FAVOURITE LIGHT BASES FOR SPRING & SUMMER

I know it's not summer yet but I think any girl has days where she needs little coverage (not a full face of foundation) but enough to have a nice glow and even out the skin tone. Here are my most trusted tinted moisturisers that I use on my 'good skin days' or 'too hot to do anything else summer days'.

Laura Mercier's Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser: This is very well known for it's glow-y capabilities, I call it sunshine in a tube. It is the one thing that gives me the most beautiful glow ever! It has tiny microscopic shimmer particles in it BUT you don't look like Edward Cullen in sunlight, these particles are not invisible on the skin once applied.

 It gives you a mega glow, it would brighten up the dullest of complexions on the greyest day of the year! As the name suggests it illuminates your skin, making it look younger and healthier. It has an SPF 20 so it's great for everyday protection, it glides onto the skin very easily, making it a great one-step makeup trick when you have no time but want big illuminating results FAST!

 It's only draw back is that it's not cheap, well none of the Laura Mercier's product are, but I have had mine for over a year and used it a lot (a little goes a long way) and it's still full because you get a lot of product for the money.
My shade is Warm Radiance (for medium skin with pink tones).


Erborian's CC Creme HD: My second favourite is a little less well known, it is a hybrid between skincare and makeup, so it moisturises and has anti-aging properties and evens out your skin tone and gives you a little glow (much less in your face as Laura Mercier's) it is just more subtle.

 This product comes out of the tube as a white cream which you start rubbing onto your face and it changes colour to match your face tone. It is quite entertaining to apply! See photo below where it starts   getting colour.

It has a great SPF of 45 so your daily protection--> check! It it great for covering redness, pigmentation and rosacea since it has enough coverage to mask them but it is virtually undetectable on the skin, it just looks like your skin, but better! It is my go-to skin product in the summer months and on holidays because it checks all the boxes for day and night makeup, your skin looks simply flawless!

Have you tried any of these bases? What are your favourite ones?

Love, London Girl  xxx

BEST EYELINER FOR WINGED-OUT LOOKS!

I gave up on black eyeliners a long time ago, after trying so many of them which looked amazing the first hour but they always end up on my eyelids at the end of the night not matter how carefully I apply them. It's very frustrating after spending half an hour trying to make the wings look symmetrical, all efforts in vain!

I finally stumbled upon my last chance... MAC's Fuildline in black - Blacktrack. It's been out for a long time but I never thought it would be any different from the others so I never bothered with it until I saw it on my friend and it looked really great. I was still so sceptical about it even though the sales assistant was also wearing it and said it never moves around or imprints on your lids. I brought it home and had to test it out straight away. 

It comes in a cute glass pot, it is a very highly pigmented gel consistency, which you can adjust or clean up a little while you apply it cause it gives you around 3 minutes before it fully sets (thank god!).  You would have to apply it with a liner brush, preferably synthetic but I like this since you can use different brushes depending on what look you want to recreate. I find it a bit messy and difficult to use felt liner pens as they are too watery, but this glides on perfectly, not too heavy not too watery consistency. 

And ladies! It does not move at all! Once it sets, it SETS and it will not imprint anywhere, it does not run in the corners of your eyes, it just stays put. I had fun creating new daytime and evening looks with winged out lines, something I never used to be able to do without looking worse for wear after 4-5 hours. 

I saw they have 11 colours in the Fuildline range, I am thinking of getting the brown (Dipdown) and the violet/mauve colour too (Macroviolet).

The brushes I use with it are the MAC 210 and MAC 263 (same as 266 but synthetic). I love both brushes but if I had to pick one, it would be the MAC 210 because I find it fits better into the inner corner of the eye.

I read bad reviews about this liner as people said it's too had to remove... well, I remove it easily with Bioderma's Crealine water, or Clinique's Take the day off Balm, most oily makeup removers should also do a good job but personally I never liked oily makeup removers.

You can find the liner here
What are your favourite holy grail liners?

Love, London Girl  xxx

MY TOP 3 FOUNDATIONS

Here is a round up of my all time favourite foundations:

About my skin type: I have combination skin with some dry patches around my nose. 

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua: I waited a long time before I bought it as I was not sure if it was worth the money but once I did the plunge, I fell in love with it straight away!
It is a really flawless light foundation which is undetectable on your skin. It simply looks like your skin is glowing and healthy. The coverage I would say is light-medium, but you could potentially build it up, it does not become heavy of cake-y. Although, I would not recommend building it up a lot since it is specifically made to be a light-medium coverage and look like your own skin. If you want a heavier coverage then don't buy this foundation.

Something to note is that since it is a water-based foundation, you have to shake the bottle for 7-10 seconds before using it. It has an SPF 15, but I used it a lot and never had any flashbacks, some people even wear it on their weddings! The lasting power I would say is around 6 hours for me, maybe a bit more with primer underneath. It is my perfect everyday foundation.
My shade is B20.


Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk: My wedding day foundation. I absolutely love this stuff, I have to admit that when I first bought it, I was not happy about how it sat on top of my skin because I applied it with fingers. No no no, this foundation is meant to be applied with a brush, little by little, really buffing it into your own skin and adding layers when needed but not bulking a large amount straight away thinking it will look great, it won't. So this needs patience to apply, but the result is worth it! You get a very natural finish too, glowing from within, it's medium coverage, and the staying power is at least 10 hours if you properly buff it in.

I applied it at 4pm on my wedding day and did no touch anything up (I thought I would, but simply had not time for it) and removed it at the end of the night at 5am! Here are pictures of the just applied foundation and the 4am disco skin- still looking good!

I love the fact that in the picture on the right, I had just applied the foundation but my skin was not a blank canvas, you could see through the foundation, it just looks like I had very good skin, it doesn't look like I have 2 layers of foundation. 

Another great advantage of this foundation is that it has no SPF, so it always photographs beautifully and it is great on big occasions when you want your photos to look flawless. I heard that a lot of wedding makeup artists use it! Now that the wedding is over I still use the foundation when I want something long lasting with good coverage but still looking natural. I would say this foundation gives a little more coverage than the Vitalumiere Aqua.

My shade is normally : 4 

But I also got a summer shade for when I am more tanned: 5.25

Nars Sheer Glow: Another beautiful foundation! It has a medium coverage but you could build it up to full coverage. It also leaves a healthy glow, but you can't really see your skin though it (not like both of the foundations above), I use it in colder months when I feel I need more coverage. It also photographs very well (no SPF) and the staying power is around 8 hours for me. The only issue I have with it is that I sometimes (once a month) get dry skin patches around my nose and I feel it emphasises them. That said, if you don't suffer from any dry patches, it is a wonderful foundation to have in your collection. Just make sure you buy a pump for it, it is so messy without it and you could end up wasting a lot of product. Nars sells the pumps separately, or you can do as I did and steal a pump from an empty bottle ;). 

My shade is: Ceylan

Love, London Girl  xxx