I decided to tackle foundations today because I still can’t be bothered to pull out all the highlighters and face that mess.

I feel like this photo is kind of like a journey through the past year of makeup use. The only thing missing is the Urban Decay allnighter foundation which I managed to finish up. So I am going to talk about some of these quite out of order.

The first foundation I purchased when I started to get into makeup was the UD all nighter. Why? I don’t know. I liked the packaging I guess. It was pretty and edgy and interesting. I remember standing in ulta testing the colors on the back of my hand despite basically knowing NOTHING about what my skin was like and what the foundation was like. I bought one. It was both the wrong shade and absolutely the wrong foundation for me. I realized it pretty quickly. At the time I was also trying to use an expired clinique cc cream which I couldn’t understand why it looked like crap and made my face itch. I mean, I GENUINELY did not know. It worked fine when I’d used it over 2 years prior!

So, next step I went into a sephora and asked the opinion of a salesperson and also asked to be color matched. I indicated that my face was dry and foundations weren’t looking good. She seemed confused because I was using a primer and a foundation and things should work ok. But, she pointed me in the direction of the Hourglass illusion skin tint and she color matched me to the shade sand. I LOVED this foundation it looked so pretty on my skin! Night and day between that and an expired cc cream or a way too matte and dry full coverage foundation!

But I wanted to find a drug store option as well. Around that time I began watching beauty youtubers. First, the big ones because that’s what pops up first in a search. Tati said that the wet n wild photofocus was fantastic, and so Miss Butterfly and I went on a search for that. We each bought one. It worked great on my skin, much to my fascination.

Since I’d liked the hourglass illusion skin tint, I ended up getting the stick foundation on sale. Except, here’s where I learned that just because a foundation in one line from a brand color matches to your skin doesn’t mean that the same color in a different line will match to your skin. The color Sand in the stick foundation was absolutely NOT the correct color for me. The second lesson is that if something is not the right color, don’t try to make it work. Maybe just return it? I didn’t. And now I feel obligated to work through that foundation. I am using it to cover redness and it is working that way, but I am definitely not getting the full benefit of the foundation itself this way.

Now, in my old expired makeup stash, I’d had some Mary Kay mineral foundation. Way back when, I’d been using it as a setting powder, not at all knowing what it was actually for. But, once I figured it out, I began using it as a foundation. There was very little left, and I used it up right away, quite liking the finish it gave my skin. Since I didn’t really want to purchase Mary Kay, I went for Bare Minerals. I got a starter kit with the original formula and then also picked up one of the matte formula to try. And then for some reason not even known to me, I also picked up their BarePro formula. Another lesson learned-maybe just try one and see what I think? Because the original formula doesn’t stick on my skin very long. I am using it on weekends when I am going out of the house and want to wear makeup, but won’t be out that long. The matte formula works a lot better on me and I can get away with a full day of wear on that. The pro formula looks a little on the cakey side and is also a little light. Expect to see these in an upcoming project pan I think.

Next was the IT Cosmetics cc cream in the matte formula. It looked so nice I had to go right back and get the illumination, right? No real lesson to be learned here. I purchased them both and I am very happy with both, and I like how they both have different effects on the skin depending on what look I am going for. I chose the correct colors, and there’s no issue here whatsoever.

At the end of last year, I bought the Too Faced Born This Way foundation during a sale. I wanted to give it a try. The lesson here is simply that I don’t need it just because it’s on sale. I’ve got enough foundation in my collection for at least a year if not more, and I don’t need to add to this collection since I actually have a number of these that I am quite happy with!

There are also two samples. One is Make Up For Ever HD foundation. I’ve already been through a sample of this and I know I like it. The other is Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation. But samples are from subscription boxes. I’ve decided I am waiting to give them a try until I am completely done with both the Hourglass Illusion and the Wet n Wild photofocus. Both are really close to being done and I just want to be able to move them out of my stash before I explore other things.

So that’s my foundation journey and my current stash. I love trying foundations, but I also love using them up completely. I am really eager to try the Physicians Formula The Healthy foundation, but I am going to try to wait until next fall/winter to give it a go. I really want to prioritize moving the bare minerals foundations out of my collection, I just don’t feel like they are the type of thing I need to have around. I am a bit over halfway done with the original formula and I think a bit under half done with the matte foundation. The pro has been touched once or twice. This current collection gives me a lot of variety and a lot of opportunity to focus on working through some of this stash.

Every time I write about panning a makeup product, or examining my current collection, I genuinely feel quite motivated when I am done and want to high five myself or say something like “Go Team!” or whatever. I am hoping that just READING my post about my collection, or looking at the photo I took of my collection will cause a similar reaction and help me to keep my stash on the slim side once I have worked through some of these.