Bonjour!
Looks like I’m back to globetrotting with my opening greetings now doesn’t it? Where shall we go next week eh? Italy, Spain, Croatia…? Literally, I wish! Anyway, hello! Don’t mind me just dreaming of holiday destinations over here… Who’s looking forward to our second bout of snow this weekend? Although if you’re a Brightonian like me, then feel free to ignore that question, as I’m sure we’ll just get rain haha… But you never know, maybe the wellies/snow boots will see the light of day after all…!?
Anywayyy, this week I wanted to talk about something which I’ve mentioned in one of my previous blog posts (My 2020 hit or miss list) and that very thing issss… ditching the foundation for it’s (slightly thicker, but albeit more natural looking sometimes) pal – concealer (used only on it’s own). Honestly bare with me here haha… This is something I honestly would have never considered a good 3 years ago and I always just thought you HAD to cake on the foundation (which I by no means have anything against), however in recent years (this started when I was working away with very little time to get ready in the mornings) I’ve managed to ditch the foundation completely, well 95% of the time anyway and just switch to concealer only!
Now you might be thinking – “how on earth does that work?”, let me explain how I do it day in, day out… Firstly I always use my fail-safe fave concealer (one which I’ve mentioned a few times before too); Collection lasting perfection concealer (See below for more details/links). It’s bloody amazing if you ask me. Ooh and also, it’s only just over 4 quid!! Amazing. But don’t let me make you go out by this on the basis of thinking that this is the only concealer it will work with, any will do I’m sure! Soooo… what I always like to do is, prep my skin as normal in the mornings (cleanse, serum, moisturise, SPF…) and then I grab my exact skin tone coloured concealer (I use shade 5 – Fair. I’m a factor 50 on my face all year round girl, so I tent to be a bit pasty haha…) where needed over any blemishes/redness/anywhere you want coverage. Then I grab a slightly darker, warmer shade (I use shade 10 – Buttermilk) and pop on a little (you don’t need tonnes) to sculpt/bronze my cheekbones/top of my forehead. Then blend, blend, blend! I love a good ol’ real techniques expert face brush for this, but go for whatever suits you. I also should mention here, blend the lighter colour first ideally and then the darker (and try to keep the darker just to the places you need it also, i.e cheeks, top of forehead etc. as I’m sure you probably don’t want to look like a satsuma and blend all over haha…) Once blended, I like to add a bit of highlighter at this point to the tops of my cheeks (see below for my product preferences) and then powder wherever needed!
Once powdered, this is where if you’re anything like me, blemishes may start to poke through, but hold fire for a sec… Before I touch up I like to add a bit of bronzer to make that dream of being on holiday slightly more realistic (fake it till you make it as they say) to any areas you feel you need it. Oh and don’t forget that neck too 😉 Once you’ve turned yourself into a bronzed goddess, this is when I go in to touch up… I like to lightly dot my lighter shade over most needed areas (although anywhere in the bronzed regions, you may want to use your darker shade) and blend with your brush/clean fingertips. You shouldn’t need much at this point. Once this is done you should start to see it all come together (fingers crossed…) however, if you feel like you’re needing more coverage in specific areas, why not reach for a powder foundation to touch up just those areas? Now I know I said above I hadn’t touched foundation for a while, but there may have been a slight white lie in that… as I am partial to a bit of powder foundation for the odd volcano which-won’t-cover-type-situation. Surely that can be allowed right? Haha yeahhh…
Then, that is you all done! Now as I said above, this is my way of doing it and it might not work for everyone, but if you are falling out of love with your current routine, give this a go, it’s worth a shot! I personally love it and do it most days now, plus once you have it down to a fine art, it actually doesn’t take that long either! Which is always a bonus eh!
Oh and I almost forgot… here’s the list & links of the actual products I use to create a smoothhh base (for just in case you’re interested…)
~ Concealer – (I probably don’t need to tell you again, but i‘ll do it anyway haha…) Collection lasting perfection concealer, £4.19
~ Highlighter – Charlotte Tilbury hollywood flawless filter, £34 (lurveeee this)
~ Powder – Charlotte Tilbury airbrush flawless finish, £35
~ Bronzer – Clinique True bronzer, £25 (FYI if you’re similar colouring to me, shade ‘Sunkissed’ is a perfect not-too-orange shade)
~ Powder foundation – Urban Decay naked skin powder foundation (this exact product has actually now been discontinued, however they now do a similar version with a similar name OR any other powder foundation will probably do the trick just as well if you’re only using on the odd blemish!)
As always & like I’ve said above, these aren’t the only products that will work, anything similar should do the trick too I’m sure. I’m sure also even the whole ’Collection’ range would be pretty good (going by how good the concealer is!) if you are looking for some cheaper alternatives to my list above (fully aware some are on the slightly less affordable end of the scale above…)
Let me know how you do get on if you do try this & remember practise makes perfect always!
Have a nice weekend all! I’m currently counting down the hours to my weekend takeaway haha. Although not sure I deserve it as I’m a day late with this weeks post, oops…
Take care & stay safe as always! Oh and remember, we’re a week closer to normality now, woo!
Lots of love, Ella x
Ella May Beauty 