NARS Sheer Glow : Tried & True

Alright, I've decided to change the name of Thursday's posts from Throwback (because this sounds like I'm going to talk about products from the 80s) to Tried & True. The premise is still the same, just a different name. I'm sure that all of you would have noticed this on your own and been very dismayed had I not said something. 

Today's Tried & True is technically a product that I haven't even owned all that long, but that I've used for a very long time; NARS Sheer Glow Foundation. I only bought a bottle of this back in November, but if I'm being truthful with you guys, I might have hoarded samples of it for about 6 months prior to that. I don't know why I had so much trouble pulling the trigger, but I finally did during the VIB sale in the fall.

So what's so great about this foundation? A lot of stuff. I'm going to review this like I normally would just to make sure that you guys know that it's great.

Price: $45 (plus extra $$ if you buy the pump)

Amount of Product: 1 fl oz.

Number of Shades: 19 (!!)

Claim: "A glowing, natural radiant finish foundation with sheer and buildable coverage that immaculately evens skin tone. Replete with skincare benefits and the NARS Complexion Brightening Formula, it leaves skin hydrated, more luminous, softer and smoother. Used daily, Sheer Glow Foundation improves the skin's brightness and texture." 

Shade that I use: Gobi, but I've also used Siberia

Shades and the foundation itself: 19 shades? Yasss. I have yellow toned skin, so I can't speak for all you pink ladies out there (catch that pop culture reference), but NARS has a pretty awesome skin tone and color line. Sibera, the lightest of all of the shades, is a yellow toned porcelain shade, somewhere around a NC10 if you want a MAC equivalent. I'm not so well versed in the other end of the spectrum, but it runs fairly dark and also plays with different undertones.

The foundation is a liquid, but not overly runny. NARS states that the foundation is for normal, normal/dry, and dry skinned ladies and gents, but I have normal/oily in the winter and super oily in the summer and I still wear this. I'll touch more on this in a moment.

Coverage: The coverage on this foundation is buildable. If you want it to be very sheer, applying with a damp beauty blender would definitely give you the light coverage you desire whereas I apply it with a brush to achieve something closer to a medium coverage. I wouldn't recommend trying to build this to full coverage as I think it would start to get cakey and noticeable on the skin. I definitely need concealer for my under eyes with this foundation and while it does cover a bit of redness, it doesn't get it all.

Application: I always shake this foundation before application, but I'm not entirely sure if that's necessary. I then squeeze out one pump and apply it in small patches and blend it in with a brush. I will, on occasion, apply this with my fingers if all of my brushes are dirty (like they currently are...) and this method is actually recommended by monsieur Nars. One of the things that I love about this foundation is the ease of blending; it blends so perfectly and seamlessly on the skin that it looks like your own skin in a few seconds. 

Wear Time: This is why monsieur Nars recommends this foundation for normal to dry skin types; the staying power on oily skin isn't so great. I wear this foundation almost religiously in the winter because my skin gets so damned normal that I can't use my "oily skin foundations" and it definitely lasts a good 8 hours. It isn't a long wear foundation, so it's not going to stay perfect looking for 16 hours, but it's definitely still on my face at the end of the day when I go to remove my makeup. In the summer, depending on how oily I am, I give it 4 hours of looking good and then it's off my face. I like to wear it out at night in the summer since it's light weight and makes the skin look nice.

Does it deliver on its claim? As much as I love this foundation, I hate that it makes the claim that it makes your skin better over time. Sorry, I don't believe any foundation that spouts shit like that; I'll leave those claims to my skin care. Other than that, yes, this definitely delivers on its claims. It makes my skin look glowy and natural, but also manages to cover most redness and unevenness. 

Honestly, I really love this foundation and I recommend this to tons of people on the internet and in real life. Sure, there are drugstore dupes for this foundation, but none of them have the same color & tone range that is available in the NARS. It is pricey for a foundation, but if there were only one thing that I could splurge on, it would definitely be foundation; it makes or breaks a look.

Flawless Skin : Tutorial

To me, the worst thing that can happen to you, makeup wise, is losing your "perfect" base. What do I mean by that? I mean skin troubles. I think of my skin as the base to all of my makeup looks and when my skin and I are not getting along, I feel like nothing else looks good. Unfortunately for me, the last few weeks have been really bad in the sense of my skin being a total jerk. Granted, I put it through some horrible things, but its retaliation was stupid and childish... or at least teenagerish. Yes, friends, my skin broke out horribly, so horribly in fact, that the last few tutorials you saw that were photos were done far in advance of the worst breakouts. My skin is finally starting to clear up, but I thought that this would be the perfect time to show you how to go from not-so-amazing to flawless with the help of makeup.

We're going to start with clean, moisturized skin. I usually use a very gentle cleanser in the mornings and leave my more abrasive cleansing (i.e. my clarisonic) for night. I've been using micellar water in the mornings and leaving it at that, but since my skin was freaking out, I stepped it up and started using Boscia's Purifying Cleansing Gel. I went back to my normal moisturizer, Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, after unsuccessfully trying a few other brands. This is where I start, every time. No matter how badly you're breaking out, it's not an excuse to skip moisturizer.

I move on to foundation, which when my skin looks horrible, is always Revlon Color Stay in Buff. I blend it into my skin using the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, but a Beauty Blender would work wonderfully as well. I don't typically use primer, but you would obviously prime before this step if you do. 

And then conceal! I use two different concealers; one for undereye and one for blemishes. For under my eyes, I've been using NARS Creamy Radiance Concealer in Chantilly because it's super opaque, but moisturizing so it doesn't crease. For my blemishes, I like to go in with Dermablend's Quick Fix concealer in Ivory and spot treat. If your blemishes has texture, exfoliate before hand to get rid of any flaky skin or apply a creamy concealer so that the flakes aren't amplified.

This is one of my tricks for flawless looking skin; cooking your concealer. This is a makeup tip learned from drag queens, but doing it makes your cheeks look amazing and luminous and overall fabulous. I use MAC Studio Finish in NW20, which is the completely wrong everything for me (I was poorly matched a year ago... I should have taken it back), but it works so well for cooking. To read up more on cooking concealer, read here. 

And then I used my typical setting powder and did the rest of my face. All of these photos were taken in natural lighting, so this is as true as it's gonna get photography wise. 

And here's the difference. Do I do this look every single day when my skin is in a sad state? No, absolutely not. I generally like to stick with my normal routine until it's over, but sometimes, you just need a pick me up or need to go somewhere and not have 16 visible zits on your face.

I hope this was helpful and if you'd like me to do a video showing this, let me know in the comments! Feel free to leave any other comments or questions as well.

xx, 

Bisous Darling

Face of the Day : January 25

 

I've shown you all what I do for my everyday makeup, but what about the days that I break from the norm? Well, for those days, I have a post titled "Face of the Day" (FOTD) where I show you what the look is and what products I used to create the look.

For today, I decided to stay pretty natural, but change it from my regular "natural" look. I played around with my blush, added a lip color, and changed the eyes. Keep reading for swatches and the products used for this look.