It’s been about 8 or 9 months now since I’ve been more seriously doing my makeup on the regular. When I began, my skin was in really bad shape, and because of this, I thought I had really dry skin. As I began to work on my skincare routine, it became clear that my skin was on the normal to oily side, it was just really difficult to tell that under the years of damage and lack of care I’d put it through.

The first serious foundation I’d chosen was the Urban Decay All-Nighter foundation. This was NOT a good choice for me. Not colorwise, I didn’t receive any assistance when choosing a color because I didn’t want to ask for help. Not skin wise, as my skin was pretty dehydrated at the time, and UD All Nighter is not at all good for dry skin. To be fair, as my skin repaired this foundation began to work better for me. We came to an understanding really. But it’s never going to be my favorite and I can’t wait to be done with it.

After that, I got smart and first asked for help choosing a new foundation. I ended up with Hourglass Skin Tint in color Sand. This was a great product to use while my skin was getting back into a decent place, as it does provide extra moisture. It looks fantastic too!

Then I decided to try wet n wild photofocus foundation, which worked beautifully and I really like still! And you can’t beat the price point.

But for some reason, I wasn’t done there! I decided I wanted to try the hourglass stick foundation and without any research whatsoever I ordered it in the same color I had my skin tint in, which was not at all equivalent. Another poor foundation choice. The second bad choice was not returning it immediately. I still have it, and I’ll probably try to pan that once the UD allnighter is gone.

Then I, having just finished up some mary kay mineral powder foundation, decided I was into mineral powder foundations and got Miss Butterfly and I some bare minerals foundation. It works well and I have no problem with using it. But that’s a lot of foundation.

That’s when I got smart and said “no more foundations!” even though there are tons I would like to try. No more foundations until I use up the UD.

I was in sephora yesterday, I’d gone for some moroccan oil texture spray. They didn’t carry it, which was disappointing. And I had a gift certificate I wanted to spend. But rather than spend it online, I ended up wandering near the It cosmetics display and picking up their cc cream in matte finish. This one has really intrigued me since it came out and I really wanted to give it a try. UD should be finished up this month I think, and I like the idea of having a foundation with a good spf in it. Plus, the original cc creams get such nice reviews that it was exciting to me to be following along with makeup when a new formula came out and really want to try it!

So that’s what I spent my gift certificate on. And this morning I gave it a try. (This is how people end up with tons of foundation and filming declutters, right? It’s because there are so many choices!!!)

I put this on at 5:30 a.m. At the time of this photo, it’s 10 a.m. That’s 4.5 hours of wear already. I’ve paired it with wet n wild contour and hourglass blush/bronzer/highlight and ambient finishing powder. I used becca first light primer under the foundation.

I have believe I have achieved a skin like look. So far I really like this one! Feels great on the skin, looks nice for a good long time, plays well with my other favorite products, is matte but not “suck the life out of my skin” matte. Great coverage while still looking pretty natural. I’ve heard that some people struggle with breakouts from the sunscreen, so I will keep an eye out for that.

The other interesting thing about this was that it really felt like it would stay where it was without setting powder. I am going to give that a try pretty soon.

In any case, it may have taken a number of months and many trials and errors, but I am really starting to figure out what I like to use for various products. I think this may be why I am backing off my subscription boxes as well. I already quit sephora play. I’ve got ipsy through April next year and then I am ready to quit that one too or transfer it to Miss Butterfly perhaps.

At the moment I am thinking I’ll keep Boxy Charm though, it really is a good one! But I may start to feel differently next year and be ready to take a break.