When you get to a certain age and level of fed-upness and general exhaustion and rage – not to mention just being sick of the sight of your damned face – make-up can seem like very much of a muchness.
Whatever, you think cynically, it’s all the same, who cares! Now that the only thing that makes you look really good – sleep – is in short supply, make-up is a mere elastoplast on a broken leg.
So just pass me that ancient panstick from 10 years ago and the one eye pencil I have that is actually sharpened (because I cannot be bothered to find the eye pencil sharpener), who cares if it is electric blue? Who’s going to see me? WHO CARES??
So in this way I have been bumbling along using the same old make-up for years. Same stubby Mac eyeliner. Same Guerlain Terracotta compact. Same, same, same.
But then! bareMinerals came into my life.
I have always slightly dismissed bareMinerals as some sort of stinky hippy brand, trying to curry favour with hysterical West London ladies with its mineral-y credentials.
But then I came across some actual real-life bareMinerals products and they are amazing.
The no.1 thing that I have been using is their Matte Liquid Lipcolour in Cult – literally every single day. But not on my lips!!! Don’t laugh but I mistook it for concealer, because it’s the colour of concealer and it’s an amazing concealer!
Imagine how great, then, must an actual concealer from bareMinerals be?! Their BareSkin Complete Coverage Serum Concealer is £22 and gets rave reviews on the John Lewis website and we JLP customers are some fussy bitches – amirite?
I have also been tucking into their bronzer, called Invisible Bronze.
I love this. Love, love, love it. I thought I would never deviate from my Guerlain bronzer but this is superb. Just the right amount of sparkle (too little glimmer in a bronzer and you look dirty, too much and you look … dirty). You can also choose how much to huff on – a light sprinkling or full-on Texas hooker. I’ve got this in Dark and haven’t looked back.
This is all coming from someone who does not “contour” by the way, or highlight their cheekbones.
I have also been using the Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream £27. Light coverage, a mild blurring effect and an SPF30.
If you, like me until recently, hadn’t got around to getting yourself some proper make-up brushes, just wiping everything on with Weetabix-smeared fingers, you could do worse than get this blusher brush for starters for £20. Nice firm, dense bristles and a good shape.
I said just yesterday to my husband “Do you ever get fed up looking at your own stupid face??” He didn’t get it, so thank you!
I am so bored with my face SO BORED
I can vouch for the Bate Minerals bare skin concealer. It’s excellent. I’ve been using their products for years now! Their mineral foundations are so easy to apply.
The ‘dirty or /dirty/’ line made me laugh out loud. You always do; thank you Esther!!!
I also have a question slash request for a post, if you’re open to it. (The wedding thread was so much fun to read, btw!)
What on earth should I do with my face (skin generally I guess but the face is my primary concern) now that I am 30? I feel as if I should be DOING something to preserve it, BUT the thing is I don’t wear any makeup* or use any products on my face so am at a total loss as to where to start. I’ve been really really lucky to have good skin (#soblessed hahahahaha) but I literally just splash water on my face when I shower and that’s it. I’m not a total lemon, I do moisturise my legs after I shave and, you know, wash my hair and clean my teeth etc., but I have this niggling voice in my head that’s saying my skin is running out of time and I’ll wake up one morning and be saggy and wrinkling and papery and dry and URGH.
Caveat is that I have a 6 month old** (also a Sam) so I don’t have time for much of a skincare routine.
* My mum doesn’t wear any so no one taught me how to, and as a teenager I was too afraid of looking like a clown or of asking for help to, well, ASK, and then I just kind of forgot about it.
** This also explains the rambling sleep deprived nature of this comment.
Bare minerals is my saviour. My GP recommended it after confirming I had rosacea. I love how you can vary the coverage and still look like me.
Complexion rescue is the best thing ever I use it every day.. will def try concealer and bronzer – where is the brush from?
Bare Minerals also x