Holdover Makeover and Foundation Review

Okay, it's a couple of days late, I apologise, but here's the latest pics of the FotW I promised you on Thursday.

First of all, the obligatory shot of me without makeup. I'm shiny, and my pores are ENORMOUS:

It is also 6.30 in the morning, hence the simplicity of this make up, and my dopey expression. First things first, this complexion needs foundation, and needs it quick! 

So, a layer of  L'Oreal Studio Secrets foundation in Gold Ivory, and a dab of Benefit Bluffdust later, here's what you get:

Nice and matte and even. Now, I quite like the L'Oreal foundation, it applies well - and easily - and you don't need to use a huge amount to get good coverage. Admittedly, I really only use it on my T-Zone and to cover up some of the redness I tend to get around my nose. The foundation has a built in brush, but I find the bristles are a little too short for it to be really useful for blending, and I worry about the hygiene issues of not having a separate applicator, but for makeup in a hurry, it's not a bad choice - as far as application goes, it's actually fairly foolproof!

That said, it's not very long lasting.  It gives good coverage for the first two hours or so, then wears off pretty quickly, especially around the nose - where skin tends to be oilier - and after four hours or so, I find it's pretty much entirely disappeared, and/or been absorbed into my skin.  I find this with a lot of High St foundations though, ranges like Rimmel and CoverGirl and the like are cheaper mainly because they use less pigment and setting agents.  However, this is being sold as a "Pro" range, and it's not, as the High Street goes, all that cheap (currently £15.99 at Boots, though I paid about a tenner for mine a few weeks ago), so this lack of durability is very galling. It's not something I see myself buying again, I'll be honest.

However, onto the rest of the makeover ...

After applying my foundation, I usually do my eyes first, and that's what I've done here.  As I'm going for a quick, office-suitable look, I apply UDPP, a colourwash of the Bare Escentuals Bravo, then line the upper waterline only with a smudge of MAC Feline eyeliner, and add a single layer of Lancome Hypnose Drama in Black:

I have hooded eyelids, and it's hard to get a shot of how the eyeshadow looks on my lids from directly in front, but it's a lovely soft, shimmering silvery-brown colour, with a but more depth than you'd expect from that.  It's a loose shadow though, so it really, really, really needs a primer underneath to "lock" it in place.

Once my eyes are done, I add blusher (Chanel Rose Defile - the colour of which I love, even as I HATE the texture of the powder. Chanel are only really getting their act together with regards to their powder cosmetics right now, and the way all their old products dry out, and harden so quickly and have a tendency to be rather under pigmented is infuriating) and Bare Escentuals Buxom lipgloss in Brandi.

Here's how the colours look together:

And here's how it looks from the front:

 Again, my stupid hooded eyelids make it difficult to see the shadow that's applied, but you can see a hint of greyness there. I think I've gone a little too heavy on the blusher there, but that's because the lighting in my room - there is NO natural light in my bedroom at 6.30am on a weekday morning at the moment, so I have a tendency to overapply in the mornings, so before taking this last shot, I blended it out a bit:

So there you go, a simple work look that takes - if you're not trying to photograph it in a dark room! - about 7-8 minutes to apply, start to finish.

I think I need a fringe.