Current Foundation Routine

So for those of you that actually read this blog, you may have noticed I've never reviewed a face product before. The reason being that I have very difficult skin; it's oily and acne prone and changes almost every single day. As a result, my foundation routine kind of tends to change as my skin does and I test out new products all the time. However, I've been working hard to get my skin to calm down and stick to a few products for weeks at a time so I can get a true well-rounded opinion of them. Foundations can be really complicated; first opinions aren't always lasting opinions, and so many factors can change up how they wear and how long they wear. I've been using this routine for a couple of weeks and I'm happy to finally share my thoughts!

 

*Sigh.* Here's my skin without makeup. I'm extremely pale right now, I've had dark circle since I was in elementary school, and I've been fighting hyperpigmentation for years now. Luckily, I don't really have any active breakouts right now, and here's the routine that's been working well for me!

1. Sunday Riley Effortless Breathable Tinted Primer: Light
First and foremost, Sunday Riley is an up and coming brand and EVERYTHING they make is expensive. The quality is definitely amazing but it sucks loving this brand. The primer is $48, and had I not received it as a gift I probably would have never tried it. Of course, now that I've been using it and I love it, I'm going to have to suffer the cost of repurchasing it again.
It comes in three shades: light, medium, and deep. What I love about it is I don't feel worried using it. All of the silicone primers out there always give me anxiety that they could be clogging my pores and breaking me out, but the ones that aren't silicone based never feel like they're working. This one is right in the middle; it feels like a serum but smooths and mattifies the skin like a silicone primer. I don't think the tint adds very much to my skin or really evens out the tone very much, but I definitely feel like it makes any foundation go on better and last longer.

2. Loreal Infallible Pro-Matte Foundation: 102 Shell Beige
This foundation was hard to buy because it's pricey for the drugstore; it runs for about $12-$14 depending on where you get it. It's extremely hard to tell what your shade is based on the packaging, but I lucked out and Shell Beige happens to be a really good match for me. I also get really good coverage and can build it up in certain spots if I need to. It's a demi-matte finish, but for my skin, that doesn't last all day. It depends on the weather and what I'm doing for the day, but some days I 'm oily after 4 hours and some days it looks good all day. It's kind of a toss up that's been hard to track, so I usually keep powder with me to touch-up my t-zone. For the drugstore, it's one of the best coverages I've gotten in a foundation, I just wish it wasn't so expensive! One other note, I think it smells like straight up PAINT! I've seen a couple of reviews on it and I feel like no one ever mentions the smell but it seriously potent. I don't notice it after I've applied it, but from time to time it does bother me.

3. AliExpress Flat Top Kabuki Brush
AliExpress is such an awesome website. They have the cheapest prices I've seen on so many products and so far I haven't noticed anything I've ordered being crappy quality. I bought this brush set a few months back and it's been amazing. BH Cosmetics came out with an identical set but it's significantly more expensive. If you don't mind waiting a few weeks to get it in the mail, I'd definitely without question recommend this brush set. The flat top is my favorite way to apply the Loreal foundation because I find that my Beauty Blender just makes it a little too dewy and a little less coverage.

4. MAC Pro Longwear Concealer: NC15
I'm probably one of the last people to jump on the hype of this concealer, but so far it's totally worth it. I think I grabbed a shade that's really light for me but I've been able to make it work. A little bit goes a VERY long way which is why I don't love the packaging-one full pump is almost wasteful. I get full coverage and brightness under my eyes and then I use the remainder on my lids because it covers redness, veins, and acts as an eyeshadow primer! I was really skeptical when I heard people used this as an eyeshadow base, but to my surprise I've yet to experience any creasing and I use it as a primer every single day.

5. Beauty Blender
I love the Beauty Blender. I don't know what else to say, I know everyone is skeptical about taking the plunge because it is a $20 sponge, but it'll change your life so just do it. It's amazing for so many things but I love it for undereye concealer especially because it prevents a lot of creasing and the product sinking into lines.

6. Bare Minerals READY Foundation
I usually hate BareMinerals but this powder foundation is pretty great. It some of the best coverage I've seen from a powder in a long time, so when I want a little more coverage (which almost always) I add this and it gives me a perfect finish. It's not an all-day mattifying powder, but it still looks great every time I touch up without ever looking cakey. The only thing I'd advise to check on is the color; mine looks extremely dark in the pan but it applies almost my exact skin-tone, so test it out on your face before you buy it.

*This post wasn't sponsored and all photos are my own*

ColourPop Spring Collection

As tempting as it was, I resisted most of ColourPop's spring collection. They've been hooking me in with so many new things lately, I'm trying to be more conservative and only buy colors I know I'll get legitimate use out of. That being said, the spring collection is almost entirely brighter pastels and as beautiful as they are, my instincts tell me I won't be wearing bright yellow or baby blue on my eyes anytime soon. While every color wasn't for me, I did still get three eye-shadows, a Lippie Stix, and my first ColourPop lip pencil. I LOVE them all!!! Shocker, right?

Bites: This is one of the first white shadows I've had that is completely pigmented without being chalky! It's a matte finish so it's perfect as a base for any look- especially worn to brighten up other colors. It's also an amazing highlight since you can sheer it out and wear it boldly or softly. Bites will forever be a staple in my makeup collection!

Cowboy: Purple is one of my favorite colors and one of the only ones I feel look flattering on my eyes, so naturally, this pastel purchase was justified. Again, this is a matte finish with amazing pigmentation. It's a gorgeous powder-pastel lavender and puts so many high-end brands to complete shame- I don't know how ColourPop sells shadows for $5 but they're consistently as good if not better than most high-end brands, especially when it comes to difficult formulations like matte pastels!

Downtown: This is a cool-tone brown lovers DREAM! Cooler browns I feel are hard to find these days, especially since most of them are now found in contour palettes instead of eye-shadow palettes. This is one of the easiest to blend shadows (that doesn't lose a ton of pigment in the process,) that I think I've ever tried from ColourPop! If it isn't obvious, I'm falling deeper and deeper in love with their matte shadows- they've completely nailed the formula and I can't imagine buying mattes from anywhere else. They just need to release some more shades already!

Top to bottom: Westie, Bites, Cowboy, Downtown. Fern not featured.

Westie Lip Pencil: I'm no stranger to ColourPop Lippie Stix; the pencils, however, are a little foreign to me. I've neglected their pencils for no intentional reason, but when I saw Westie in the new collection I loved it and it seemed perfect to use alone, or as a liner with any number of other lipsticks. However, this is where one of my only problems with ColourPop returns; as I mentioned in my ColourPop Blush post, some of their pictures can be somewhat misleading. I've even struggled with my own photographs trying to convey exactly what the true colors look like, but I'm definitely starting to rack up a small collection of ColourPop products I probably wouldn't have purchased had I been able to swatch them beforehand.

Don't get me wrong, Westie is still a beautiful color! It's just not what I pictured. Online it's described as a "soft dusty baby pink," but I feel it's not as much a soft baby pink as it is a dusty rose. The pencil is just deeper than the pictures make it look, which just makes it less universal than I thought it would be. Not the end of the world, just a heads up to those of you considering it. Oh and side note- this is a plastic pencil aka your sharpeners nightmare. Why the hell do company's do this? I had a Maybelline brow pencil a year ago that literally broke all my blades when I tried to sharpen it. ColourPop's doesn't do nearly as much damage but I'm still blown they did it this way.

Fern Lippie Stix: Here's another misleading color-bummer, although I think this one is 60% my fault. At first I thought this color was a tad bit warmer with more magenta in it. When I look at it online now, I don't see it as much that way anymore- especially not in the swatch photos. While I do still feel like Fern looks slightly different in the product photo vs. the swatch photo, it says blatantly in the description (which I overlooked) that it's a cool-toned violet. Basically the lesson here people is read the product description and look at all the photos before purchasing- they may still vary but at least you'll lessen the chances of being disappointed! Because Fern wound up being almost too pigmented (yes, this can exist sometimes!) and straight up Barney purple, I find I can make it work when I tap it on and apply it SUPER sparingly. This method actually gives me more of that magenta tone I was initially hoping for and it leaves a stain behind as well!

Just for added perspective, I've compared Fern to Grind, a Lippie Stix featured in my first ColourPop haul. They're very close in shade but it's like Fern is just turned down in tone by comparison, and Grind is its fluorescent sister. I also included a better swatch of Westie.

Left to right: Grind, Fern, Westie.

*this post was not sponsored and all photos are my own*