Not quite as often as I would like to, I write about lazy beauty. Because the older I get, the prettier I want to look and the lazier I am about it.
(Forgive my wet hair, goofy expressions, and slight blurriness. There's no way around the awkwardness of experimental self-portraits.)
I've been having foundation problems for awhile. I feel like I've tried so many different brands/formulas/consistencies and nothing is quite right. If really pushed, I would say that I'm more unhappy with my skin than I am with the makeup, but that doesn't matter much each morning when I sit down at the vanity.
A few weeks I conducted a twitter experiment. I asked the women in my stream what makeup foundation they used and what they loved about it. (You can read many of their answers here.) I was trying to make a point about twitter communication, but I also noticed that some of the repeat answers were three of the foundations that I keep coming back to time and time again: Bobbi Brown stick, Bare Minerals, and MAC Studio Fix.
I decided to wear a different one three days last week and see which actually looked better. For each day, I started with clean bare skin. Under the Bobbi Brown stick and the MAC Studio Fix, I used Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and under the Bare Minerals I used MAC moisturizer. I kept the rest of the look minimal with just blush, mascara, and light lipstick.
It should be noted that none of them provided a noticeable difference in length of wear. Meaning that at the end of the night, I didn't feel like one looked way worse or needed more touch-up than the other.
I tried to take the pictures in the same mirror at the same time of day. I definitely felt better in one of them. Can you tell which looks best?
The real life winner by a landslide....Bare Minerals. (The middle picture. The first picture is Studio Fix, the third picture is Bobbi Brown stick.)
I did not want this to be the winner. It's the most time intensive and messy option. But, far and away, it made my skin look better. Less rough, more polished. The thing I've learned in the past about it, though, is that you really have to keep your skin moisturized (which for me means throughout the day). I may still do it the lazy way (Studio Fix is the quickest and easiest) on most days, but at least I know definitively what looks best now.
Please do share how you feel about your foundation. I'm hoping someone reveals to be the big secret to skin care (that doesn't start with a Bo and end with a Tox.)
