The post where I discover a fabulous (YSL Touché Éclat dupe?) foundation for under a fiver…
Lots of you tell me you struggle to find foundation pale enough for your skintone. I’m well aware that darker skins have the same issue… it seems the majority of brands appeal to, er… the majority, which can be very frustrating. Hopefully this post will be useful to some pale faces out there - and if you have oily skin, listen up as this is for you too!
The products I’ll be talking about today are Dr Jart+ Regenerating BB Cream, NYC All Day Long foundation and Pur Minerals pressed powder foundation. This post has been a while in the making - as you’ll see by the swatch overload - and because I wanted to give each of these formulas a thorough road test before sharing them with you.
I’ll start with swatches of all three, then tell you about each one in more detail…
I’m gonna start with my favourite, cos I’m impatient like that - and can’t wait to share!
NYC All Day Long foundation in Classic Ivory #737
I actually squealed the first time I tried this. If you wanted to try YSL Touché Éclat foundation (rrp £28) but were put off by the ‘mega dewy finish’ and ‘not suitable for oily skin’ reviews or the price, then get yourself to Superdrug asap and pick up a bottle of this, as the similarities astounded me. Described as a smooth skin foundation, it feels super fine in texture, just like the aforementioned. It gives a fine film of coverage that looks and feels like you’re wearing very little makeup, is very buildable if you feel you need extra coverage in certain areas and it lasts all day. Ten hours at least… at the 14hr stage I’m no longer checking my makeup, but I don’t need touch ups when I use this.
In the second swatch above you can see just how far one pump of product goes and how smooth and creamy the texture is, before the final, fully blended result. This applies well with fingers, but the Real Techniques Buffing Brush gives the optimum results for me.
Here it is applied (with fingers), left in natural light and right, with flash. I need very little concealer with this, no powder, just a little blush. Regular readers will know that I have quite dry skin, which sadly means I can’t wear this every day, though I’ve still been wearing it a lot (and have discovered ways around this issue, which I’ll share in a separate post).
NYC All Day Long is £3.99 at Superdrug - it’s rude not to!
Pur Minerals Pressed Powder Foundation in Porcelain
Pur Minerals new 4 in 1 pressed powder foundation comes in a great range of shades. I was sent the lightest, Porcelain, which is probably one shade too light for me. Mineral makeup lovers rave about this new formula, which is applied with a brush and buffed into the skin. I preferred using my own brush rather than the one designed to use with this product (which is purchased separately); mine gave a smoother finish, so it’s worth experimenting as the right brush can make or break mineral makeup, even more so than regular foundations.
This gave a buildable coverage and didn’t look overly heavy on my skin, but personally I really struggle with powder foundations and found this didn’t enhance my dry-ish, mature skin. I’m sharing it here anyway as so many do rave about it and I reckon if you’re young or youngish (!) with normal, oily or combination skin, then this is worth checking out - it’s available at M&S for £24.
Dr Jart+ Regenerating BB Cream one shade only
My Dr Jart+ love is well documented on this blog, but I haven’t written much about his Regenerating BB cream. It’s paler than the Water Fuse, slightly grey-beige in tone as you can see below, but the texture, coverage and finish are just gorgeous and I’ve been using this quite a lot combined with other products.
*Sorry I’ve called this Regenerative in the photos; correct name is Regenerating!
Despite being a BB cream rather than a foundation, I felt this deserved inclusion in this post as it really is a lovely base - just look at the gorgeous, light reflective finish when it’s blended. It’s a really dense cream as you can see in the top two swatches, but leaves a lovely natural looking coverage - and like the Water Fuse, a little goes a long way. The coverage is slightly heavier than Water Fuse; I’d describe it as light to medium in foundation terms.
I’m curious to try Dr Jart’s Premium BB cream next - if it’s as good as these two it won’t disappoint (& a little bird told me Dr Jart+ is 1/3 off at Boots at the moment). See my post comparing Water Fuse & Regenerating here
I hope this has been helpful for fellow pale skinned readers… although each of these bases have some element that isn’t quite perfect for me, I’ve found ways to make two out of three work. I’ll include my secrets in a separate post very soon… So if you have a drawer-full of products that make you sigh with despair, don’t give up, your cash may not have been wasted!
If you have any other pale makeup recommendations, please share the love in the comments below or on my Facebook page here.
