I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a beauty blogger, however along with “where is ____ from?”, “what foundation do you use?” is definitely my most asked question. I have consequently been promising a big blog post about my everyday make-up for some time, and here it finally is! It’s going to be a long post, but I hope it’s helpful, and I have tried to include budget alternatives wherever I use a more high end product.

First and foremost I use a primer – I apply it to my t-zone daily, or to my full face if I’m going out or have a special event. The primer I’m using at the moment is Smashbox Photo Finish, which I cannot fault. It is quite expensive (£25) however you only need to use the tiniest bit and so it works out to be excellent value for money; I just scrolled back through my Instagram to check when I bought this tube and it was 50 weeks ago(!). The only other primer I have ever used is by MUA and is £4; I found that wearing that was better than wearing no primer, but Smashbox Photo Finish is definitely the superior product. I have included Photo Finish in my swatch below (number 1), you can just about see how it has smoothed out the lines on my hand – it has a similar effect on the face and gives foundation more staying power. 

Next – foundation. The seemingly endless search for the perfect product is made even more difficult when you have particularly pale skin! My favourite foundation at the moment is Estee Lauder Double Wear (£28.50). It provides flawless full coverage, is very easy to apply, lasts all day without being cakey and is just generally fabulous. The only downside is the annoying glass bottle, which means that you’re often left with product towards the end of a bottle which is difficult to get out. The shade I use is ‘Shell’, which as far as I’m aware is the palest they do. As you can see from the swatch below (number 4), Shell is still slightly warmer than my skin, however the colour difference is only slight and I like that it gives me a little bit of colour. To combat the slight colour difference, I usually combine my Double Wear with Illamasqua Skin Base in Shade 2 (swatch number 3). I don’t always mix the two together before applying (partly due to laziness), but usually use Skin Base on areas of my face I want to highlight and around my jawline so that blending my Double Wear into my neck looks more natural. Illamasqua Skin Base is also a fantastic foundation in my opinion, and the range of pale colours is second to none (Skin Base is also available in a pure white, which you could mix with any foundation to lighten). Shade 2 is very, very light but also quite neutral in tone, which I prefer to the very pink or very yellow undertones you tend to find in pale foundations. Skin Base is now quite pricey at £32 (although last time I purchased it it was still £27!), but is currently still available on ASOS in selected shades (including shade 2) for £27 here. The reason I prefer Double Wear, and if I had to choose just one I would choose Double Wear, is that when worn all over Shade 2 of Skin Base can look a little ghostly, it takes much more buffing to achieve a flawless finish, and isn’t great if you have dry patches. 

As well as my heavy coverage foundation, I have recently gone back to an old favourite in Gosh BB Cream in Sand (swatch number 5). It is a perfect colour match, and I’ve chosen to replace Double Wear with it in my daily routine on days when my skin is good or I’m not doing anything special. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who is looking for a lightweight foundation / BB Cream, and especially if you’re pale and/or on a budget as it is £9.99.

I also use concealer in my make-up routine on most days, either dabbed under my eyes or to cover a spot, or both. My favourite is MAC Studio Finish Concealer, shade NC15 (swatch number 6). NC15 is too yellow for me to wear all over my face in a foundation, but I find that it works well under the eyes as it warms up the blue-y tones of dark circles, and once it is blended with my foundation the colour difference is not noticeable.  I have tried Illamasqua’s concealers, which are a better colour match, but found them to be a little too greasy and not as heavy coverage as MAC’s. Studio Finish Concealer is moderately priced at £15 for a 7g pot, if you’re using it conservatively it lasts ages. If you’re looking for something cheap then I have found that Miss Sporty and Natural Collection cover stick concealers are surprisingly good for their £1.99 price tag, but MAC Studio Finish is unsurpassed when it comes to spot covering, even if there’s dry or broken skin involved as it is very creamy. 

Finally, I have also included Soap & Glory Hocus Focus in the photo (swatch number 2), despite only having purchased it a few days ago. I impulse bought it, £11, whilst trying to make the most of a 3 for 2 offer on Soap & Glory cosmetics in Boots (I’m a terrible sucker for their offers), and so far I’m loving it! Hocus Focus is an illuminator, not a product I’ve ever considered to be an essential in my make-up routine before, however experimenting with it so far I have found that it gives a great dewy effect and highlights very subtly and I think it could serve as a 2-in-1 primer/highlighter if I found myself without a primer or powder highlighter. I have mainly used this on my cheeks and undereye area, and you can be more liberal with it than you would be with a powder highlighter for example because as I mentioned the highlighting effect is quite subtle. Whether or not I will repurchase remains to be seen as I’m more of a matte-finish than a dewy-finish gal when it comes to my skin, but it is definitely a great fun product. 

I also like to use a powder highlighter. Around 4 months ago I treated myself to NARS Albatross on ASOS (a great place to buy make-up as a student, as you can use your 10% discount), which is £21.50. It gives a very subtle highlight, as you can hopefully see in the left swatch in the photo below. I’m not sure whether or not I will repurchase this as it is quite pricey; it is definitely a great product I’m just not sure it’s worth splashing out on for me personally. Perhaps I’ll change my mind when I run out and start missing it though! My budget option is MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder (right swatch), which is an entirely more reasonable £3. The highlight isn’t as subtle as Albatross’ so I have to be careful when using this in my everyday make-up as I don’t want to look too glittery. Both are fab products, I prefer NARS but as far as value for money goes the MUA highlighter is great! I haven’t pictured it here as I use it mainly as an eye shadow, but I love Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Furore for highlighting too! I have also tried Topshop Highlighter in Sunbeam which is a great product and is a middle-of-the-range price at £10, but I found it to be a little too gold for me. The pigmentation is fantastic though, so if you have a darker skin-tone it would probably be ideal for you.

For me, the brushes I use are almost as important as the products. Before I purchased the Real Techniques Core Collection (orange handles) I hadn’t found a brush that I liked to apply foundation with and so stuck to a sponge. A sponge does the job and of course is cheap (I used the basic circular sponges which are around 5 for £1 in Bodycare), however they can waste product and generally I don’t find the finish as nice as the finish you get with a brush. I use the Buffing Brush (second from right) to apply my foundation, and only switch back to a sponge if I’m having a bad day with my brushes (which usually only happens if they need cleaning!). As long as I clean the buffing brush roughly once every 2 weeks I rarely have a problem, though! Sticking to the Real Techniques Core Collection, I love the smallest brush in the collection, the Detail Brush (third from right), for neatening up all sorts of things. As I mentioned before, I use it with foundation to neaten the edges of my brows, but I also do the same with the edges of my lips if I’m wearing a bold colour. I use the Contour Brush (fourth from right) for all my powder blushers, bronzers and highlighters, it’s a great size and is just generally very easy to use. The Pointed Foundation Brush (second from left) is the brush I use the least from the collection because it’s too small for foundation application in my opinion, but I do occasionally use it with concealer or to apply Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment, which I then blend into my foundation with the buffing brush. The e.l.f. Powder Brush (far right) is the only powder brush I’ve ever used, but it has always done the job for me so I’ve never felt the need to replace it. I especially like that it is only £3.95!

More recently I bought the Real Techniques Starter Set (£21.99, purple handles) which contains my new favourite brushes for eye shadows, the Base Shadow Brush (far left) and Deluxe Crease Brush (third from left). I particularly like the deluxe crease brush, which is great for buffing and blending eye shadow. I have used the Accent Brush from the Starter Set for applying lipstick, but I don’t use the other brushes in the set; I don’t think that the brow brush is fine enough, and I haven’t found a use for the pixel point-brush. I got the set when it was on sale at Cocktail Cosmetics, and wouldn’t have liked to have paid the full price of £21.99 as I mainly only use two of the brushes, but those two brushes are great. 

Annnd breathe! 3000+ words later and that is the end of my everyday make-up post, if only it was this easy to write my coursework! Please bear in mind that wherever I have mentioned a price, this is the RRP (generally from the Boots or Superdrug website), and I would encourage you to search online for more competitive prices (particularly with brands like Real Techniques) or sales or discounts (the Illamasqua sales are always great and they offer a free delivery online and a 10% loyalty discount from your third order, and ASOS offers student discount on a lot of beauty brands). I haven’t included any eye shadow or lip products, but you can read about some of my favourite lipsticks in this post. I wrote it around 18 months ago but many of the products I included are still firm favourites! As I mentioned, I do love Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Furore on the eyes, but I won’t get into a discussion of eye shadows here as I tend not to wear them on an everyday basis. 

I hope that this has been helpful, especially for you pale skinned girls! Remember I am by no means an expert and am writing purely as a consumer. If you’d like to recommend any products you think I’d like then I’d love to investigate those so do leave a comment, and I’d love to know if you’d like to see more beauty related posts from me! I promise I will get better at photographing products if that’s the case 🙂

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