The Perfect Pair: Base

Revisiting my Perfect Pair series much later than planned, I had a seemingly foolproof foundation concoction ready to publish maybe 2 weeks ago. Then the weather changed. I found myself in an office situation where my make-up had to be long-wearing without looking too glowy. I used to only reach for the powder on nights out whilst layering on the liquid foundation during the day with a stippling brush. Then, I rediscovered two past loves which happen to work really well together.

YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat in BD60

When I first got my hands on this foundation, I did have a love-hate relationship with it. At the time I was between shades and this made me uncomfortably pale faced. After a year, my skin seems brighter and needs less coverage so that I can rock the perfect 'no makeup' look for a day at the office. This foundation works by blurring imperfections and is based on the same technology as the cult Touche Eclat highlighter. But I'm sure you knew that already.

The downside to this is that sometimes it can get a bit too luminous by the time 5pm rolls around. The consistency is thinner than other foundations I've tried in the past and for me, flat foundation brushes tend to give the best finish and less product is wasted.

MAC Studio Fix Powder in NC50

Ah, my trusty MAC powder of choice to the rescue! I favour these over the Mineralise Skinfinish Natural compacts mainly because of the more precise shade range and that the Studio Fix Powder is much more buildable. It doesn't leave things too matte and I've never had the misfortune of cake face when layering over the YSL foundation. Surprisingly, my base doesn't lose the glowy finish after applying this on top and I can build up the coverage for those bad skin days.

I have a few more Perfect Pair posts to come, but I'm probably more chuffed about this as the YSL foundation is something I've really gotten into, and the MAC powder has always been a favourite of mine. Don't you love it when things work out?

The Perfect Pair: Perfume

This will be the first post in a series called The Perfect Pair. No innuendo here, I just like how combining things can leave you with a better result than you anticipated, whether that's mixing different foundations together to create a different formula or simply layering on the skincare. This week, it's perfume and I do have an odd pairing that just seems to effortlessly work for transitioning from day to night.

Here we have Dahlia Noir by Givenchy and the well known Thierry Mugler fragrance Angel. For daytime, Dahlia Noir is the perfect rose scent - feminine and mysterious. The sandalwood and pink pepper notes are more apparent on me, so I like that it's not overtly sensual or overpowering.

Angel, however, is an entirely different story. The combination of rich chocolate with floral undertones is androgynous and intense. I picked up a refillable sample of the EDP at Boots and I only have to dab a few drops on the pulse points for a complex sensual scent. Love it or hate it, this is a fragrance of contradiction.

Together, this works well for nights out as Angel gives a masculine edge to the rosiness of Dahlia Noir without losing any sweetness. On me, the richer tones give way to a gentler floral vanilla scent over time. Working at a fragrance counter over Christmas made me crave so many perfumes, but layering two favourites is a good way to create your own signature scent.

Are there any tried and tested perfume combos that you like?