Flash Photography & Your Foundation!

These are old images of myself, that, due to technical and life issues I never got around to posting within this article that I planned a year ago... it's weird to think that I don't actually look like that any longer.

There are a plethora of foundations on the market to choose from these days, all of which with their own skin perfecting properties. Whether you need pore perfecting, redness reducing or something completely different, there will be a foundation to suit your needs. I, myself have a plethora of foundations just in my own makeup collection, because, depending on how my skin is on any given day, I may need to tackle a different 'issue'!

Most foundations these days seem to come with SPF already built in, which is great for those who wear foundation during the day and want to skip the whole SPF application step (let's face it, anything time saving is usually preferable when you lead a busy life, like most of us do)! However, it's not so good when it comes to the evenings, where you may be being photographed with flash enabled on a camera. You see SPF has the tendency to react with the flash, and make you look like Casper the ghost in the finished image.

Take for instance the foundation I'm wearing in the above images. It is actually one of my favourites, Lancome's Teint Miracle; but with the SPF AND light reflecting particles (that without the flash photography actually makes my skin look brilliantly radiant), I have no chance of avoiding that ghostly hue when being photographed with direct flash whilst wearing it.

The images above were taken on the same night, in the same room, with the same lighting, makeup and camera (phone) with the only difference being that the first was taken without flash, and the second, with flash. There's a huge difference, as you can see.

So, when choosing a foundation for the day, you really need to be thinking about what your day/evening will entail. If you think there's a chance of you being photographed in the evening, here are some ways to avoid the casper 'white face' effect:

• Choose a foundation without SPF in it.
• Choose a foundation without light reflecting particles.
• Use a matte bronzer/tinted setting powder over the top of your foundation - this will add colour to your skin, plus the matte finish should help with the flash reflecting off those pesky reflective particles.
• If you have a DSLR camera, use an external flash where you can deflect the flash off another surface, rather than your face, or use a flash diffuser.
• If you have a normal camera or no external flash for your DSLR, use one-ply of tissue (just one layer, not one sheet) over the actual flash, this will act as a makeshift diffuser.

There's not a fool proof way of knowing how much any given foundation will react with the flash of a camera, I've had some foundations with SPF in them that haven't photographed as badly, I'm not sure if that's due to the foundation itself, or the conditions where the photographs were taken... but on the whole, I'd recommend trying to avoid any products with SPF in for evening wear, just in case.

Do you know of any foundations that photograph well? Or, do you have a foundation that gives you a particularly ghostly face when faced with the flash of a camera? Let me know. x

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Selfridges Beauty Advent Calendar 2011!

Last year saw most of us lusting after a brilliant beauty advent calendar costing £60, and they clearly realise how successful it was, since they've only gone and done it again this year! And, even though I probably own a large amount of the products included (that's NOT the point though), I still find myself wooed by this little beauty!

The calendar, which is exclusive to Selfridges is now £80, but just look at what you get... I don't think that's too bad going for all the goodies below!

• Lancôme Teint Miracle 03 5ml, Trésor eau de parfum 7.5ml, Miracle eau de parfum 5ml, Hypnôse Drama Mascara 2ml, Hypnôse Classic Mascara 2ml, Absolu Nu 302 Mini, Mini Juicy Tube 19 – Lychee, Visionnaire 7ml, Génifique 7ml, Génifique Yeux 5ml, Rénergie Lift Volumetry Day 15ml, Eau Micellaire Douceur 50ml, Bi–Facil 30ml
• Giorgio Armani⁄Emporio Armani Armani Code Femme eau de parfum 3ml, Emporio Armani Diamonds eau de parfum 5ml
• Kiehl's Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream 7ml, Kiehl's Crème De Corps 30ml, Kiehl's Hand Salve 30ml, Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate 4ml
• Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil 20ml
• Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb eau de parfum 7ml
• YSL Belle D'Opium eau de parfum 7.5ml, Rouge Pur Couture Mini, Khol Pencil Mini

I expect Mr Beauty Scoop's answer to my request will be much the same as last year (see previous thread, linked above) but I'm going to pester him for one anyway (if you don't ask, you don't get)! 

What do you think my lovelies? x

Link! 

Boots Extra Points Offer on Premium Brands!!

Buy any 3 premium brand beauty items and until Wednesday 27th July you'll also get 750 extra points on your Advantage Card - that's £7.50 back on your card to spend on something fabulous!

If that isn't good in itself, then don't forget that a lot of premium brands do multi-purchase gift with purchase offers so you could also bag yourself a ton of freebies in the process too if you choose wisely.

For instance you can currently get a free Alice Temperly gift with any 2 purchases from Lancôme (one to be skincare) - I got a Lancôme/Alice Temperly gift last year and still to this day use the fabulous bag (the products are long gone though)!

Gift Contains:
Trial Size Genifique
Galateis Doucier
Tonique Doucier
Jucy Tube
Hypnose Mascara
Alice Temperly Bag

Buy a further Lancôme to get your points and you'll also bag yourself a free Nutrics Hand Cream (100ml, above) to boot. Fab, yes?

Love it when Boots have multiple offers on to take advantage of (literally, pun intended) - will you be making use of any of these offers?

Boots Website!

Lancome Teint Miracle!

Victoria Beckham calls it a ‘must have’ and I totally agree; Lancôme’s Teint Miracle foundation is quite possibly one of the best foundations I’ve ever used. It’s a bold statement, but one that I am more than willing to stand by.

I'm wearing it here, just before my holiday!

 

The fact that when I first wore it, Mr Beauty Scoop said that my skin looked “like your skin but loads better” and that “it looks glowing” says it all as he has barely any interest in these things and usually just mumbles things along the lines of ‘yerrr, it’s ok’ whenever I ask what he thinks of my makeup! I have to agree with him though, this product lights up my complexion and gives it a beautiful luminosity that no other foundation ever has.

Can you see the light reflecting particles?

I’d say this foundation is of medium coverage which is more than ample for me and it covers without being heavy. You can see the coverage a little between the following 2 photographs where my freckle on my hand disappears – see it?

Another great thing about this product is that you don’t need to use a great deal of product to cover the whole face, and of course it is totally buildable if you do need a bit more coverage in some areas. I can’t find any fault with this product, unless you consider the £26 price tag as being too expensive... but I’ve always said that I don’t mind paying more for products that work well/do what they say they will so I have no issue paying this price for this foundation!

In fact it was the foundation that I used most on my holiday, even though I took a number of others; although because of the shade difference, I had to use bronzer with it to correct my skin tone; which brings me to something you have probably noticed, that being that in my photographs I am tanned from my holiday and my foundation is my normal ‘no tan’ shade (Shade 02), so there is a noticeable colour difference, see below – whoops, sorry about that!

Please also excuse my dry looking hands, this is due to swimming pool abuse on my holidays  - well there were water slides there, it would have been rude not to!

Exclusive To Selfridges - The Beauty Advent Calendar!

Christmas is getting ever closer, and something that is always associated with the run up to Christmas (aside from shopping and stress) is advent calendars. They’re commonly made up of sweet treats that you inevitably end up feeling a little guilty about eating (especially if they belong to your son/daughter/younger sibling etc) every morning in December.

If you’re bored of chocolate advent calendars (not bored of chocolate, I hasten to add) or think they’re just for kids, and have a spare £60 then this is just the advent calendar you need. It’s a beautiful beauty advent calendar and it’s packed with 24 luxury items that you can look forward to ‘receiving’ every morning in the run up to Christmas.

“Indulge in 24 days of luxury with this exclusive beauty advent calendar. Including products from YSL, Lancome, Giorgio Armani, Kiehl's, Shu Uemura, Viktor and Rolf and Stella McCartney, it's a unique way to count down to Christmas.”

I noticed it earlier, whilst browsing online and promptly asked Mr Beauty Scoop if I could “have a £60 advent calendar this year” he answered very quickly with something along the lines of “can you f#@k!!” so I assume that’s a no then. In his defence, he didn’t know it wasn’t chocolate that I wanted him to spend £60 on, but we all know that that’s not the point! 

Anyway, if you don’t live with a miserable tightwad (ha!) or indeed if you just fancy treating yourself then you can find these exclusively at Selfridges. If you do get one, be sure to let me know what you think of it! 

http://www.selfridges.com/