Caroline Barnes Shares Her Foundation Tips

A couple of weeks ago I visited The Dorchester in London for a Max Factor Foundation Masterclass with the lovely Caroline Barnes. Those of you that have been reading for a while may remember my post featuring Caroline's tips for finding a foundation match yourself, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to ask more questions in person. I was also hopeful that Caroline would forgive me for that Balaclava picture....

As well as advice from Caroline, we were talked through the history of Max Factor makeup. It was truly fascinating. We take the different colours and formulations of foundation for granted these days and it was interesting to be reminded of how pioneering Max Factor was in developing foundation and making cosmetics accessible to everyone, not just actor and actresses. It's obvious that they continue to work hard to produce formulas and expand their colour ranges to meet the demands of today's woman.

Caroline gave us the benefit of her expertise, demonstrating her foundation techniques on two models whilst she talked us through the application. One thing I was really taken with was the use of two completely different foundation shades to sculpt the face. On the model with the more tan colouring, the 'matching' shade was applied on the outer areas of the face, then a second lighter shade was used down the central panel. This gave such life and depth to the face. None of us have simply one colour in our face so it was interesting to see how this is translated to makeup application. For those with fairer skin, where a lighter foundation colour doesn't exist, bronzers and contour shades can be used to replicate the effect.

Caroline also discussed the importance of looking at the colour of the chest and neck when picking a foundation (something that was also mentioned at the MAC masterclass). I know myself that I have redness on my chest and pale skin on my neck, so it can be hard to 'pull it altogether'. Something that Caroline recommended for me personally was to use a fake tan like St. Tropez all over to even myself up. I used to do this often in my 20's and it allowed me to go without foundation. I plan to give this a try soon.

Photography by Sheenie at Just Nice Things

Photography by Sheenie at Just Nice Things

I wanted to share with you how my face looked after Caroline applied the foundation. She chose Second Skin foundation in the lightest shade, Creamy Ivory. I've since been using this at home and I love it. When I first start to work it in it can look a little too pink but it melts into my skin and almost disappears. It evens up my skin tone and gives a lovely radiant, slightly dewy finish. This foundation contains special high resolution pigments that are designed to mimic the multi-tonal nature of the skin and the 60% water content helps it blend seamlessly with the skin. It's relatively sheer and gives a light to medium finish. It's probably best for those with minimal blemishes but maybe some age related flaws that want to achieve an even, natural finish. I sometimes use it to supplement my tinted moisturisers too.

I'm thrilled to have been re-introduced to Max Factor foundation. Second Skin Foundation has been a really good fit for me. I was also really impressed with the Xperience Foundation that I saw applied to several other blogger friends. This gave slightly more coverage than Second Skin but still looked very natural. Speaking of blogger friends, I want to pass on my huge thanks to Sheenie from Just Nice Things who took these amazing pictures of me and was kind enough to let me share them. Thank you Sheenie!