My Affordable Foundation Routine

by Alex Missick April 19, 2016

written by Alex Missick April 19, 2016

Beat on a budget: My Affordable Foundation Routine

I took a look at my vanity this morning and thought to myself, my affordable foundation routine is all over this counter, so I wanted to share it with you guys today. I remember my college years as living off of the free food from events and lots of egg sandwiches. There was not much left in my tight budget for luxury products, so to look fancy for cheap, I spent most of my time purchasing quality affordable makeup products from the drugstores and let me tell you, some of them are now staples in my life. Many times we find ourselves looking at high end products as better, but the affordable ones are just as good and you usually get more bang for your buck. Here’s how I would describe my foundation application:

Step 1: Smooth those lines!

I’m a big advocate for having a smooth canvas when applying makeup and I firmly believe that how your foundation looks is a direct result of your base. Texture can really show up when adding so many products, so I was so happy when I found the NYX Angel Veil primer. This primer is oil free and leaves my skin feeling ultra-velvety and super light-weight.

Step 2: Pick your foundation

I like to pick out what type of foundation formula I’m wearing based on how my skin is feeling, how I’m going to spend my day and also what the weather is like. At the moment, the Maybelline Dream Velvet Soft-Matte foundation is my current matte foundation. It does a good job of looking matte and flawless all day. For a more natural, skin-like look, I reach for the L’Oreal True Match foundation. This foundation sinks into the skin and never looks heavy.

Step 3: Sculpting the face

I love to highlight and contour my face and for drugstore products, it’s so simple. I love the L.A. Girl Pro concealer in Fawn as my highlight and to set that I go ahead with the NYX HD Finishing powder to lock it in place. It’s not technically a setting powder, but it gets the job done. To bronze up my skin, I was so excited when I was able to find this dark shade of the Maybelline Fit Me! powder in the color Mocha. It has just enough red in it to give warmth to my skin without looking orange.

Step 4: Lock in place

Once I’m sure that everything is where I want it to be, I go ahead and start to set my makeup. I like to use the L’Oreal Infallible Pro-matte powder in the shade #700 classic tan. This is such a smooth powder that gives a matte finish to the skin. I also like to give my makeup a sprits of the L’Oreal Infallible Pro spray set just incase I may have over-powdered my face without knowing it. This makeup setting spray not only locks the foundation in place, but it makes sure the foundation does not move around through the day and leaves makeup looking refreshed once applied.

Step 4: Blush and Brows

While the bronzing of the skin can add a little glow to the skin, I like to add a little more color. I have definitely made the E.L.F. Blush Quad in Dark a permanent staple to my collection. This blush palette has four exceptionally pigmented blush colors that really compliment dark skin tones and adds beautiful berry hues to the skin. I also could not forget the brows, because brows do frame the face and although this is a foundation routine, brows must be included. I love the NYX Microbrow pencil because it’s just small enough to define my eyebrows and pigmented enough to fill in my sparse areas. I also wanted to share a few of my fave affordable brushes from the Real Techniques line. The sculpting brush is great for cream and powder sculpting and I love the setting brush for setting my under eye concealers as well.