Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua

I was not a happy bunny when I looked in the mirror before doing my FOTD pics this morning.  After treating myself to the foundation I had been wanting since I got the first sachet out of Glamour mag I had imagined that I would look radiant, glowing and non-doughy the first time I used it from the tube. Instead my skin looked dry, felt tight and had no glow at all.  Admittedly I am also using a new Botanics serum, more on that in a later post, and had perhaps scrimped on my moisturiser. 

Because we live in the basement I never get to do my face in natural light, which is both a blessing and a curse, so at 11am I dragged everything up stairs, cleaned off the make up I put on at 7am in the basement, was a bit more liberal with the moisturiser and re-did my face in full daylight.  

Couple of things I need to explain.  My cheeks, chin and nose are blessed with rosacea, which varies in intensity depending on loads of factors, main trigger is hormonal though.  Foundation that offers enough coverage to deal with the rosacea has a tendency to sit in my pores and look powdery and horrid.  Yesterday was a nightmare, I was wearing Lancome Teint Miracle and for some reason it sank into the pores on my chin and came off of the surrounding area so in effect I had powdery dots with redness all around - looked bloody terrible.  When I re-applied the Chanel this morning it was lovely on my chin, looked smooth and fresh with no powderyness, but sadly on my cheeks the redness still showed through and adding more foundation started to make things a bit dry and tight feeling.

This has been a lot of words, have a couple of pics to keep you going!



Fab light today so all posts this week will have tonnes of pics!

I was having a grump and was having a look at Twitter to cheer myself up when I noticed Helen at Sparklz & Shine had rt a link to a post by Kenneth Soh, which was the answer to my issues! I am so glad she did!  Having read Kenneths really interesting post about mixing and blending to customise the products you are using I have decided to do just that - I am going to see what happens when I wear the Lancome which I love for its coverage, combined with the Chanel which I love because its Chanel it's fresh and non powdery!

POST EDIT: Kenneth Soh is a god!  When I commented on his post yest about foundation layering he replied with some fantastic advice.  So as he suggested this morning I dotted a little of the Lancome on cheeks and chin where I needed additional cover, added a thin layer of the Chanel all over and a second thin layer on chin and cheeks and then buffed.  I have never buffed my foundation in before - you know what? It makes you look like you have good skin, not like you are wearing good make up.  Am now going to google foundation buffing brushes, but if anyone has any tips let me know - should it be a kabuki style brush?  If so have found a use for one more of those No 7 £5 vouchers!!

Just in case anyone is still here reading here are a couple of fotd pics.


Call yourself a photographer woman, bloody hell??  The delicious orange glow in the photo above is as a direct result of me forgetting to adjust the white balance on the photo when I was processing it.  This is how it should have looked:






I think what I love best about this pic is that it is quite apparent that the Chanel shade 20 Beige Tendre is much too dark for me (less obvious with post processing sorted out!!). £31 well spent or what -hopefully mixing with the Lancome will deal with that too.  Had another go with the Revlon matt blue eye shadow this morning, I am really liking this bit of colour now!

One last thing before I go, the Illamasqua SA yesterday convinced me that for me nude lips can only look "freshly dug up".  Instead she sold me a very lovely liquid lipstick, which I am wearing in these pics, its getting a post of its own soon!

Guest Review On Sparklz and Shine - Lancome Teint Miracle Foundation

Helen asked back in January for someone to review the Lancome Teint Miracle foundation for her as it was too dark for her skin, needless to say I jumped at the chance and was lucky enough to the be the one picked out of the hat!  My guest review is here so nip across and have a look when you have a mo!


In case you are wondering this stuff has knocked the Bobbi Brown Luminous Moisturising Foundation into a cocked hat (whatever that means!) I have only worn the Lancome since the day I first tried it and I completely love it.  It has completely changed how I do my make up and I am loving a degree of cover that I thought I could never achieve without doughy, powdery make up - which has been especially good this week when my rosacea has had its once a month flare!