Full Face coverage - Before and After

It's true, all foundations are not made equal, and it's even more true that you do get what you pay for. If I had to suggest one area to 'splurge' in your makeup bag over all the others- I would hands down say go in big on your foundation and loosen the purse strings a little. Eyeliners and blushes, lipsticks and mascara are very tricky to distinguish the £6 from the £16 or the £26! But the foundation is the foundation for your makeup, your face and your look. The foundation is out under the most pressure and has the toughest job to do, create a seamless, flawless natural looking canvas that can withstand it all. Cheap foundations, like the cheap foundation on a house, may look okay at first but the first sign of a grey cloud it crumbles and melts away.

I have dabbled back and fourth with all sorts of foundation and concealer combinations but often return to the Revlon Colorstay in the oily combination skin formula and the Mac Studio Sculpt concealer.
However, not wanting to miss out on anything better out there I am currently using:

Mac Studio Fix Fluid in NC15

Kryolan Dermacolor Wheel Rainbow Circle

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, and this is the completely unedited, as-it-is, result that this little combination gives me!

The foundation I have gone back and fourth with, it's full coverage with a matte finish and I wear shade NC15 to even out my complexion, with the Kryolan colour wheel I use all of them, mostly a combination of the two palest colours for under my eyes and the rest I darken according to the contours of my face. The formula of the concealers are almost on the dry side as they are very thick, and feel like face paint. Although on the skin they do not look cakey like you might imagine face to paint to look, but it is the fullest coverage that I have ever gotten from a concealer and super resiliant to wear.

Sometimes straying from what you're used to is a good thing!

A little shop called Mac...

For the very first time I visited the Mac shop instead of a concession, and it was quite something!
Having just had Christmas aswell as ordering myself the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette, and some Nyx treats I was trying to only buy what I 'needed'.
One thing that I needed was foundation, and that was a complete need, A foundation is of course essential and I can justify buying a good one as the foundation has to be good to make everything else look good on top! I got the Studio Fix Fluid in shade NC15

N.B - I got colour matched by the girl in Mac and it all began well until the old chestnut came up as she began removing my foundation, she wanted to give me skin care advice. I understand she is of course trying to help, but it was irritating to me as everything she suggested I was of course already doing- she told me about using a toner- Really? I've dealt with problematic skin since the age of 13 and She does not think that I am
1. Using toner
2. Using a good skin care routine

I found the whole experience quite insulting, but of course she wasn't meaning to be rude and only trying to be helpful. But it did make me feel dirty, as though she did not think that I was washing my face and that was the cause of my breakouts.

So, to the counter I marched with the foundation feeling proud that I'd walked past the new stock, the Mac Pro Section, the paint pots, all without being swept in, until...!

A Bubblegum pink lipglass, well this is the very thing missing from my collection, the thing that I've been longing for, it will make my lips look fuller, it will match so many outfits, so many eye looks and people will say 'wow where did you get that bubblegum coloured lipgloss' and I'll say 'It's Saint Germain by Mac' and how much fun that would be...

So I had to get it and what a treat it is! It even smells of vanilla cake, oh I just love it!

Finally, my mum told me about a lipliner that she proclaimed 'incredible' and a 'Your lips but better' look. So I came home with that too. It is 'Nude' by No7 from Boots and is warm toned with a little bit of orange in it. It looks brick coloured swatched, but on it just looks lovely although it's smell is waxy and kind of putrid - but I think that I can overlook that for how practical it is.

Revlon 24 hour Colourstay - does it really last for 24 hours? Photo results!

I recently purchased the Revlon 24 hour Colourstay foundation in the shade Buff which is second to lightest.

I of course bought the formulation for oily skin and went home with mid expectations about what it may be like, I wasn't expecting 24 hours but I was hoping for something close!
I wasn't dissapointed.
The foundations coverage is medium to heavy, I only need to apply one layer and at first I was using a flat foundation brush but ended up using a stippling brush which I think gives a much more even effect, no brushstrokes and a more flawless finish.
I put my foundation through it's paces, not to mention the fact that is slips and slides all over my face, I'm also a eye rubber, a sweater, a face toucher etc
I'm taken aback as it's really stood the test of time.

Here is how my foundation looked at 8.30am

This is how my skin looked at 11pm the same today (I'm in my pink pjs!)

 Here's a photographic comparison of my skin at 11pm with the foundation (right picture) and without the foundation once I had washed my face (left picture) So this is about fifteen hours of wear, that's not just sitting in one place all day it includes going to classes, going shopping and all that.

I think you can see why I'm persuaded, this has 100% replaced my MAC Studio Fix foundation, this lasts much longer and applies nicer, plus I think the colour shade is more accurate to my skin tone. You can see my blush and bronzer has all but worn off but my foundation is still sticking around!

This is my absolute new foundation favourite, I hope that it never gets discontinued! If it does I will stock up about six bottles of this!