Choosing Foundation

A great way to test if you're wearing a good foundation is to ask any male if you're wearing too much makeup when wearing only foundation (a little mascara if you must) and standing in daylight. If he looks back painfully confused, trying to assess whether this is a trick question and whether something bigger is at stake here, because to him it looks like you're not wearing anything then result! Test passed.

Three main rules for choosing the tone of your foundation:
1. Never stray too far from your natural colour. No more than one shade as a general rule, two shades at a push
2. Never buy a foundation before you've asked for a tester and tried it on your face in daylight. The lights in department stores are totally misleading
3. ALWAYS use a yellow base. Always. No discussion. Anything else goes orange/pink in daylight and you get floating head syndrome, no matter what colour your skin tone, no matter how light or dark.

Now I have actually reverted to using a BB cream in the day. I'll cover BB creams in a separate article but for now let's consider them as the same and the same rules apply.

Brands for day time/lighter foundation:
Lancôme - very nice and light, particularly the Teinte Miracle range has a good selection of tones
Bobbi Brown - good coverage but not too heavy. All Bobbi Brown foundations are yellow based
Clarins and Laura Mercier

Brands for evening/thicker foundation:
Estee Lauder - Double-Wear Stay in Place. Good coverage and no need to reapply throughout the night. Although I must mention that the bottle is quite annoying, you just pour it out...
Lancôme - Do thicker ranges, but with fewer colours
MAC - Don't use this one myself personally, have heard mixed reviews but it definitely is thick. Great concealers.
Dior - Expensive but good coverage and lots of colours to choose from

As a final word, I would recommend always forking out a little bit more for foundations. So stick to the fancy part of Boots with the concession counters.

Ully x

London Grammar - Sights (Tourist Version)
https://soundcloud.com/londongrammar/sights-tourist-version