Fact: I don’t wear foundation. I don’t like the feeling of so much product on my face, and I hate how, no matter artfully applied, you can always see a layer of spackle, especially when my baby fine facial hair blows in the wind .
Fact: As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that my skin tone has gotten less even. I’ve got sun damage, red areas (hello rosacea!), and boring dullness.
Fact: I want to walk out the door looking barefaced, bright, and bushy-tailed, like I’ve got the same perfect skin I had when I was 25. I want people to exclaim, with an incredulous look on their face, “You’re wearing makeup? NO! You’re not!”
Fiction: Foundation is the only way to give the appearance of perfectly glowing skin.
For many years, a good BB or CC cream with light, illuminating coverage has done the trick for me. Unfortunately, as I approach 50, all my good living has started to show itself, and a simple shmear of tinted moisturizer isn’t good enough. But I’m still not willing to jump on the full coverage wagon. I just can’t do it, even though I bought one of those Beauty Blender sponges just in case (I know, I have an addiction to beauty products…).
Am I asking for too much? Can I avoid full coverage forever and still get the near-perfect canvas I seek? You know it. Because I’ve discovered the perfect primer to put on BEFORE my BB Cream. And it’s the game-changer I seek. I will never live without it again.
WHAT IS IT?
Stila One Step Correct Multi-tasking Color-Correcting Primer is a miracle in a bottle. You know all those little tubes and pots of color correctors you see at the beauty counter? One for redness, one for discolouration and darkness, and another for sallowness? Well, they’re all there in one prettily swirled helix.
WHY DO I LOVE IT?
Well, a primer is a great idea anyway. Using a paint analogy, it’s the perfect base to my top coat. Applying primer to your skin before colour will smooth and even out your pores, fine lines and wrinkles, creating the aforementioned blank canvas, absent of tricky nooks and crannies for your foundation, BB Cream, or other products to sink into. One Step Correct, does all that, plus the helix dispenses colour correction wherever my skin needs it.
Green: corrects redness, such as on my rosacea-afflicted nose
Peach: neutralizes spots and darkness, like sun damage and my genetic under-eye circles
Lavender: counteracts sallowness, hello winter, indoor living, and dehydration
Stila One Step Correct also contains nourishing ingredients due to the Youth Revival Bio-Mineral Available Complex, Stila’s proprietary blend of 15 vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The product is a refreshing crystal clear water-based primer, and lighter than many silicone-based products. Oil and fragrance-free too.
CAN I LIVE WITHOUT IT?
Nope. Not for a minute. I adore how naturally clear and glowing my skin looks when I’ve applied it under my BB Cream. Try it. You’re guaranteed to fall in love.
Stila One Step Correct Skin Tone and Brightening Serum is available where Stila is sold, including Shoppers Drug Mart, Murale, Sephora.ca, and BEAUTYboutique.ca. $47 each. Try the other two multi-tasking helix primers too: One Step Illuminate and One Step Prime.
Disclosure: We were provided an editorial sample of this product for evaluation. Not all items tested become #BrazenLoves products, so if you’re reading about it here, it’s because we actually love it.
