My Current Foundation Routine

As a follow up to my recent post about my current favorite foundation I thought it would be a good time to write about my current foundation routine.  This tends to change because I am always trying new powders, foundations and concealers but for the most part these are the products that I have been using for the past few months.

Before I get into the products that I use let me first tell you a little about my skin.  I was not blessed with a naturally flawless complexion. I have very sensitive, temperamental skin that ranges from normal to oily.  I tend to breakout along my jaw and when I break out it gets extremely red and inflamed.  More often than not the skin around the pimples gets very dry and flaky which can be challenging to conceal.  I also deal with hyperpigmentation from breaking out.  It seems that almost every pimple eventually turns into a little dark mark aka one more thing to try to cover up.  Now that you know a little more about my skin and its challenges on to the products :)

I always begin by priming my skin.  I find that a good primer helps to create a smooth surface for my foundation especially around those dry flaky acne spots.  They also help my foundation last longer through the day.  Right now I am trying out the L'Oreal Revitalift Miracle Blur in the oil free version.  It has a nice texture and I find that it smooths out my skin but this product really is a miss for me mostly because of the price point.  I will be posting a full review on this product shortly.

I like to let my primer sink into my skin for a few minutes before I start applying foundation.  The foundation that I have been loving lately is the Cover Girl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1.  Right now I am the color golden tan but this will change in a few months as my summer tan really starts to fade. One thing I really like about this foundation is that it comes in a bottle with a pump.  I typically use two pumps of foundation.  I pump it out on to the back of my hand and then use my ring finger to evenly dot it all over my face. I really love using my Beauty Blender with this foundation.  I use the round end of the Beauty Blender to take all of that foundation and "pounce" it into my skin until it is all blended out.

While the Cover Girl foundation covers up most of my skins imperfections I still need a separate concealer to help cover up some of the darker marks.  The concealer that I have fallen in love with is the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer.  I just discovered this over the summer and boy oh boy is this stuff amazing. I find that some concealers cling to dry skin but this one does not at all.  It really is creamy and covers up blemishes beautifully. Creamy is the perfect word to describe it.  I will just dot this on top of whatever needs to be covered up and then use my Beauty Blender to blend it out to a flawless finish.

I admit I have gotten caught up in the Kim Kardashian inspired bright under eye look.  I use a few different products to help try to achieve this.  I start with the MAC Prep + Prime highlighter in the color Radiant. Taking the highlighter pen I create a "V" underneath both of my eyes that starts right under my eyes and goes down to about the tip of my nose - the top of the "V" starts at about my tear duct and extends out to where my eye ends.  Once I have that area all filled in with the highlighter I use the other end of my Beauty Blender to lightly blend all of that out.  I don't over blend because I still want it to show up pretty light.  After all of that is blended out I take my MAC Studio Fix concealer in a shade that is about 2-3 shades too light for me (NW-20) and dot a little bit on top of where I just blended out the highlighter.  I find that this just adds to the lightening of that area.  I also blend that out with my Beauty Blender.  To set all of that concealer I use the Ben Nye Banana Powder again on my handy Beauty Blender.  I just tap some into the lid of the container and then using then pick it up using the pointy end of the BB and lightly tap it all over the concealer/highlighter underneath my eyes.

To set the rest of my face I like to use my MAC Studio fix powder.  I use a big fluffy brush and pat the Studio fix into my face.  I have to be careful with this product as it can look very cakey if applied too heavily.  To help combat against the cake face look I spray a little bit of MAC's Fix + on my face after I''m finished. I realize that this sounds like a lot of product but this is what I have found works to help me achieve a nearly flawless face that lasts throughout the day.

What do you use in your foundation routine?