Here at Luxe Beauty Peterborough, we get asked this question a lot “how’s best to apply my foundation?”
We hear that you sometimes find the options difficult, but obviously, were all looking for the same thing, the most flawless, quick, simple and cost effective way to apply our base.
Whether your smearing it on and rubbing it in with your hands, stippling, buffing or painting it on with a foundation brush, or using a sponge, or silicone blender, we’ve tried them all for you, ready were ready to report back, and give you the low down!
Brushes
For years here at Luxe we were using brushes to apply our foundation with on clients, don’t get me wrong we were getting a nice result with the method we were using, but was it the best option?
We often hear that you find that foundation brushes cause streaks and lines all over your skin that you were struggling to blend away, with this blending process taking a fair while, and cleaning brushes seeming like such a chore.
With how often we clean our brushes (between every single client obviously) it was taking what seemed like forever, and becoming quite tedious.
Using a brush does give a nice finish once you've mastered the techniques, (if using a brush we prefer a buffing brush and patting it into the skin) but it still falls short in other areas.
Brushes can be expensive, they do last years and years if looked after well, but the initial outlay can be about of an ‘ouch’ moment, with certain foundation brushes setting you back around £25+
Finish 4.5/5
Ease of use 3/5
Hygiene 3/5
Cost Factor 3/5
Hands
We’ve found this to give the least flawless result, with patches and streaks being left over. Rubbing the product into the skin can aggravate it, causing unnecessary redness, and can actually remove a lot of the product instead of pressing and setting it onto your face, which will result in a lack of coverage.
This is actually a popular method with a lot of our clients, as they don't know how to use other tools and find using their hands a quick and easy option, however these are the people were hearing comments from that their makeup doesn't last all day or looks patchy, so it isn't cutting it when it comes to the end result.
While the option of using your hands leaves you obviously messy, this can also be an unhygienic option, unless hands are washed thoroughly before use, in the same way that any other tool would need to be, but on the plus side , using your hands as your tool is completely free!
Finish 1/5
Ease of use 4/5
Hygiene 4/5
Cost factor 5/5
Silicone blenders
We've also tried the silicone blenders, these are actually our least favourite tool of the lot that we tried, with these taking what seem like forever to blend the foundation as really, all they seem to do it smear the foundation all over the skin without allowing it to be blended or pressed into the skin to give a flawless finish.
This method seems to leave lots of streaks and patches and we found the longevity of the completed look to not be up to scratch.
This is quite a difficult way to apply foundation to, due to it taking a lot of time to perfect with product sliding all over.
This option is relatively cost effective with the silicone blenders only setting you back around £10 and being reusable along with being easy to clean by washing them.
Finish 1/5
ease of use 1/5
Hygiene 4/5
Cost factor 4/5
Blender sponges
So heres for the answer to all of your questions, the star of the show, and the winner of our experiment for the best tool to give the most flawless foundation application, whether its for party makeup, bridal makeup, or just your simple everyday makeup look
Makeup blenders or sponges vary in quality and results massively. However, in general from the good quality blenders, we've found these to be fool proof to use.
Simply wet them under the tap, squeeze out the excess and bounce all over you skin with your chosen foundation. They don't soak up your foundation if you've wet them enough as they will be soaked with the water already. This allows them to create a flawless finish which can be completely controlled by you and built up to your desired coverage.
The price of these can vary from around £5 to £17 for an original beauty blender, although this isnt our favourite, and is much more expensive than our preferred blender "THE LUXE BLENDER' priced at £5.99, and designed by ourselves, your Peterborough Makeup Artists.
Hygiene wise they are easy to clean just popping them into the washing machine, and with a pointed and flat edge end, they're very easy to use and reach all areas.
Finish 5/5
Ease of use 5/5
Hygiene 4/5
Cost factor 4/5
A full in depth guide to 'THE LUXE BLENDER' will be available as our next blog post! we can't wait to let you know all the details on how to blend the Luxe way!
Which tool do you currently use? we would love to know!
xx