this as a tester last week and use it every day now, as it can also be used as a face mask.  It is hard to pinpoint what exactly it does but it just feels like it unites my skin with the foundation.  It might just be my personal favourite, and I will probably give it its own post soon.  

On top of the foundation is MAC's blot powder, my longest companion in my make-up pouch.  

The third picture shows me with all of my face on.  I did a post on a day make-up look and I used all of the things I wrote about there; three MAC eye-shadows, a MAC taupe kohl eyeliner, and the MAC eyebrow pencil in fling.  My mascara is Doll Eyes by Lancome.  It is quiet hard for me to use blush on my skin because I am afraid that even the tiniest bit always is too much for my face and it is difficult to get just the right amount.  Most of the time it feels like there is no blush at all, but I guess that is still better than too much blush.  The faint colour on my cheeks in picture three is a mineral blush my MAC, that has two tones; a highlighter on the inside and a very light pink on the outside.

Even after I put on the foundation and powder in the morning, it takes at least four hours before I put on some more of the blot powder to get rid of the slightly oily look.  I know that a dewy look is what most new make-up looks are going for, but I still have a bit of a phobia and prefer a very matte look, and I panic without my powder.  The foundation does what it promises and stays on for 10-12 hours nicely and still feels comfortable on my skin until I take it off in the evenings.