FOUNDATION REVIEW

Tom Ford is a really interesting brand. It is very, very expensive but the designer has a very well edited line of makeup that is very appealing. I'm not a fan of his lip products, although I love the colors, I think they are extremely drying and suck the moisture out of my lips. However his blushes I think are some of the best on the market today. I decided to try out his liquid foundation in the shade praline. I bought mine from Saks Fifth Avenue.

Tom Ford liquid foundation in Praline

I love the packaging and the pump - you can control the amount of foundation you get. The foundation itself has a very light fluid-like consistency and coverage is light (similar to a tinted moisturizer). It gives a matte effect and I do find it slightly drying and that it can emphasize dry patches. The foundation on it's own does not seem to last more than 4 to 6 hours. To counteract the negative effects I make sure to exfoliate and moisturize my face well before hand. Also, I mix in Guerlain's face primer in meteorites perles with the foundation to make it a more gel like consistency. 

Guerlain meteorites primer

This primer also helps the foundation to last all day and gives a more soft focused finish. Would I recommend this product? For the cost, probably not. It is definitely not a must have and I think there are products that are lower priced that perform better. But I think it's awesome that the designer appeals to people with darker skin tones and if you are willing to splurge and/or are a foundation junkie this is definitely worth a try...

HG PRIMER FOR THE FACE

Estee lauder illuminating primer

I used to associate the Estee Lauder brand as an outdated, old woman's brand. But after recently trying their brand, I've realized that they have some really great quality all star products. Few years ago, I had never used a face primer and did not understand what the hype was all about them. So after receiving and trying some samples of face primers from sephora (the one I remember really liking was from the brand Fresh from sephora), I decided to explore more about them. I remember choosing the estee lauder illuminating primer because of two reasons - the price and the reviews on the internet (I can't remember where but I think it was makeupalley).

I've used this product on most work days (> 40hours per week) for over a year and just ran out of it few weeks ago. The formula was incredibly light weight and not greasy. I work 12 to 13 hour shifts most days and I found that this product did make my base last the whole day - my natural oils would come through but I never looked like a greasy mess. I also found that if I put a little "extra" on - my skin would look more radiant.

This is definitely a holy grail no-fail product. I love it when products do what they claim... Currently I've tried other more expensive "illuminating" primers but their lasting performance is sub-par compared to this one... I have to combine at least two of them to get the long lasting results of this one.

If you're ever at an estee lauder counter ask the sales person to give you a sample to try... I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.