I have gotten very, very lazy with my beauty routine. Not so lazy that I would dare step outside bare faced mind you, but I do want as little effort as possible and I wouldn’t mind if people thought I had no make up on. I adore the Armani foundation (even though many of you reprimanded me via email for promoting such a luxury item, the others that tried it did sing my praises). But back to being lazy, I wanted to see if I could cut out as many steps as possible, since I no longer have multi-step time even though I have a multi-step need. I absolutely refuse to leave the house without a moisturizer, sunscreen or some sort of coverage to help with my hyper-pigmentation/uneven complexion. I did a little research and tried some products and these are my picks for the lazy beauty-phile.
This is a new to me line and I only bought the trial size, which still ran $15! It had some rave reviews and I was reeled in by the 50+ SPF, you just don’t find that in a BB or CC cream. There’s a lot to like about this product besides the high SPF, it has a built in primer and an anti-aging hydrating serum and it’s full coverage (unheard of in the beauty balm realm). The first time I tried it without moisturizer on and it did me no favors, I loved the coverage and it didn’t feel like I was wearing any make-up throughout the day, without moisturizer though it dried pretty matte and settled into my laugh lines (not pretty). I gave it another try with moisturizer (I have been using this drugstore find day and night) and I have been pretty hooked ever since. It leaves a nice glowy (not greasy or dewy) finish on my dry skin and I can build coverage. This is not a product you want to get heavy handed with, just dot it on your face and work it in and you can achieve very natural bare faced results! Pros: 50+ Sunscreen, full, buildable coverage Cons: There’s not many shades so you may not get a good match for your skin, I chose medium and it works nicely.
I tried this because I wanted a ‘one stop’ product and it really does deliver that for me. If I am being extremely lazy and don’t have any drive to gussy it up I will grab this so I don’t scare the neighbors. A few pumps, no moisturizer needed and I am done. It’s a dewy finish, could read greasy on someone with non-dry skin, for me it works well. It is pretty sheer, so if I wasn’t feeling unmotivated I would need a concealer, since that would take too much time I don’t bother. The color on this is not a great match for me, not terrible-acceptable. It is better than going bare faced in public, as my sallow complexion from not sleeping for nearly a year would not make for a pleasant run in. Pros: No moisturizer needed Cons: Color matching may be difficult.
BAREMINERAL BARESKIN SERUM FOUNDATION
I am a mineral makeup fan and the only powder I ever use (when I use one) is the Perfect Veil by Bare Minerals. When I read months ago that they were coming out with a liquid foundation I was duly intrigued. I asked for this for my birthday so I waited a bit to get it after its release, patience is not my virtue. The reviews on this were mixed and I can see why, there was a lot of talk about this product separating on the skin after wearing it. I had it applied at the store and was bonkers for the finish, my skin looked FLAWLESS and I mean flawless. It is an interesting product, virtually weightless and only a few drops needed to cover your face, so this would last a while. It’s perfect for dry to normal skin, I am not sure if it would be great on oily skin even though it reads that it will work with all skin types. Even though you apply it with a special brush it doesn’t take much longer than it would if you were applying with your fingers, it’s pretty goof proof that way. Here’s the problem I’ve had, if your moisturizer is not completely soaked in it’s hard to apply and it will separate as the day wears on. I have found it hard to balance when I can apply as I don’t want my skin completely dry or else the foundation seems to settle in creases. It’s been hard for me to find a balance, but when I do, I LOVE the results, but when I get it wrong, it’s so very wrong. I am hoping that future incarnations of this will resolve these problems because this foundation has the potential to be the most amazing foundation ever. Pros: Incredibly light and flawless finish Cons: It’s easy to mess up if you are wearing other skincare products.
Have you tried any of these products? Is there another ‘lazy’ beauty product you’d recommend? Let us know!
RESOURCES:
Camera: Canon EOS 60D (but I wish I was shooting with this) | Lens: 50mm 1.4 | F/2.8 1/100
Photoshop Actions: Foto Rx-Shadow bright, lighten here, darken here, and 20/8 vision on the spot (coming soon!)
Fonts: Didot, Baskerville italics
Miss Tristan B. is the proprietress of Besotted Brand and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. She recently lives in sunny Seattle with her handsome husband, wonderful baby girl and two pups. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.
I’ve been using the It Cosmetics CC cream for the last 4 months and I LOVE it! I even wear it at night, instead of foundation. I think the finish is beautiful, never shiny looking. It’s great. Good recommendation!
I can’t believe you didn’t let me know!
I can totally relate to “don’t scare the neighbors” line and try to look presentable whenever I go out even if I feel really lazy. Aside from CC cream (I use a local brand called Happy Skin), I also can’t live without my e.l.f. eyebrow kit and Clinique chubby stick!
Bituin, lol, I am glad someone can relate! Happy skin is a good name for a product and I use several of the E.L.F. brushes which are surprisingly well made for the nominal price. I don’t like to leave the house without filling in my brows, but now that I have bangs, I can be a little lazy with that too;)
My current favourite product in this category is the Bobbi Brown BB cream. SPF 35, does not cause my sensitive skin to break out and best of all looks great. In all modesty I get regular comments from strangers on how “gorgeous” and “glowing” my truly very average skin is – I give all credit to the BB Cream. I have all the flaws that come with having spent a lot of time outdoors (walking, gardening, and at the beach) over my 58 years and this product evens it all out beautifully. It is a tad pricey but even though I use it daily I figure the twice yearly outlay is pretty reasonable. Perhaps I would be better to use more sometimes but this is all I ever use for a foundation product.
Cheri, well when someone is getting comments like gorgeous on their skin I am game to go take a look and sample this! I do like her line, simple beauty, thank you!