Fairer Foundation

Right now Japan is hot as balls. It’s the only way to describe it. If you don’t follow me on instagram you might not know that I’m in Tokyo right now, but in fact I’m here for my best friends wedding (yay!) and not only is it extremely hot, it’s also humid because it’s rainy season. I AM DYING. But it does give me good reason to tell you all about the new foundation I’ve been trying out because if it can survive this weather, it can probably survive anything. I’m sure there are many other foundations I’m going to try throughout this new natural beauty journey (the minute Milk Makeup comes to the UK I am on it) but this seems like a good place to get started.

I’ve been using the same foundation since I was maybe 16, I used Maybelline dream matte mousse. It gave great coverage, lasted through the day and was just super convenient, I never really had to combine it with other products like concealers. But Maybelline aren’t cruelty free at all, their packaging isn’t zero waste and they manufacture their products in China (aka shipping is a pollution problem and it’s impossible to find information on working conditions). Also, not that this matters, but I find their slogan really annoying. ‘Maybe it’s Maybelline’, what does that even mean?! Maybe it’s *not* Maybelline guys, just because the word maybe sounds like your brand name doesn’t mean it’s a good marketing tool. Maybe your slogan makes no flipping sense. ANYWAY, as I got older I realised I just wanted to find something that was more fair, but that’s a tough step to make when you’ve become very set in your ways and routine (and also if like me you’re kinda lazy). But no! I was going to change darn it.

I decided to take baby steps and try out the Lush foundation products first, before hopefully trying out some new stuff in future. I went for Lush because it was an easy first option; definitely vegan, recycled/recyclable packaging and I was able to access the full ingredient list. I actually only discovered Lush did a foundation product when in New Zealand earlier this year (pre this blog) as I helped a friend there pick out zero waste shampoo for the first time, and an employee started talking to me all about their makeup range. So I took my matte mousse container to Origins to be recycled, waved goodbye to *maybe* Maybelline, and collected my new light pink colour supplement. I’ve been using this little dude for a while now, so it’s time to share my experiences!

FIRSTLY, I wanna mention this so you don’t think I haven’t noticed. If you’re looking for an entirely paraben free foundation, this isn’t for you as this product contains Methylparaben and Propylparaben. Don’t panic though! If you’re not sure about parabens/don’t know that much Lush has made quite a statement within their ingredient breakdown section here, within it stating they ‘use less than half the maximum permitted level’ and ‘the parabens are still the safest and mildest we can find’. I’m not going to tell you what to do either way, this was the first step for me and I’m sure I’ll be trying many other foundations out so it’s up to you to read what they say and make your own choices on the matter. But I did want to mention!

Ok so apart from this the other ingredients we have in this foundation aren’t copious. There are 14 ingredients in total in this product with the main ones being soya oil and rice bran oil which are conditioning and nourishing for skin (rice bran oil contains lovely vitamin E) and my favourite, fresh rose petal infusion. I love anything rose, from beauty to smell to food, so I was a big fan of this. The infusion is made by adding red rose petals to boiling water, and as an ingredient this is meant to help with toning, conditioning and soothing skin. I also think it adds to the smell: this may be in my head because the foundation doesn’t smell like roses, but it does have a distinct smell that I really like but can’t entirely explain, so I’m putting it down to the infusion!

So what is it like to use? I definitely think this one goes a long way, where I had to use a lot of dream matte mousse I don’t feel like I need to put loads of this on to get really strong coverage. Some people mix this foundation with their moisturiser for this reason, thinning it out a little and making it more of a tinted moisturiser, but I just apply less of the product on its own, meaning that despite it coming in a small container it can last ages! I’ve been using mine for a month and have SO much left, which of course saves money too. Despite the coverage I find that this product also feels super light, something I definitely struggled to find as a teen using liquid moisturisers. It used to feel like my face was so so heavy, but this foundation feels light and fresh on the face. There is a definite change of appearance switching from matte mousse to this, as this colour supplement gives the skin a ‘dewy’ look instead of a matte one. It took a while to adjust to this change but now I actually prefer it! Especially as summer is kinda rolling around I feel the glowy skin feels more summery, healthy and fresh, which is nice. That being said, I am looking into getting some sort of powder to set this as matte if I wanted to so I’ll keep you updated on that.

So while I’ve been enjoying this foundation on a day to day level, recently the two true tests of this foundation came. The first: after a full day wearing this foundation, I did a ballet class. I’m a performer after all, whatever products I wear have to be able to last me through a fair level of physical activity, and I’m glad to say this foundation passed with flying colours. In fact I was a little bit freaked out at how well it stayed on my face, it didn’t sweat off at all (did it mould to my skin or something?) so that was a big plus for me. The second: I wore it in Tokyo. I don’t know how may of you have been to Tokyo before but let me tell you, the weather is nuts this time of year. As I said earlier, HOT AS BALLS but also frequently raining. The air is so humid it’s like walking through water sometimes, and then the next day the sun comes out and it’s so so hot. Basically your foundation has to withstand a lot on days you choose to wear makeup here, and I’ve been really impressed with how this foundation has fared. Yesterday it was 30 degrees and ridiculously sunny, I walked round the city all day and THEN took an intense dance class, and my foundation stayed put until I rubbed it off myself after class. I don’t know what in there causes it but it’s certainly resilient when it comes to my face!

The only real issue I have with this product is the packaging. The recycled/recyclable part is a dream, but because it’s a liquid in a tub when I’ve been carrying it in my bag liquid does get sloshed around and some gets lost to the lid, which is sad. I understand why it’s necessary, it’s a small price to pay to not have a wasteful plastic pump part of a liquid foundation, but maybe one day we will find a zero waste way to more efficiently package these types of products. Until then I’ll happily stick with this.

That’s about it for this! If I’ve missed out any information on this foundation that you want to know please shoot me a message and I’ll tell you more, or if you have recommendations or interest in other ethical foundations and you want to know what they’re like to use, let me know and I can try them out next! Until then I’m pretty happy with finishing off this one for the next couple months. Until next time, stay magic y’all.