During the summer, everyone and their mothers experience problems with keeping their foundation from slipping, melting off or sweating away. I'm going to let you in on a few tips and tricks that I use in order to keep my foundation from abandoning me in a time of need!
Just to be clear, I have normal/combination skin and don't experience too many breakouts, but I sweat a lot in the summer.
Step 1: Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize
A good base is essential for a good application. Make sure to cleanse your face with a face wash that works for you. Before applying makeup, I prefer to use a face wash that isn't oil based, so as not to introduce any unneeded oils to my skin.
A lot of people don't even know toner exists. Here's a quick 101!
Basically what toners do is remove any excess debris from your skin, as well as returning a natural pH level to your skin. Naturally your skin is more on the acidic portion of the pH scale, and when you wash it with an alkaline soap it will throw off the balance. Using a toner will help to counter act that so that your skin's natural cycle won't be thrown off and it will help reduce redness and breakouts.
The toner I have recently come across that I LOVE is The Body Shop's Tea Tree Oil Toner. This toner is great because not only does the tea tree oil help to reduce redness and blemishes, but it also contains corn starch, which helps to mattify the skin.
After toning, moisturizer is essential to retain the state that you've set your skin into with your cleanser and toner. I use Aveeno Fresh Essentials Nourishing Moisturizer SPF 30. It's got a lovely scent thanks to its southernwood extract, and the SPF helps to keep my skin undamaged in the sun.
Step 2: Primer
Using a primer is going to help guarantee that your coverage is going to stay in place and go on smoothly. There are tons of primers on the market, ranging from low end (Rimmel Fix & Perfect) to higher end (Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer) that will boast different effects on the skin, like minimizing pores, brightening complexion, mattifying skin and smoothing out fine lines. Choose one that you feel will work best for your situation.
Step 3: Coverage
Depending on what kind of coverae you need, try to minimize the amount of products that you use. it's nice to have as little as possible on your face in the heat, but you still want that nice flawless face. Here's what I personally use, in order:
-Urban Decay Primer Potion on the eyelid and under eye
-Garnier Fructis Anti Dark Circle Under Eye Roller (for a good base and coverage)
-L'oreal True Match foundation in problem areas. If they need more coverage, I will layer this foundation to conceal more.
-Maybelline Dream Matte Powder with a powder puff to set in place.
To set the foundation and everything, I use the powder puff and roll on, not sweep, the powder everywhere I put product. After brushing away the excess powder, this gives me a little more coverage, as well as setting the foundation well in place and giving me a flawless finish.
Step 4 (Optional): Setting and Finishing Sprays
If you need that extra boost of setting power, you can buy a setting spray, such as Urban Decay's All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. This sprayed over top of your foundation will help seal it in, as well as giving a nice sheen to your skin. Even if you just want a spray to help avoid cakeyness and a powdery look (which can happen with the powder puff technique), you can buy products like MAC Fix+ and Aveeno Thermal Spring water Spray to accomplish that. They will not help the makeup last longer, like the Urban Decay product, but they are great finishing sprays, and feel lovely in the summer, especially if you put them in the fridge!
Okay, that's everything for this totally long winded blog post! If you got this far, thanks for reading, I really appreciate it, and I hope you learned something from this! Have a fabulous, streak-free summer!
Dylan ♥♥
