So if you have read my previous post on my favourite foundations of the moment, you will know I have oily skin. I am in my late 20’s and get spots like a teenager, apparently it means I will have less wrinkles in the future? I don’t know if it’s worth it though. Through the years I have picked up some little tips that help keep the oiliness at bay throughout the day and wanted to share them with you. They may be obvious to lots of people, but it is always good to spread the knowledge just in case 🙂

I’ll start with skincare. I always use a rich night cream going to bed. I know oily skinned people would be advised not to do this but I think we need moisture too so the night time is a good place to do it. If I am dealing with a really big break out I use Sudocrem as my nightcream,it helps dry them suckers right up! But for during the day, I always use an oil free moisturiser:

I love this Sebo Regulating Effaclar Mat Moisturiser from La Roche Posay. It has a gel like formula that if you weren’t horribly oily, you could use it as a make up base day to day. It is meant to help with large pores too. I cannot really confirm this, I haven’t noticed any difference. You can pick this up in most pharmacies and Boots stores for around 15 euro.

If I am going out for the whole day and night and know I won’t have much time to pay attention to my makeup, I use Milk of Magnesia on my face instead of a moisturiser.  I am sure some of you are thinking what the hell? This is for an upset tummy you can’t put it on your face? Well I am here to tell you it works! I apply a really light layer with a cotton pad primarily to the middle of my face and just dab my cheeks with whatever else is left on the pad. This stuff is white so be really careful with it, and always shake the bottle before use. I do not know the science behind it but it works, simple as that, it can also help with drying spots up too, bonus! You can buy Milk of Magnesia everywhere and it is cheap as chips, I recommend that every oil faced girl always have this in their makeup drawer, it’s brilliant!

So next is primer:

I am a primer fanatic, for my skin and my eyeshadow. I have tried a fair few silicone based primers and then more “balmy” ones. I do not mind the silicone ones, I quite like the Inglot one pictured here priced a 22 Euro, it is smoothing and does an ok job with prolonging the oiliness. My favourite of my stash has to be the Benefit Porefessional. It has a ridiculous price tag of 34 euro (Benefit are renowned for their silly prices), but I really do like it. This would be classed as a more balmy primer and it is nearly skin coloured but rubs in to the skin and vanishes, it is diffusing too so helps with minimising the look of larger pores . Under make-up it is fab,  but you can also use it over it to help smooth out anything that needs to be smoothed out.

When it comes to eye primer, I tend to stick to the Urban Decay Primer Potion (20 euro in Debenhams). I have bought a ridiculous amount of Urban Decay eye shadow palettes over the years so I have lots of little bottles of primer potion knocking about as you usually get a small sample with a palette, so I have yet to run out. This would be of a similar consistency to the Porefessional with the same colour tone but disappears once rubbed in. You need a teeny amount of eye primer, the rule of thumb is the less you use the better it works so use just enough to cover the lid with a thin layer. It really helps prolong your eye-shadow, so if you tend to get a crease line  on your eyelid throughout the day, give a primer a go and you will see the difference!

So you have primed your face, added you gorgeous make-up,  and want to make it last longer? You need a powder to set it:

I have a whole host of them knocking about my make-up drawer. For normal going to work use I tend to stick to the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressesd Powder (5.99 Euro in Boots). This is a light powder with no coverage so does not cake over your make-up and does the job of mattifying the face well, and it’s cheap what more can you ask for! For going out I use the Mac Studio Fix (31.50 in Brown Thomas). This is definitely much more expensive, but it is a powder foundation so gives much more coverage and is not too weighty on the skin if you use a light layer. It contains silica and talc which help absorb excess oil so less touching up throughout the night is needed  which is why I do all of these steps in the first place :). There is so many types of powder to choose from though these are just the two I tend to go back to again and again.

So powder is on, could there be another step? Maybe just one more for good measure. I am a huge fan of finishing sprays:

They help prolong your make-up, they have active ingredients that help your skin and they get rid of the powdery look that tends to happen when you are trying to get rid of the oiliness 🙂 My favourite is the Urban Decay de-slick Make-up Spray (28 Euro in Debenhams).  Urban Decay claim that this lowers the temperature of your make-up to help it stay put. My make-up definitely stays put and the spray is really fine so it doesn’t disturb the work you have already done, and it is another step to help control the oil for a decent period of time. I like using this to wake up my make-up during the day too when it is looking a bit tired. Spray a light layer of this and it looks a bit more alive and refreshed.

I have a couple of other random things that I sometimes throw in as well ( because I haven’t got enough already right?).

Blotting paper! These are great for touching up through the day ( I bought these Catrice ones in my local chemist for 3.49 Euro). I recommend getting ones without any type of coating on them as some of them are covered in talc which adds white splotches to your face. You just dab your face with the piece of paper and it soaks up any excess oil you might have without moving your beautifully applied make-up.

Finally is a really random one for you:

The Anastasia Lash Genius (14 pound on Cult Beauty) is a clear gel that you put on after your mascara to seal it in and stop panda eyes. Now I know waterproof mascara is meant to do this, but for me personally it doesn’t always cut the mustard, so this is just an extra insurance policy for me to help keep my mascara in place all day. I feel like it really  helps and blackness under my eyes at the end of the day is now a thing of the past!

So these are a random group of things that I use (not always together) to help prolong my make-up, prevent creasing, smudging and general oily skin shenanigans. If you have reached the end of this blog post I commend and thank you 🙂

Gemma

xxx