(I
went to an event last night on blogging and the advice was - keep your blogs short. Um, so apologies to all my readers who are
falling asleep into their lattes or worse, I have bored to death. I will try and keep these to a respectable 300-400
words, however, I shall start next week ; )
Remember
the days when your moisturiser was enough to provide the perfect base for
foundation? It seems those days are
long gone. Now we have Primers. I am including those pesky alphabet creams in
this mix too as I think some of them provide a great base for make-up and work
very well mixed in with foundation.
Why are we inundated with these bases then? I blame the BB. The
Blemish Balm (BB) was originally formulated in the 1950’s by a German
dermatologist, to protect patient’s skins after facial peels and surgery. Korea realised the benefits and introduced it
to the Asian market in the 1980’s. By
the time it hit the West, we now call it a Beauty Balm and basically it’s a
tinted moisturiser with bells on: moisturiser, serum, sunscreen, foundation and
primer in one. Colour Correcting creams (CC’s)
are similar to BB’s but with more colour correcting technology and Daily
Defence creams (DD’s) focus more on anti-ageing. Both have BB benefits.
Then
it all became too much and every brand was doing them and I got fed up with
wanting to try them all so I didn’t buy another BB again for a year.
Primers
on the other hand are what keeps your make-up looking perfect and flawless throughout
the day. These little beauties tend to
have silicone (or some variation of) which help fill in pores and fine lines
therefore creating a fabulous smooth base for long-lasting make-up (which will cling to the silicone as it's super adhesive). Don't rub in as you would a moisturiser, as primers are there to help set the make-up so a fine film over the skin is adequate and apply your foundation ASAP.
So
my favourite 3….The crème de la crème of all primers, launched in 1981 is Clarins Beauty Flash Balm
(€36.50 for 50ml). Not
to be used every day but for a special occasion, Flash will eliminate signs of
fatigue, tighten facial contours, instantly moisturise and fill in the gaps and
the best bit, provide flawless make-up that stays on. I introduced it to my Mum during my Clarins
days and now she always has a tube in her drawer (and I can tell when she’s wearing it as you get instant results). If you don't have dry skin then you don’t need to use a moisturiser, you
can apply Flash straight after cleansing but don’t rub in (actually, its nice to use a foundation brush to apply it).
FYI You can even use Flash over the eye area and as a fatigue-fighting
mask (apply a thick layer and leave it on for 10-15 mins). I keep this in my pro-kit for client
makeovers.
My
favourite BB is Garnier’s BB Cream and it evens out my skin tone (I am very
freckly), makes my skin glow, blurs my HUGE pores and other imperfections and
smooths out my lines. Contains SPF 15 and Vitamin
C too. Coverage is on the light side so
I mix it in with my foundations. Also
Garnier’s Ambre Solaire BB Cream SPF 30 is a big deal too – great to take on a
summer holiday instead of foundation.
The
primer I use every day is KIKO’s Mat Base Corrector Primer (€8.90 for 25ml). I can’t recommend it enough. It’s great for me as my HUGE pores look like
ripples on my skin if I don’t get a base that levels them out so Mat is
brilliant for this. It’s a gel
formulation, containing 97% natural ingredients (including sebum-absorbing
vegetable extracts) that help to mattify the skin and minimise the
appearance of dilated pores. I apply it
with my foundation brush so I can get that film across the skin. If I apply it with my fingers, I feel like it’s
sinking into my skin and we want it to sit on top. KIKO do 4 face primers: Mat Base, Perfect
Base, Skin Tone Corrector and City Filter SPF 50 (www.kikocosmetics.com). I am going to Lisbon soon and will be stocking up in the KIKO stores – I have a list!
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