This has been a cult product amongst makeup artists for years.  Formerly though, for those of us in the UK, we’ve had to buy it from the States or Canada, as it hasn’t been available to buy in the UK.  With that, you have hefty shipping costs, plus the added risk of customs charges.  Never ideal when you’re paying a considerable amount for a product.

Now though, the superstars at Cult Beauty have brought it to the UK, for everyone to buy.

But what makes Face Atelier foundation a ‘cult’ brand.  Its got allsorts of modern technology jammed into the little bottle.  From silicones and soft focus properties that make your skin look like it’s been airbrushed, and just blurs out those edges, crinkles and wrinkles.

However, does it do what it claims?  I think so!  I’ve been using it for a while now, on a variety of skin tones and types, and it really does do what you expect.  It’s perhaps not the best for oily skins, with the silicones, however, with a good mattifying primer, I really can’t see why a pro makeup artist would need to have anything else in their makeup bag.

And the bonus?  You can buy 2 extra shades, called zero plus and zero minus, which make an existing foundation either darker or lighter.  Perfect for custom blending, and I don’t know many makeup artists who don’t custom blend on a daily basis!

Definitely check it out, and while you’re there, have a look at the rest of the Cult Beauty website, it’s worth some time window shopping…!

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

I don’t do mineral makeup.  It doesn’t sit nicely on my skin personally, and mostly, doesn’t look that great under flash photography.

I’ve tried every range there is, and it just doesn’t like my skin.  I don’t particularly feel that I’ve got large or open pores, but for some reason, mineral powder makeup just seems to sit in them and magnify them.  So then, when I was asked to try Clinique’s new Mineral Powder makeup, I was rather reluctant, imagining that I was going to leave the store with a deep pitted face that I don’t really have!

I grabbed a chance to speak to the counter manager about mineral makeup, and expressed my feelings on them, and that one needs to have a totally flawless face for it to sit nicely, but in her words, she said ‘we’re reinventing mineral makeup’ and that Clinique certainly aren’t doing what everyone else is.

For starters, yes, you can wear it on its own, and it does actually look very nice and smooth, although it is a light coverage, you do have to work at it to build it up.  However, Clinique is suggesting that you wear it over another foundation, as a sort of setting powder/extra layer/extra coverage all in one.

Personally, I love a heavier coverage.  I’m not as young as I was, and my skin isn’t as unmarked as it was.  I wear makeup and have no problem showing that I do, not, I hasten to add, that I look like I have it trowelled on thick, just that it’s not invisible!

I love how this is feeling and looking.  I can get away with a very light layer of foundation, I’ve tried this over 3 different clinique foundations, I’ve used it over airbrush foundation, tinted moisturiser and whilst exhibiting and working professionally in the last few days, over every other brand you can imagine!

The results are all fairly similar.  Over Clinique’s Superbalanced liquid foundation (the one they recommend you use it with), its a heavier, fuller coverage, over ‘even better’ foundation and superfit, it’s a little lighter.  Over airbrush and tinted moisturisers, its very sheer, yet pretty flawless.

So whilst the coverage is different, they all have a flawless finish.  It’s then upto you how you choose to use it.  Loaded on for an intense beauty photoshoot, or light and gentle for a walk to the shops.

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.comc

This is a great product if you’re really pale like me, I often find that loose powders, even in translucent can make my foundation darker so I look like I have a really bad orange face!

This product helps to keep the foundation the colour it should be, and for once its not too dark for me! I was testing in Porcelain

www.lilylolo.co.uk

I would say it has good staying powder as good as Mac powder/Shu Umera powders and I will definately be buying again and maybe looking at their other products!

I have very sensitive skin and often get reactions but have had no adverse effects using this product!

Defo a regular for my make up bag especially as its a fraction of the Shu Umera!

Lynda Barber

by Beverley of Makeupology, London

Sam Donald

Never having been a fan of airbrushing, either on overphotoshopped portfolio pictures (what’s the point of that – doesn’t show your talent, it shows the photographer’s airbrush skills!), or on faces.

I’ve come across some pretty ropey products in the past and observed some apalling application techniques, so I’d not really investigated it all that far, not beyond the few ocassions when I’d seen it at work in salons, and cringed to myself at the patchy face and messed up hair.

I recently got my hands on a couple of bottles of the Airbase foundation from TheProMakeupShop.com and decided to have a play.

Now I’ve been using this without the compressor, just my regular favourite foundation brush, but rather than using the traditional method of foundation brush application, I’ve been buffing it into the skin with the very tips of the bristles, in quite a fast, random action.

Oh my word!  I’m in love!

It is stunning!  It really does airbrush your skin, but without making your skin look caked in makeup, infact, I used it on a client recently who really wanted her freckles to show, but did want the underskin to be smoothed out.  Bless her, she kept looking in the mirror at herself, she was that surprised at the look and finish of it, and that she really couldn’t feel it (this was a client who never wears makeup, so really does notice it when she’s wearing it!)

I’ve had plenty of opportunites over the last couple of weeks to use it on various different faces, skintones and skin types, and it’s getting a unanimous thumbs up, not just from me,  but also from the ladies I’ve been working on.  Their ages have ranged from 20 upto 60+ and all have been delighted with the results, and the feedback coming in to me from them is that it really does last very well (particularly over the top of a primer) and does withstand the tears of a wedding day!

For me, aswell as being a staple in my kit, it is now a firm favourite in my own makeup bag, and being a ripe old age of 35, I have one or two crinkles around the eyes, and I’m hereditary blessed with a patch of broken capiliaries on one cheek.  Gone!  both are erased, even the crinkles which are often there, particularly thoes under my eyes.  Okay, so they aren’t actually erased, that would be too good to be true, but they aren’t magnified, whcih a lot of products can do.

So bascially, I have been converted!  Something that rarely happens.  I’ve been involved in makeup and cosmetics for too many years now to be swayed by whim and fancy and what initially seemed hype, but I will hold my hands up and say that yes, I love this stuff!

Now to get my hands on a compressor to really go to town…!

Until I joined MAF I never used a base for my foundation. Then Smashbox Photo Finish Primer was recommended and I gave it a try. It goes on like silk and really does smooth out the skin, giving a lovely soft base for your foundation! I love the way it feels as you apply it, and it really does seem to fill in those little wrinkles. When the foundation goes on the top, it makes application smoother and gives a more even finish. I love it.

Peta Donkin

What can I say about this product?

I should have been suspicious when the Benefit girl told me ‘one colour suits all’

As a fan of Tinted Moisturisers (I normally use Vichy Lumineuse) I thought I would give this a go.
Firstly its very, very watery in consistancy so a little goes a long way…..but this also means it covers absolutely nothing.

It went on quite an orangey shade but didn’t look too bad so I thought I would leave it on while I went to work on a wedding.   About 2 hours later I went to the loo and checked my face in the mirror……I WAS HORRIFIED!! You Rebel had carried on changing colour while I was working…..I was now so dark and orange I looked like Dale Winton and Kat Slater’s lovechild - I would make Jodie Marsh look pale!!  It had also gone so shiny that my face looked like it had been spritzed with chip fat!

All in all one one of the worst makeup products i have ever bought. A very expensive mistake!

I love the feel and look of these. The texture is like a very creamy concealer, as in, really creamy, however, just thick enough to make them a stick.

Interestingly, they go on thicker than a liquid/cream foundation, but not as thick as a traditional concealer.

A very confused product?

Not at all, Benefit says that they’re foundation, concealer and powder in one, and they really are that.

Either stripe it on your face and blend out with a brush, or for precision application, swipe a brush across the top and buff on from there.

You get such a flawless finish with these, almost airbrushed.

the only downside is that they don’t last quite as well as other foundations, you get around 7 hours of ‘normal’ life out of them, so not good for bridal work, but more than perfect for Photographic and Editorial work, or regular daily life when you have a little time to reapply.

Sam Donald

by Sam Donald

I was a little sceptical of this when I first investigated it, as I can’t get my head around the science of how a product can change colour with different skin colours, and have seen the other colour adapt foundations fail badly.

This however, I am totally in love with!

Its basically a foundation that Jo Malone created for using on clients who’ve just had facials, but don’t want to leave the store totally bare faced. its not a tinted moisturiser, but not a full cover foundation either.

When I first invested in this, it was at the end of the winter, before the April sunshine came, when I was still pale ( use the palest foundation from any brand!) and it suited me beautifully then. A few days later, I really caught the sun and went up to about 3 foundation shades and it still looked perfect on me then!

I’ve since used it on a Mother of the Bride who had some discolouration on one jawline and it blended to her skincolour (medium toned) amazingly, and somehow, sort of magically blended out the discoloured patch (which was very very dark) and made her face look incredible.

The trick with this is to take a tiny bit on your finger tip and really work it into your skin. use it more like a moisturiser than a foundation, so blend it into your skin, rather than put it on top of your skin

On its own it doesn’t have all day last, but with some loose powder and some fix + I can get 15 hours of life out of it, so for me, as a great light foundation, it gets a thumbs up!

Gone are the days of using a cake of green concealer to neutralise redness on cheeks and noses. 

You know what?  Green concealer makes you look green!

About 3 years ago, whilst browsing the Benefit Counter, I picked up their yellow powder, ‘Bluff Dust’ and had a little play. 

I’d been looking for the perfect ’suit-all’ powder for years and thought I’d found the ultimate product.  Little did I know that I’d stumbled on the saviour of every red face out there.

I have to confess, the first time I used this on myself, I did look like I’d had a bad case of Jaundice!  Traditionally, most makeup artists press loose powder onto a face and then dust off the excess with a fat puffy brush.  Well, I did this.  Oops is all I can say!

A better technique is to pick up a little of the powder on the tip of the brush and swirl it into the bristles using the lid.  Far less product, far less waste, but still all the anti-redness needed!

But it’s more than that, it’s not just an anti redness powder, it’s the perfect shade for faces.  I use it on 95% of my clients, it sets their base perfectly and because it’s so very finely milled, it doesn’t sit in crinkles and creases.  Yellow is one of the most flattering tones that a skin can have, any skintone, whether you’re yellow based or pink based in your own tone, you can use this with confidence.  Best of all, it works when you have a tan in the summer, or are pale in the winter – see, it’s a real ’suit all’!

The bonus?  If you’re like me, and after half a glass of wine start to develop red cheeks and chest…. if you’ve dusted this on beforehand, no-one would ever know…!  It actually prevents redness showing through, even when there’s no red there to see, yet. 

Having fallen in love with the yellow powder, it just made sense to test out the ‘You’re Bluffing’ stick concealer.

Not the ’stick’ concealer of the 80s in that hard crumbly consistency, this is soft and maliable.  With a fine thin tipped brush stroked across the top of the concealer, it’s perfect for precision covering of thread veins.  Literally ‘paint’ a thin line over the red broken vein, cover with a patted layer of foundation, set with Bluff Dust, and an instant flawless finish.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Direct cover of acne scaring, rosacea, acne rosacea.  I had a client once who actually cried when she looked at herself in the mirror.  She’d never seen herself with a flawless face, having been born with dark red skin blemishes.

That’s the best part about my job.  Making someone feel incredible and how they’ve never felt before.

One can only do that with the perfect products to hand.

Sam Donald

www.samdonald.com