I’ve been on the hunt for a holy grail foundation for awhile. A couple have come close – It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream and Perricone No Foundation Serum Foundation, but neither are perfect. I like them both because they look like skin once applied, but the colours on offer are limited, and I can’t quite get a perfect match. I did find a perfect colour match in Armani’s Power Fabric foundation, but the coverage is much heavier than I like for everyday wear, so I decided to try to modify it to suit my skin.
If you haven’t tried Armani Power Fabric foundation, £36, I do recommend it. While it’s very full coverage, it doesn’t look cakey or unnatural on mature skin. It is slightly matte, so I like to use it with a glowy primer. It’s the perfect foundation for a special occasion or a night out because it looks amazing and does not budge. I do find it too heavy for daily wear, though, so I decided to thin it out with some skincare products I like to see if I could get the same perfect colour match in a lighter formula.
The first thing I bought was an empty cushion compact, £9.66. If I’d had an old one, I’d have washed, disinfected and reused it. Creating your own cushion compact shouldn’t be expensive! For mine, I’ve only used products I already have to hand. There is no need to go out and buy a lot of new stuff. Once I’ve gone through the list of ingredients I used, I’ll give more specific instructions and a rough formula.
To thin out the formula so it would work with the cushion, you’ll need to add a watery product. I used some of my Caudalie Vinosource S.O.S Thirst Quenching Serum for this purpose. I’ve been a fan of this product for years and have repurchased it many times. It hydrates the skin very well which can counter the drying effects of a full-coverage, long-wearing foundation. Any watery product should work, but it’s important not to add oil. This could cause your formula to separate in the cushion.
To add a bit of glow to the matte formula, I put in some Dior Glow Maximiser Primer. Sadly, this product has been discontinued, but any glowy primer will work. If you don’t have a glowy primer, you can use a liquid highlighter. The idea is to add a bit of luminosity. If your foundation already has a bit of glow to it, you can skip this step.
I won’t give exact measurements because you should have a bit of license, depending on your skin’s needs. Feel free to play about with your ingredients. You might have a light lotion you’d like to add, or perhaps an essence. I would not recommend adding any sunscreen as its effectiveness will be diluted and diminished by the other products added. Also, it’s important not to add anything other than finished products to your formula. They will have all be carefully assessed for microbial growth and properly preserved. Adding things like water could mean bacteria, mould, or yeast growing in your compact – and you definitely don’t want that.
The formula I used is:
3 parts foundation, 2 parts serum, and 1 part glow primer. If you’re not adding glow, just add a bit more of the foundation and/or serum.
Take the little cushion out of the compact. It’s important not to fill the cavity underneath by more than 1/3 so that the product and the cushion fit inside without it squishing out every time pressure it applied by the applicator.
Add your foundation, serum, and primer; stir extremely well; test on your skin to see if the formation is working the way you want; adjust if necessary; reinsert the cushion; clean up any spillage with a cotton swab and you’re done.
I find that the formulation applies much better with a buffing brush instead of the little foam puff that comes with the compact. I like the Zoeva 102 silk finish brush. And I love my new foundation!
Fig and Pen 