Jo and Sarah answer real questions from readers: to put your query, go to beautybible.com
Q I need tips on keeping my make-up looking fresh through a long day and into the evening. Would a finishing spray help, or is translucent powder better? Or both? I normally wear tinted moisturiser with concealer where needed.
A ‘In fact, staying power starts with prepping your skin,’ says make-up artist Armand Beasley (aramndinternationalltd.com). He recommends using a good cleanser, exfoliating regularly and, for summer using a lightweight but hydrating moisturiser. (We’re very keen on This Works new Morning Expert range, especially their exfoliating Multi-acid pads, £33 for 60, which you can use daily if you want though we’d stick to once or twice a week. For other suggestions, see our Beauty Bible Skincare Award Winners here.)
Leave your moisturiser a few moments to absorb then apply a primer to create a smooth surface. Armand likes Smashbox Photo Finish Smooth & Blur Foundation Primer, £26. Eye make up is prone to creasing over a long day, as he says, so invest in a specific primer for eyelids such as Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, £17.50, in six shades.
Our Beauty Bible testers raved about two primers: nude by nature Perfecting Primer, £22 for 30ml, and REN Perfect Canvas, £50 for 30ml. See their comments here.
Armand recommends swopping your tinted moisturiser for a BB cream like Inika Organic BB Cream, £30, which has a little more coverage and comes in seven shades from pale to very dark.
If you feel like trying a foundation, we’re hugely impressed by Guerlain L’Essentiel Natural Glow foundation. It’s light but covering, blends perfectly and really does make your skin look luminous. Plus it claims – and in our experience delivers – 16-hour wear (it’s in a gorgeous glass bottle so you wouldn’t want to tank it around with you). Inika also offers a 100 per cent natural Mineral Powder Foundation SPF25, which Armand says gives a lightweight flawless finish without caking. In seven shades, this promises to be foundation, concealer and powder in one and the loose mineral powder formulation would be good for anyone with skin problems.
If you want to carry a concealer in your bag, we highly rate CODE8 Seamless Cover Perfecting Concealer, £25, in six shades, which has a brilliant sponge tip – best delivery system we’ve tried and the product covers and lasts.
Finishing powders really can help ‘set’ make up and, in Beauty Bible Awards, Aussie brand nude by nature triumphed again with its Translucent Loose Finishing Powder, £22.
If you tend to shininess, Clinique Stay Matte Universal Blotting Powder, £27, comes in a take-anywhere silver compact with a mirrored lid. One ‘very, very happy’ Beauty Bible tester reported: ‘I normally find powders sit in my pores and look chalky, then my face is shiny within a couple of hours. But this stopped all of that. It sets my make up without changing how my base looks.’
Armand sets the finished look with a few sprays of Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray to take his clients through to the small hours. (Follow Armand on Twitter and Instagram, @armandbeasley)
And lastly – lipstick staying power is another topic we’ll be tackling shortly.
Beauty Bible loves… The Stone Street Soaphouse, from £10.
All hail to an exciting new venture which is helping to put one of the most beautiful areas of Kent on the map with its beautiful soap, bath and bodycare.
The Stone Street Soaphouse team – who describe themselves as ‘a crew of idealistic soap junkies’ – create artisan-style products in a beautiful old stone barn, based on the same farm as Mitchell & Peach (who also happen to make gorgeous bodycare). But there’s nothing old-fashioned about their two ranges, the wittily named Geranimo and Hay Ho! (their exclamation marks, not ours).
All hail to an exciting new venture which is helping to put one of the most beautiful areas of Kent on the map with its beautiful soap, bath and bodycare
Using locally sourced honey, shea butter and responsibly-sourced oils, the Stone Street Soaphouse range begins with good, old-fashioned soap, in great, satisfyingly chunky square blocks. (And of course, soap’s undergoing a massive revival right now.) But there are hand washes and lotions, body washes – and the most blissful, lavish natural body butters, for generous, scented slathering.
Geranimo – as the name suggests – is the greener of the scent blends, featuring geranium as one of the key essential oils, while Hay Ho! Invites us to picture ourselves ‘perched atop a giant, sun-baked haystack. Now inhale, for a warm, hay-soft scent that uplifts the mood and calms the soul.’
‘Soap has our heart,’ they tell us. And The Stone Street Soaphouse has rather captured ours.