the holy grail

i think, right now, girls such as myself can consider 3 things their holy grail: Mr. Right, an ideal (but not necessarily perfect) career, and the right shade of foundation.  now, the former two topics have been mentioned several times on my other blog, so perhaps it is time to give the third a shot as well.

recently, i have been on the hunt for THE perfect foundation for my skin tone. i know, i know, what about Project 365, you ask? after all, i did say no buying of makeup. well, that was when i had an option of getting my makeup done for Sunday's big event. but my friend isn't available then, so ima have to do my face, as well as that of my mom's and ate cla's, myself.  anyway, i have a budget from my dad this time around.  i guess he doesn't want us to look terrible beside all those bigwigs.

so i tried out several brands at first: shiseido, cinema secrets, revlon, max factor.  i really wanted to try mac but didn't get an opportunity.  my main concern was getting the right color and coverage for my undereye circles and dark spots, but still looking natural. and by natural, i mean NATURAL.  so natural that people will think i just woke up looking all fresh and flawless.  the problem is, most brands and foundation types rarely get it right, in my opinion.  i see a lot of people looking good with makeup, but the problem is, i know they're wearing tons of product.  i don't wanna know that.  i want to look like a model, a movie star.  i want to look perfect. well, almost. makeup is not equal to cosmetic surgery after all.   and after trying those expensive brands, my search seemed futile. 

the no-makeup look from Becca

Cinema Secrets' cream concealer/foundations weren't yellow enough for me.  their Summer Sand powder might have been good, but i didn't think it was worth the price, especially since it didn't offer enough coverage for my undereye circles.  Shiseido also didn't have the right shade and didn't offer enough coverage.  Max factor totally got it wrong.  the best comment i received was that i looked ab it whiter than usual (un ang best sa lagay na yan), while the worst were that my eyes looked swollen and my eyebags magnified.  Revlon's shades might have worked but it still lacked that wow factor.  i'm still not convinced.

So, i looked to the internet, specifically google and girltalk, for help.  in my extensive web-surfing for the holy grail of foundations, i chanced upon bobbi brown's website.  of course, i can't afford her stuff, but the chance encounter did prove useful--the really cool graphics and instructional videos gave me an idea --i should just mix my own foundation! 

tons of shades but still difficult to get it right!

so, as soon as i got home, i whipped out the existing liquid foundations we had--gifts from my aunt.  they were obviously just surplus from her stash but i thought i might as well be green and use 'em.  one is CoverGirl in True Beige, the other is Rimmel in Sand.  True Beige is too light and too pink for me, while Sand is too dark.  i mixed them together, but i felt it still lacked the glow and the yellow tint that i needed, so i went on a search again. today, i found some good candidates from Nichido and Ever Bilena.  and the good thing is--they're much cheaper than the important brands (and made in the Philippines too)!  for 30ml, Nichido is less than P300, while EB is less than P200.  Nichido has Light, which is too light for me but may have the yellow i need to mix into my other stuff.  Natural is darker and less yellow, so it might be the good too.  EB has Gold and Beige--they're close enough to each other so i have difficulty deciding, but i think they're much better than the previous brands i tried. 

I'll let you know how it goes but i'm praying that it will work it out :)

PS - you might be wondering why i'm so bent n getting it right? aside from the fact that i want to look good, i also figured it might be a good idea to learn the basics of makeup, not just so i can help out my family and relatives, but also because it could come in handy in case ate cla decides to pursue her photography full-time.  after all, the bread & butter of most photographers are the shoots.  we could be an affordable 2 for 1 combo!

*other things also come to mind when talking about the holy grail of women. some of them are:

the right lipstick per category (red, pink, nude, etc.)

the right pair of jeans

the perfect white blouse

and the list goes on! we'll try to tackle those in the future. just see post under "the holy grail".