I call this my liquid confidence. Without this one little bottle, just £5.50 from Canterbury market, I struggle to look anyone directly in the face. Without this one little bottle, I don't feel even remotely attractive. Without this one little bottle, I have to avoid mirrors for fear of ruining entire days, or, in this case, entire holidays.
You see, I ran out of foundation two days before we went to Budapest. And in my rush to buy a replacement, to regain my liquid confidence, I bought a different brand and a different skin tone, one which looked worse on than off.
So I was stuck without my mask. I was stuck in just my skin. Looking kind of like a fourteen year old version of myself , a version that very luckily got upgraded, or I that I thought got upgraded.
It wasn't a disaster, it just wasn't fun avoiding photos and mirrors all trip.
But it did serve one purpose. For a while now I have been questioning my makeup routine, I even tried a lighter coverage by getting a BB cream (genuinely horrendous, looked darker than my foundation and streaky but yet had no coverage?!), because I am aware that in the summer and direct sunlight my makeup may seem a bit heavy. I even briefly thought about weaning myself of makeup so that I didn't have to wear foundation at all.
My five days in Budapest cured me of any desire to stop wearing makeup, and any perpetual worrying that my makeup wasn't "good enough", I was just grateful once I bought a new bottle of foundation that I had the ability to improve my skin tone to a stage where I feel confident and happy, that I can make myself look better through my makeup choices.
I think it easy to think that you are failing as a woman and a feminist if you admit that you need makeup to be happy. But I really feel like myself once I've put my face on. And I am okay with that.
When I wear makeup, my skin becomes a non-issue. It isn't something that worry about, or even think about during the day! And that is why I wear foundation, not because wearing makeup consumes my identity, but because it stops the state of my skin becoming my identity.
Now, onto a quick rundown of my skincare makeup routine. Because you obviously care so much.
Here is a very flattering, well lit photo of what my skin looked like this morning after getting out the shower.
In the shower I apply a Nivea exfoliating scrub and a Nivea cleansing cream, I prefer a combined cleanser/toner but when there wasn't any in Boots last time I went. I have really sensitive skin so I can't use anything like Clean and Clear as it makes me break out and face go red and itchy which isn't ideal, I tend to stick to Nivea as my skin seems to respond to it well.
In Budapest I was in the throws of a mega breakout. By now, I'm just on low-level full-face rubbish skin. My pores are pretty huge, my skin is dry and red (not quite shown by the lighting of this photo), with a few clusters of small but painful spots.
When I get out the shower, I apply a basic moisturiser to my nose (not pictured) to combat the dryness that I get from my nose ring, before applying a combined Nivea moisturiser and primer. I've already expressed my love for Nivea, and this moisturiser is great because I have had bad experiences with expensive and ineffective primers, but I can really tell the difference between this and a normal moisturiser as it reduces the appearance of the pores on my cheeks.
After moisturising and leaving my face to dry, I apply a light layer of foundation before reapplying on problem areas for better coverage. Then I use a blusher brush to cover my foundation with Maybelline matte maker powder to avoid shine and to set my foundation. I have only really used powder for about six months but it makes a lot of difference to how long my makeup lasts as well as evening out slightly bumpy areas such as my forehead.
After I've applied my face, I tend to choose a lipstick. I am not really gifted at eye makeup, so I tend to steer towards a more dramatic lip colour instead. I tend to use a red or a purple if my skin is truly horrendous as I like to think that it draws attention away from my face and onto my lips instead!
Today I went for my most used lipstick which is only slightly darker than my normal lip colour, which gives my lips definition without making a bold statement. I borrowed this Bourjois one from my friend, Dove, for the summer ball and then went out and bought my own because I love it so much! So far this is what I look like.
Finally, I apply a small amount of blusher to my cheekbones if I feel like it. For nights out, I tend to use bronzer instead, and if I'm feeling quite red in the face I tend to skip this step as I feel like it brings out those tones.
I bought this one as a bit of a test to find a colour that suited my skin tone but I really like it so have continued to use it. I know I shouldn't, but I use the same brush for both my powder and my blush. I bought another one so that I wouldn't but really didn't like it as much as this one, despite it being a £3 brush from Wilkinsons! So I just use this one for both now.
And that's about it for my daily routine! I only wear eye makeup for nights out, events or if I'm procrastinating essays! Otherwise I just leave it because I touch my eyes too much in the day to wear eyeliner and I have the stubbiest eyelashes imaginable so mascara makes minimal difference. Perhaps I'll share my going out makeup routine another time. Or perhaps not. I'm not exactly a beauty blogger!
Lovely with and without makeup, but I agree that I just feel like myself with my foundation on and don't spend the day worrying about how I look. :)
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