Foundation: It’s a beauty essential but picking the right type and shade can be an overwhelming task. Do you go for a powder, cream or liquid? Should you choose oil free, water free, luminizing, hydrating, mineral based…the choices are endless. I’ve snooped inside the make up bags of the lovely Lolly, Lauren and Charlotte to see which foundations they use and what their recommendations for a flawless complexion are.

Lolly

{Skin Type} Normal but can be dry in Winter

{Foundation Need} Sheer natural-looking coverage that can be ‘built up’ if desired. Product must also be moisturising and help to correct colour inconsistencies particularly redness in some areas.

For Day: Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in Deauville (19 shades available)

I’d heard good things about Nars Sheer Glow foundation whilst I was on the hunt for a dewy glowy skin product. I’d fallen out of love with my Clinique CC cream which felt a little clumpy and gunky and wanted something that offered me coverage whilst smoothing out various red patches on my face but had a finer consistency than my previous makeup favourites. ’Sheer’ is the keyword here. By chance I happened to pass by a NARS counter on a recent trip to town and tried the foundation out for myself and was sold. ‘Deauville’ is the closest match to my skin tone and I wear it pretty much everyday and without any negative effects on my visage so far. In fact I’d go as far as saying that the condition of my skin is significantly improved since I’ve started wearing it and friends and family have commented on how natural it looks. The only negative I’d say the product possesses is that there’s no pump dispenser on the bottle so it’s a question of pouring out the right amount of foundation on the back of your hand which can be a little bit messy at times. But a little goes a long way and I’ll definitely be making a repeat purchase.

For Night: Emporio Armani Luminous Silk in No 4 (21 shades available)

I actually purchased this foundation based on the recommendations of you lovely lot over on our Instagram account recently and have been bowled over by the results. So HUGE thanks and kisses for suggesting I invest. I wanted something that offered that little bit more coverage for evenings and special events whilst still making me look natural at the same time. Like the name suggests the foundation glides on like silk and feels weightless once on; there’s none of that stretched skin feeling nor the worry that your face will crack like the sahara desert if you even attempt to smile. It is possible to build up the layers should you so wish but I find that just the single application is more than adequate for excellent coverage. The foundation eliminates all colour inconsistencies smoothing out fine lines and small bumps so I’m almost back to my eighteen year old self. Perhaps my favourite feature of the product is that my skin still feels moisturised…perhaps even more so…when I’m wearing it so there’s absolutely no chance of it flaking off whilst I’m out.

Lauren

{Skin type} Combination skin

{Foundation need} Full coverage to cover acne scarring and conceal blemishes. Prone to high shine.

I moved away from Estee Lauder’s Double Wear as I found the finish too heavy and difficult to blend and for the last 18 months have been using YSL’s Fusion Ink. Overall I was happy with the long lasting coverage of YSL and found the thin fluid far easier to apply than Double Wear but my eye was distracted by the NARS counter and I decided to give this a whirl instead.

Promising to be a highly pigmented, long wearing, perfectly balanced foundation I can honestly say NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation definitely delivers on the longevity front as well as significantly reducing shine. However it zaps every bit of moisture in my face and clings to any dry patches (which let’s face it are quite common at the moment thanks to the central heating and arctic temperatures). I’ve found ditching my usual primer helps as the formula seemed to cling to it accentuating my pores rather than concealing them. I will persevere though as the Mont Blanc shade is perfect for my cool, pale skin and the pump applicator makes for easier dispensing. My next plan is to use a sponge rather than my finger to get a less patchy coverage and if all fails I’ll be moving over to Double Wear Light.

Charlotte

{Skin type} Dry and very sensitive
{Foundation need} Natural-looking coverage that conceals redness.

As many of you who read my beauty features will know, I’m a slave to ALL kinds of products – I have drawers (literally!) full of lipstick, eyeliner, blusher…..eyeshadow. I’ve tried nearly every mascara on the planet, and I’ve only recently, after years and years of searching, found the concealer of my dreams. But when it comes to foundation I’m a novice. Completely clueless. I don’t wear it and I don’t like it. At all.

Apart from the magical Guerlain Meteorites Baby Glow Light-Revealing Sheer Make-up which I use sparingly and for special occasions, I have a tried and tested method of buffing on pressed powder (I rate Chanel) and using the aforementioned concealer on areas of redness and under-eye circles.

This does not mean I don’t need foundation, or that I wouldn’t benefit from it. I see some of my friends with their enhanced velvety flawless finishes and am often very VERY jealous.  It’s just everything I’ve tried either goes patchy on my dry bits, looks too heavy because my skin is so fine or causes some kind of weird reaction. Essentially every foundation makes me look worse not better. And what’s the point of that? When we initially discussed this feature I was the first one to put my hand up and say “I’m not sure I can contribute?!” because obviously, I’m not going to recommend a product that doesn’t 100% deliver.

But then I discovered the Australian brand Nude by Nature which you can purchase in the UK at ASOS. I’d read about it numerous times, and as it’s essentially a powder foundation, appealed to me much more than a goopy liquid or cream. Unlike the majority of other mineral powder based make-up brands, Nude by Nature doesn’t use Bismuth oxychloride (a by product of lead and copper metal refining combined with chloride – read more HERE) so it is allegedly less likely to cause an adverse reaction to sensitive types.

Much like my every-day buffing of pressed powder, their “radiant loose powder foundation” (in the image above) is applied in much the same way. The formulation also includes an SPF 15 and is “enriched with Jojoba and Kakadu Plum” – fancy. I found it was indeed very radiance boosting, it didn’t stick to dry patches and unlike my regular powder does on occasion, doesn’t settle into fine lines either. You can apparently build it up to “medium” coverage, I would say that’s pushing it a bit – light to medium is more like it BUT the uniformity and luminosity that it creates on your skin does give an undeniably soft focus/very even toned finish.

I wouldn’t recommend it for oily complexions, as the day wears on there is a very definite glow – but I personally quite like this effect, and a shiny T-zone is easily fixed with some blotting paper or a quick swipe of a more traditional powder compact. Colour wise I went for their shade “Ivory” pale yet with warm/yellow undertones.

This is the first ever “foundation” that I’ve used almost every day since purchasing, I’m so impressed I’m considering trying other products from the range too……

And now it’s over to you. Have you got any recommendations that the RMS team need to know about? Please do share!

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