Urban Camouflage - Foundation Part 1

When I moved, I had to leave well over half of my makeup collection behind.  In fact it would probably be more accurate to say that I left over two thirds of my makeup collection, and 6/8th's of my brushes.

What I brought with me is the bare essentials, and most of my lipstick collection (hey, lipstick's essential!).  I miss my huge tool box full of makeup something fierce, as I keep thinking of awesome makeup ideas I want to do but, oh wait!  Flying to a new country doesn't really leave a whole lot of room for a 4 kilo tool box full of makeup.  The Beau and I shall be taking the car and ferry back to sheepsville when it comes to picking up the rest of my stuff.

As it turns out, I brought a couple of foundations with me that I should really just toss.  Not because they're particularly bad, but because the colour is so incredibly wrong for me that I don't know what I was thinking buying the shade in the first place!  First up is Garnier Miracle Skin Correcter BB Cream for oily skin in light/clair,  This BB cream has a rather watery consistency, so the coverage you get with it is surprising.  Or maybe that's just the colour.

I have a very neutral skin tone; I can wear any hair colour and it'll suit me.  In fact I've had every hair colour but green (the orange was an accident..) and it hasn't looked bad.  Not always the colour I was going for, but I haven't looked like a clown.  This BB cream turns me orange and seems to cake to my skin when applied by sponge, brush, or fingers.  Actually, the consistency strikes me as good for airbrushing, but I may just have a defective tube.  It goes on at about a medium light coverage; it coats the skin but doesn't completely blend in imperfections and/or blemishes, and I actually get around the oompa loompa look by applying it with a damp sponge in kind of a dabbing/dappling technique.  This lightens the coverage to, well, a light coverage that makes me look like I've just chosen a foundation a little more coloured than my skin actually is.  I then put a finishing powder which lightens the colour even more before finally very lightly swishing a pale pink toned powder foundation over it all.  This makes the BB cream wearable for me with the minimum colour change, but it's a hell of a lot of work for me to wear a BB cream, and the finish isn't much lighter than wearing a full coverage foundation, and you still see the blemishes!  It's finish is also dewy, which is a faux pas for oily skin.

I'll be finding a replacement BB cream soonish!










Next up is Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions in 01 fresh ivory.  After moving from somewhere which rains 50 weeks of the year to a country which actually sees sunlight, I inevitably caught a tan and had to rush to get a foundation which didn't make me look like I'd borrowed someone else's makeup.  I wasn't very happy about buying this foundation in truth; Clinique is approved for sale in China, which don't sell any cosmetics which haven't been tested on animals, so they aren't cruelty free.  I hunted and hunted for local brands of cruelty free makeup only to come up with very cheap looking brands which I wouldn't trust not to break me out in huge cysts, and so finally caved and bought this foundation with the firm resolution that I was never buying Clinique again.  It's a shame really, as it's a lovely foundation.


The consistency is lovely and creamy, it doesn't settle into pores and doesn't go on cakey.  It's finish is just ever so slightly dewy.  I still use the damp sponge trick for application because I feel it gives a much more natural coverage, but does make the foundation's finish a lot more dewy than au natural.  It does again dilute the coverage from a medium to a light , but now that my tan has faded, I mix it in with one of my paler full coverage foundations and it evens out to an even medium coverage once again.




The paler foundation I have is my favorite.  Kiko Skin Evolution in ivory 101 is fomulated with SPF 10 and is a thick, full coverage foundation which is just a little bit too pale for me even in winter.  I first found this makeup brand in Sienna when I hadn't seen the sun for a few years.  Kiko is a vegan brand and the quality of this foundation is superb, but can cling to dry skin if you haven't moisturised before hand.  It also drys rather quickly,but again, the damp sponge technique is brilliant for getting a lighter coverage and delaying the drying time of this foundation.  It's finish is completely matte and I'll be re-buying once this and the Clinique are used up, but in a slightly darker shade.

The Clinique and Kiko foundations are both neutral, and when mixed together right match my skin near to perfect.

I am not the kind of girl who doesn't leave the house without makeup in her bag.  I try to be, but I fail at it when I need it the most, which lead me to emergency buy Maybelline Fit Me liquid foundation in 120 and powder in 125.  The Fit Me range has an extensive colour range for a drug store brand, but they only carry shades with either cool or warm undertones.  Standing there in front of the display, running out of time on my lunch hour to decide which shade wouldn't make me look like a child in at her mother's makeup, I had the bright idea that if I chose a foundation in one tone and a powder in the other, it should even out to a neutralish shade, right?

Wrong.

Well, not entirely.  The problem is that my skin is paler than most drug store brands stock.  It comes from living on an island which rains.  Lots.  When I wear just the liquid foundation, you can tell it's too yellow for my skin and it's also too dark (damp sponge helps a lot with this), and when I wear just the powder, I look too pink.  The products themselves are nice to work with; the foundation is a tad runny on the back of my hand, but applies evenly and doesn't dry too quickly, but does have that dewy finish most drug store brands are notorious for.  The powder foundation has the problem that all none mineral powders have in that it sits on your skin rather than blends into it, but it does provide a lovely velvety finish when applied with either it's own applicator or a dense powder brush.  The two together are wearable as long as I keep the liquid foundation light.  I wouldn't buy the liquid foundation again, but the powder can give a lovely glow of colour if used lightly.


 I have a horribly oily T Zone, so I have to always wear at least one kind of powder on top of my foundation, but I'll write a separate post about primers and finishing powders another day!