I feel really good when people tell me 'Wow! You have really nice skin!' Seriously! Who wouldn't feel good when people compliment you?
I'll then blush a little and tell them 'Aww! Thanks! It's not really my 'real' skin though! xD Its more of my makeup!! I actually have '5' layers of makeup on my face!' To which they'll reply me 'HUH?! 5?! I couldn't tell at all!! Are you serious?' with a (OAO) expression on their faces.
'Yea,' I'll tell them.
'My first layer consists of a primer, my second layer consists of a makeup base, my third layer consists of a
liquid
foundation, my fourth layer consists of 3 shades of concealer and my fifth and final layer consists of a loose powder!!'
'BUT YOUR MAKEUP LOOKS SO NATURAL!!!'
Okay, I'm venturing into bragging(?) now? But it's legitimate okay, I have reasons to brag thanks a lot. I spend a lot of time perfecting my foundation so let me brag all I want thank you. While perfecting my foundation (this sounds weird), I finally understood what other makeup artists meant by 'blending'.
Blending really plays a huge part in makeup, because it helps to make your makeup meld with your skin perfectly so that it'll look like a 'second
skin' and be natural looking instead of being cakey looking.
Instead of just applying the product to your face, 'blending,' to me, means to make sure that your product is 'thinned out' and buffed properly into your skin. Apllying a product to your face takes no more than 2-3 mins, but blending may require a bit more time as you have to
spread the product and make sure that it is one thin layer on your face instead of it being patchy.
For my foundation, I use the following products.
(From left to right) Benefit Stay Don't Stray, Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in 02/03, Benefit Erase Paste in 02, NARS Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder, CD DIORSKIN Radiant Base in 02, CD Pore Minimizer and lastly, Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow in Honey
For the brushes I use,
(From left to right) Real Techniques Buffing Brush, Ecotools Foundation Brush, Ecotools Concealer Brush, Tarte Airbuki Foundation Brush and lastly, Tarte The Buffer Foundation Brush
I normally jump between different brushes but the ones that I use the most are these!
The first 3 brushes are pretty good and affordable brushes! You can get them at Watsons! The RT Buffing Brush comes from the RT Core Collection if I'm not wrong, 4 for $39.90, though you can also get Real Technique brushes from
under-twenty20, which I frequently get things from! You can get quite a lot of good things from there for affordable prices, the site is really trustworthy and they are also really efficient!! You can also get Ecotools from the same site!
The other two Tarte brushes are good but although they aren't overly expensive, they still left quite a gaping hole in my pocket. I can't recall the exact price of the brushes but the Airbuki Foundation Brush was $47(??) while the The Buffer Foundation Brush was $49(??). Bought them earlier in the year so I am not really sure, but definitely over $45! I remember thinking for quite a while whether I should get it or not!
Good brushes, to me, are easier to handle and navigate, do not shed easily, and are fluffy with soft yet dense bristles!
Having dense bristles are important!! I really hate brushes that are large and fluffy yet not dense, because they don't
deposit the product accurately on my face. To keep it short, the brushes don't follow orders well, the bristles don't go where I want them to go. They go in all different directions and are really difficult to control, which makes blending really difficult.
OKAY, enough about brushes! Lets get on to the foundation routine!
Step 1:
I start off my foundation routine with my Pore Minimizer! It is a Skin Refining Matte Primer, which helps to minimize the appearance of my pores, as well as to help control the amount of oil that appears on my face, which is really helpful because I have
oily skin )=
One thing I learnt from using this, is that less is more really works in this case, because no matter how much you put, it'll still have the same effect, so why waste the product by overusing it? Another thing is that when you use more, it'll clog up and look fake!
I use my Ecotools foundation brush to apply this! I apply this product using horizontal stripes all over my face, starting from the center of my face and ending at the outer corners of my face! This creates a really smooth canvas for me to work on later!
This primer is good in the sense that it can be used under or over your makeup as touch-up! I really like this fact because I can cover all the oily spots as the day wears on without being afraid that this primer will mess up my makeup! If you use powder to touch up your makeup and you have oily skin, your skin might potentially change the color of the powder and sigh, your makeup will be messed up!!
Step 2:
I use my Dior Radiant Base in 02. Once again, my Ecotools foundation brush is used to apply this product!! ---> I really need to get another good foundation brush LOL, using two products with one brush isn't really all that hygienic D<
Similar to the primer, the 'less is more' theory works too. This product is a Skin-Refining Makeup Base that helps to prep the skin and helps to even out the skin tone! This is perfect for me as I have an uneven skin tone! My forehead is a shade darker than my face and my cheeks are redder than the rest of my skin! I also occasionally get heat rashes and red patches here and there so sometimes, my skin looks really weird.
Step 3:
Now, I use my Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Liquid Foundation in Honey! I have experimented with multiple different kinds of liquid foundation and non has captured my heart and fitted me so thoroughly like Benefit's Liquid Foundation in Honey!!
I use my Tarte The Buffer foundation brush to apply this! I really love this brush because it is really dense yet it has soft bristles! It also provides me with a full coverage and helps me with covering most of my blemishes, which helps me to save money on my concealers.
A little of this foundation can already efficiently provide me with a thorough coverage while still keeping it looking really natural! I know that I have overused the word 'natural' but that is precisely what I am trying to push here! A natural look!
Step 4:
Concealer time!! As the liquid foundation helps to cover most of my blemishes! I do not need much concealer at all!! I start off by using Benefit's Stay Don't Stray in Light/Medium. This is a primer that helps both eyeshadows and concealers to stay put! I dab this on my blemishes, as well as my under eye area and blend it in with my fingers! After it is well blended, I use Benefit's Erase Paste in No.2 Medium. It helps to brighten and camouflage when used on the eyes and the face! I apply this at my under eye area, the inner corner of my eyes, the sides of my nostrils, my nasal labia fold (the line running from your nose to your mouth) as well as at the corners of my mouth because those are the only areas that requires brightening! I don't apply the paste to my blemishes though, because it'll only brighten them and draw more attention to them, which is a huge NO-NO!
I use my Ecotools concealer brush to dab the Erase Paste onto my designated areas, before using my fingers to blend them well! After this step, I use my Benefit Boi-ing concealer in 02/03 on my blemishes as well as my eye-bags and eye-rings! This concealer is quite pigmented, so only a little is really needed! I like this point because only a little is needed and therefore it lessens the chance of a cakey look!! I really really hate cakey looks! It looks so '......' I don't even know how to describe how I feel about it. For the concealer, I dont use the concealer brush, but instead my fingers to apply it! For certain products, like cream products, I find that fingers work a lot better than brushes, because your body heat helps to warm up the products and make them easier to work with! Like thanks to my fingers, my concealer is easily blended into my skin.
Step 5:
THE LAST STEP!!! The finishing touch is delivered using the NARS Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder! This powder has utterly despoiled me. I can never ever see myself using any kind of powder every again. I'm really serious. I SWEAR THIS.
I apply this powder to where I applied my concealer and erase paste to help set them using my Real Techniques buffing brush. After setting my concealer and all, I use my Tarte Airbuki Foundation Brush to brush the powder over my whole face to set everything else! Why don't I just use one brush to powder my whole face at one go? Well, first of all, the RT buffing brush has a flat circular head which enables me to reach and powder the difficult to reach areas such as my under ere area properly! Also, I have to set my concealer first and powder ym face separately, because if I powder it all at once, the sweeping motion will move my concealer and i'll lose coverage!! So yes, two different brushes and two different motions to set my powder!
This powder really is my holy grail! It can be used with or without foundation. This powder is so fine that it helps to fill in all the gaps that may have not been completely covered by the primer and makeup base. Well, to me, I think that this powder turns what is 'FAKE' into 'REAL', if my foundation doesn't look completely natural, this powder certainly makes sure it does!!
The secret of this powder is that it is a mix of white and reddish looking powder (I think its titanium dioxide and iron oxide respectively). This gives you a slight pinkish look after you apply it on your face! It's so fine and translucent looking and doesn't make you look like you covered your face in chalk powder or something as some white powders tend to do!!
I mentioned that it can be used with or without foundation and it is really true! I tested it out once! It's still my skin color, with a slight flush, except that my skin looked and felt so much smoother ! It also evened out my skin tone!
It also consists of ingredients that helps our skin! It has Glycerin and Vitamin E inside of it that helps to nourish and protect out skin and other ingredients that helps to diffuse light so that you'll always look good!!
This is one of my favorite products and therefore I included a picture of it too!
AHHHHHHHHHHH. I'm done with this!! I took like close to 4 hours to write this! I had to think of how to write and make it flow properly! This is like a mix of reviews and a favorites post!
Hope that you enjoyed reading this!
Cheers,
Diiyawn
