Words Melissa Sturgess
The answer is Dior Prestige Le Cushion Teint de Rose. I nearly don’t care what the question is because this is still the answer. But that’s not going to help you very much so I will say it this way. If you want THE PERFECT foundation this is it.
Let me give you the backstory. I’m Australian and moved to London 13 years ago. I didn’t have much experience with makeup (think 17 year old school graduation ball and a bit of mascara and lip gloss for work). That was it. When I moved to London I really had to up my game but I never really got the hang of foundation. My skin was still fairly ‘young’ and I was a bit naïve and so felt I could get away with a bit of this and a bit of that. To be honest I can’t really tell you what I have used for the past 10 years. Mostly a combination of tinted moisturiser, fake tan with moisturiser and the incredible Chanel Poudre Universelle Libre, a loose translucent finishing powder which I apply with a large brush and a regal flourish over whatever I have previously put on my face. It binds, blends, seals and removes shine. Perfect. I have it in two shades – one for summer and one for winter. What more could a girl want.
But back to the perfect foundation. Why do I need it now? Well, last year I was asked to sit on the panel for a medical cannabis seminar being run by The Spectator Magazine at the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho. I wasn’t terrified because I’ve been building a cannabis investment company and CBD brand for the past couple of years so I know my stuff and have lots of experience presenting to groups of investors, but I did want to make a really good impression in every respect. So that required a bit of thought and prepping and I quickly realised why people in the public eye have a go-to glam squad. For this outing I called on the talented Kelly May of Neville Hair and Beauty and Natasha Lakic – phew – having got to know them earlier in the year. They performed their magic. The Spectator event was a phenomenal success and led to lots of other requests for me to speak about medical cannabis and CBD and so I figured I needed to get my act together on the make-up front so that I could cobble together a reasonable look all on my own .
What I didn’t realise until I discovered the aforementioned miraculous Dior Prestige Le Cushion Teint de Rose was that there is actually a product that sits perfectly between a tinted moisturiser like the fabulous Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser Natural Skin Perfector Broad Spectrum SPF30 which really evens out the skin and is boosted with vitamins C and E, and something like Estee Lauder’s Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation which does exactly as it says and can be built up to a achieve a satisfying, complete coverage. I’m a big fan of a tinted moisturiser with SPF for casual day wear. It’s just like pulling on a pair of comfy jeans and trainers to head to the Kings Road in Chelsea for a cruise through the boutiques. You get that cool, laid back, effortless vibe. Being an Aussie I am not a huge fan of a complete foundation look. To me it feels heavy and it almost feels I am wearing a mask. As I age I think it makes me look older. I don’t need or want to look younger but I do want to look as good as I can for my years.
So when professionalism or a bit of glamour calls I promise you all the answers are in this little golden tub of delight. It is described by Dior as combining the revitalising power of 500 rose petals and rose light pigments to enhance the skin’s natural glow with colour-correction technology. And guess what – I believe every word of it because it is all true. It gives one’s complexion a wonderful, soft even tone. It gives it a glow and creates a super natural silky satin finish that looks absolutely incredible and completely natural. I am obsessed. Application is with a round puff which is pressed into the foundation infused cushion and then blended onto the face. I tend to start from the middle of the forehead and work out to the temples, then move to the nose area and work out to the cheeks. I then work the foundation in around the eye area and lastly blend sparingly down the neck to achieve a professional (haha) fade into my natural skin. I am by no means an expert, as you have probably gathered, so the joy of this product is incredible and almost indescribable. Five minutes of application time and eight hours of feeling a million dollars. That’s my kind of deal. Oh, and it has SPF 50.
Melissa Sturgess