Special Foundation #1 The mat

 Complexion is happy again this season with brands offering dozens of products, each one crazier than the next.

As you know, a good foundation is the key to successful makeup. If you make a mistake choosing foundation it's loose and it's also certain that your makeup will look bad.

As you also know, choosing a product for your complexion is a delicate operation, as we keep saying pretty often here, and you can quickly take a wrong turn if you mess up your choice.

So to avoid going too fast and to keep you from being disappointed, here are some basic rules:

- choose your foundation with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker: test the color on your face, ideally on the jawline to match it with your neck. Ignore anyone who tells you to test it on the inside of your wrist; they should be selling sausage, not makeup.

- choose the product based on the needs and type of your skin. Imperfections need more coverage than a perfect complexion. An aging one needs more soothing and maybe more lift than a young one.

- foundation should be applied onto clean and well-hydrated skin because it can accentuate the signs of dehydration

☛ use a super-clean sponge, brush or fingers

☛ if it's the right kind of foundation, you can just apply a little and only in the areas that need it.

The role of foundation (or tinted moisturizer):

☛ it doesn't make your skin look healthier but it unifies the complexion and masks imperfections.

☛ it creates a clean and smooth canvas for applying the blush that follows and gives the makeup a strong hold.

☛ the foundation is finished off with a dust of powder to mattify and fix it, otherwise it will wear off. But there are special exceptions for matte finishes and very dry skin is exempt.

In this first section, we'll break down the different kinds of mattes. You'll see that brands have made a real effort in this field. It used to be that "matte" meant Kardashian- style makeup and all of the subtlety that implies.

Today, rather than providing a masklike effect, it's supple, luminous, pleasant and natural.

☆Velvet Matte Skin Tint from Nars is the velvety version of the Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer that we love. It's one of our favorite tinted moisturizers, it makes the skin glow, and it is light as a feather but still strong enough to conceal imperfections.

It can provide more or less coverage depending on your needs, neutralizes shine, protects the skin with an SPF of 30 and a cocktail of vitamins C and E to fight against free radicals.

The finish is velvety matte but glowing and above all not cakey. Super easy to apply, it suits almost all types of skin except the very driest.

☆Diorskin Forever from Dior, another pretty matte that covers skin with flexibility. It leaves the complexion bright and glowing, smoothes imperfections thanks to its loose powder, and keeps the skin clear and clean. I especially love its subtle rose scent.

Be careful, this foundation provides great coverage, so you can use a very, very light touch. We prefer to apply it with the Beauty Blender for a light finish. No need to use powder, it stays matte for a long time except on the most oily skin.

The good news: brands have finally realized that women of all colors live here, and Dior now offers 15 shades, including ones for darker skin, which is great.

☆ Lancôme's Teint Idole Ultra Compact. Usually I'm not a fan of compact foundations at all. I find them too rough and they ankylolize the complexion and paralyze facial expressions.

But Lancôme has given us a jewel of discretion and lightness that can be used as needed and provides a long-lasting matte finish. Personally, I prefer to apply it with a brush for a featherweight effect.

Oily skin will love it since it can absorb a lot of extra sebum and keep the skin matte thanks to its advanced technology.

In short, these new-generation mattes are pretty cool, flexible and versatile enough to work on all types of skin, except the driest, of course.

So for those who don't feel included, be patient and I'll be back in my next post with glow, light and special categories.