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Sunday, August 23, 2015

[Foundation Routine] Dewy & natural!

Hello everyone :-)

I really enjoyed sharing my eyebrow routine with you yesterday, so today I thought why not share my foundation routine!

I always struggle with my foundation since I get "cakey" very easily. I also have pretty dry skin and hate that über matt look (on myself! Other people somehow manage to look good with it), which is why I got very excited when the dewy look became a trend a few years back. Finally, companies were releasing products to make your skin look fresh and natural instead of super flat, and countless Youtubers were uploading tutorials on how to get that perfectly dewy face!

I spent years (literally years) looking for my own perfect combination of products to really get my face dewy. These days I have a few favorites that I use everyday, and I want to share them with you! :-)





Product list:

  • Neutrogena Clear Face Liquid Lotion Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 55 (won't be repurchasing!)
  • Nivea Sensitive Post Shave Balm (Thank you, NikkieTutorials!)
  • Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation in 010 Light Porcelain
  • ELF Studio Maximum Coverage Concealer Oil Free in Porcelain
  • Catrice Camouflage Cream in 10 Ivory
  • Wet n Wild Coloricon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana (Thank you, Christine/Temptalia!)
  • ELF Studio Baked Highlighter in Moonlight Pearls
  • ELF Studio Makeup Mist & Set


Tools:


  • Coastal Scents Classic Buffer Large Synthetic
  • makeup sponge (no particular brand)
  • ELF Studio Blush Brush
  • MAC 150 Large Powder Brush
  • Coastal Scents Classic Blender Natural

Let's get started ♥

I always start out with a "clean canvas". I wash my face twice a day: I use makeup remover at night time and a cleansing oil in the morning (I use the Balea Öl Reinigungsfluid  Hello from Germany! #sauerkraut). Post featuring my skin care routine coming soon! :-)

Once my face is clean, I apply my moisturizer and eye cream and let it soak. Then I start prepping my face for the day by applying sunscreen. I'm currently using the Noutrogena sunscreen (full, incredibly long name stated above), but I don't plan on repurchasing it. It's definitely not a bad product, but I read an article (in German) that says that European/Asian sunscreen offers better protection against UVA rays which are responsible for wrinkles. So I won't be using American sunscreen anymore and will purchase German sunscreen instead.

Once my face isn't all slippery from the sunscreen anymore (I usually just wait a few minutes), I apply primer. I'm not a fan of using silicone based primers because I heard you shouldn't use them everyday. But I'm definitely not an expert. Whatever. (Edit: Thank you Lulle H for your comment! She says silicone primers are fine if you remove your makeup thorougly and have made sure that they don't break you out.) Anyway, I was excited when Nikkie of NikkieTutorials recommended the Nivea Aftershave Balm. It's silicone free and super inexpensive, and it actually works! Wooo-hooo!

Protect your skin and make your foundation last longer!

After priming my face, I apply one pump of foundation to the back of my hand. I like to use this one by Rimmel because it's a very light shade and applies beautifully. It doesn't stick to dry patches on my skin and makes it look very even and smooth. The finish is very dewy and just makes my skin look more like skin, you know? Some foundations give you very matt, unnatural looking skin that doesn't even look like skin. That's why I prefer using natural foundations over high coverage foundations even though I could really use some coverage! But there's concealer for that, right? :-)
I stipple (ha) the foundation onto my face using my Coastal Scents buffer.
Now, a few thoughts on that brush: it's kind of in between a buffer and a stippling brush. Like, it's buffer-shaped, but the bristles vary in length. I have two of these and I really, really love them. It gives that natural finish that stippling brushes are famous for without being as long and  in my opinion  difficult to handle as actual stippling brushes. The short, compact length of the bristles makes applying my foundation as easy as it would be if I were using a buffing brush, except that I'm getting the stippled finish! LOVE!

Once I'm done covering my face with foundation, I use my makeup sponge to blend it out. You can use a beautyblender if you want to, but I think those regular cheap sponges get the job done just fine.

When I'm done blending, I take my Catrice Camouflage Cream to conceal any blemishs, redness and my under eye circles. Now let me swoon for a moment. I LOVE my Camouflage Cream. I can't even remember how many of these I've bought. The coverage is AMAZING, it's super easy to apply and so affordable! I can't recommend it often enough!
I always apply cream concealer using my index finger and then blend it out using my sponge.

This Rimmel foundation gives very light coverage, so I use concealer to hide imperfections.

Once I achieve the desired coverage, I will *occasionally* use my ELF liquid concealer to brighten up my under eye area, but I usually skip this step. I did want to mention the ELF concealer though because I love it. I don't use it a lot because I can't get it here in Germany so I try to preserve it for special occasions. I actually really like to use it as a dewy medium-coverage foundation. If it were available here, I would be using it as foundation every day. I highly recommend this concealer, and I'll definitely be buying backups once I'm in Texas next year!

Since I love the dewy finish all these products give, I don't want to ruin it by applying a mattifying powder. So instead I use a subtle highlighter as a dewy finishing powder. An amazing (and totally affordable!) product for that purpose is the Wet n Wild Bronzer I listed above. I bought it because Christine of Temptalia recommended it and I really understand why she did. I have no idea why they call it a bronzer, because it doesn't look like a bronzer at all, not even on my super pale skin. It matches my skintone and gives it that luminous sheen I adore so much! I use my MAC 150 to apply a light layer all over my face, and then focus it under my eyes with my ELF Blush Brush to ensure my concealer won't crease.

But why do they pretend it's a bronzer?
This one didn't survive the flight!

My next step is applying some highlighter (pictured above). As of right now, I have two favorites: the ELF Baked Highlighter in Moonlight Pearls, and the Catrice Pure Shimmer Highlighter from, alas, the "Nude Purism" limited edition that was available ealier this year. Yet another favorite that isn't available anymore :-( That's also the reason I hardly use it. I'm afraid I'd use it up too quickly! Why don't they make it permanently available!?

I think I need to clarify that I am a total highlighting junkie. I apply LOADS of highlighter to my face every day. It's clearly an addiction and I can't help it. I love, love having shimmer on my face. Sometimes I just randomly swatch my highlighters on the back of my hand and swoon. The shimmer, the gleam, the luminosity, the way they reflect the light... Champagne, cream colored goodness. Obsessed!!

Left: ELF Studio Baked Highlighter in Moonlight Pearls
Right: Wet n Wild Coloricon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana

Aren't they just beautiful? You wouldn't think they're both drugstore products, let alone circa $3 drugstore products. They're not even from the higher priced drugstore section like Maybelline and L'Oréal, they're from the ultra cheap low end! I think they look super expensive. If I didn't know what these swatches were of, I'd think they both had $40 price tags attached to them. Seriously. They are such amazing quality. I mean, you haven't even seen the closeup of the blended swatches yet. Such finely-milled, beautiful shimmer! Looooove!

THE LUMINOSITYYYYYYYY *dies*
left: ELF Studio Baked Highlighter in Moonlight Pearls
right: Wet n Wild Coloricon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana

Like I said, I apply the Wet n Wild powder all over my face, but the ELF one is a little to hard core to work as a finishing powder. Unless you want to look like you just ran a marathon. In a fleece sweater. Across the Death Valley. Then I say go for it.
Personally I prefer a less sweaty look, so I apply my ELF highlighter to the typical highligher-application-areas using my Coastal Scents Classic Blender Natural:

  • bridge and tip of my nose, leaving a small matte area between the two of them (I also shade here, but that's another topic) to give my nose a bit of a curve
  • sides of my forehead
  • on and right beneath my cheekbones
  • browbone (I connect that one with the cheekbone highlight)
  • inner corners of my eyes
  • cupid's bow
  • center of my chin

And once my highlighter is where I want it to be, I'm done! All I need to do now is set everything by applying a spritz or two (or, you know, four or five or six... I tend to go a little overboard) of setting spray. I love the Makeup Mist & Set by ELF. It's super inexpensive, gets my face nice and dewy and doesn't smell terrible.

Great product: the ELF Makeup Mist & Set.

So, that's it! My face is now super dewy, fresh and, despite the variety of products that are necessary to get my face to look like this, totally natural-looking! But not too natural, you know? New & Improved natural instead of "tired-looking, blunt and blah natural". Y'know? ;-)

Now a quick picture of my tools and then that's it for this post! Please excuse the current state of my brushes as I wasn't in the mood for cleaning them today. Sorry!

Dirtyyyy! Left to right:
Coastal Scents Classic Buffer Large Synthetic
MAC 150 Large Powder Brush
Coastal Scents Classic Blender Natural
ELF Studio Blush Brush
random makeup sponge (from Müller drugstore)

So, that's it! I might add Before & After shots later when I actually feel like applying makeup. But for now, this is it!

I hope you enjoyed my Foundation Routine! What are your favorite products to get the dewy look?

Have a great day!
addingsomeglitter 



2 comments:

  1. I think you can use a silicone primer everyday without any problem if you:
    - haven't noticed that silicones break you out before.
    - remove your makeup thoroughly every night.
    They really, really help my foundation look a lot smoother.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment! (It's my first! Wooo! :-)) I was honestly not even sure if I should mention the silicone thing because ALL my foundations include silicons, so if it's okay to use them, why not use silicone primers? I just read that they're not suitable for everyday use on a few other blogs so I've kind of always stayed away from them, as I couldn't justify spending big $$$ on a product I'll hardly use. Thanks for clearing that up!. :-) The Nivea Aftershave Balm does work beautifully too though!

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