My quest for perfect skin and the search for my HolyGrail Foundation !!!!!!!

Perfect flawless skin, who doesn't want that? I want it for sure! Every beauty lover wants perfect healthy skin. My skin isn't too bad, I am very very grateful to God for blessing me with the skin that I've got. But it's far from perfect. I've sort of given brief details about my skin, but I'm dedicating this whole post to skin and my search for 'THE' foundation, as I'm sure many of you out there are interested in the same thing, and maybe just maybe, one of you hold the key to my foundation problems!

I'm South Asian, a very yellow under toned South Asian, and I love my yellowyness, I love the natural sunlit glow my skin has. My skin is normal to really dry, though when I'm hot it does get oily on my forehead, around the nose and chin (so basically my t-zone). But after I've washed my face or done my ablution I NEED to moisturise or my skin will start pulling and will feel taut. I'm around NC40-42, though some recent research and trials say something else. My cheeks are the lightest part of my face, my forehead is slightly darker (due to teenage years of acne which only sprouted on my forehead and the acne creams I used to treat them), and the area around my mouth is darker than my forehead. The darker areas are kinda grey and dull looking and aren't obvious, you sort of have to focus on those areas after I tell you then you'll notice the different colours on my face :D !

Even in my twenties I get spots! I can blame that on hormones and a not-so-perfect diet. It isn't as bad as my teenage years, I just get the odd one or two right there bang in the middle of my forehead and boy can they be mean ugly ones. I also get tiny tiny spot like bumps on and around my face, usually in clusters, sometimes they go, sometimes they stay, only noticeable when your closeup. It was only after I started threading my whole face aged 20, when I started sprouting spots on my cheeks, I'd never get spots on any other place of my face apart from my forehead! I was lucky I guess, the other girls in high school were jealous of my smooth clear cheeks hehe! Anyway I thought that maybe because I'd pulled (threaded) the hairs out of the pores of my face, it left the pores empty and more susceptible to catching dirt and turning into spots, it makes sense right? Then once the spots healed they would turn into dark dark scars and would take months to fade :( !!! I also noticed and learnt what 'big pores' were :(. I bet you're thinking "bet she regretted threading her face! She has to deal with pores, zits and black scars now!" Yes I do regret it, I really miss that youthful clear blemish free healthy skin that I had on my cheeks, but the fur HAD to go, you win some you lose some I guess...

Hyper-pigmentation. Tan skins are cursed with this, I am! Ugh! Bane of my life! It doesn't go, I've tried Ambi fade cream, I've tried Fade Out, I exfoliate, nada nothing works. It's hormonal I think (any suggestions anyone?) It's like I have a frickin moustache. My lips are hyper pigmented too, yukky looking, though not as bad as some I've seen. I get to miss out on so many lovely lip colours because it looks horrible with the darkness on and around my lips. And the ye old acne scars dotted around my face. It can look quite bad, but again I am and have to be grateful to God that it ain't worse.

I know many people that have the same problems as me, I have done so much research on all these issues, which have encouraged me to change my skincare regimes and diet i.e. drinking more water. I try to use specific skincare that will tackle those problems, like brightening, radiance enhancing products, AHA's, SPF, exfoliation etc. I will do a post soon on the products I use and that I think have helped and I like.

Now onto foundation!! The way I see it is I want to have perfect skin and if I can't have perfect skin or until I DO have perfect skin, I want to fake it! Lol lets be real nobody has perfect skin, I may never have perfect flawless radiant skin, so I want a foundation that will work with my skin to make it look more even, more radiant, more healthy and flawless! Is it wrong for me to want to feel good? No? Then why haven't I found my perfect foundation yet? I have tried a few, high end and low end but I still prefer my own natural skin compared to the cakey grey fake mess looking back at me from the mirror. Okay slightly exaggerating, I'm sort of new to makeup, I'd say around 2 years, but I've learnt a hellofalot in the past 2 years, so I know what I'm searching for. I haven't tried a good many but I'm getting there! Below I will list ALL the foundations I have and have tried, whether there full sizes that I've bought or just samples I've collected.

First ever foundation, bought by my sister yonks ago, when I was a tomboyish late teen and I couldn't be any more interested:

No7 Radiant Glow Foundation in Walnut 45 : My sister randomly picked it up for me, she came home and slapped it on my face, I don't remember how I reacted or what I thought, only trying it now I can say that it's okay, but it's a shade or two too dark for me, it has tiny tiny shimmer particles, which do look radiant on the skin but I don't like looking darker, I look rather burnt and my natural radiance goes.

YSL Perfect Touch Radiance Brush Foundation No.6 Gold Beige : My sister bought it, but I was with her, only in person. It seemed to work fine when I first used it, but after 4 years, something isn't right, the YSL assistant chose this shade for me, and now after some research I find out that this shade is for NC30 skin tones?!? I am not that pale!! How did I manage to wear this without looking fake!! Because when I wear it now it looks sort of grey and too light on me. Has my skin tone changed these past 4-5 years? Has the foundation gone off? Has the formulation changed?

Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation in Sun Beige: I have dry skin, I don't need to look any more matte! Bought when I had very little knowledge in makeup. It's drying on me, a bit too dark for me, not yellow enough at all, looks cakey and I am left with absolutely no glow or radiance whatsoever. Never again!!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation in 56 Light Bronze: I read so many good stuff about the Bourjois Healthy Mix, Lisa Eldridge uses this in her videos, and all that jazz about the Chanel factory! Well I like the moisturising-ness, the dewy look it gives my skin, how it evens it out, but it's not yellow enough! And it's slightly dark on me! I like it but again snatches the yellowy glow from my skin.

Mac Studio Sculpt NC42: the MAC mua chose this shade for me and gave me a generous sample, it's moisturising, decent coverage, lasts long, but I've been told by my friend and sister that it's slightly dark on me. So I went back and got a sample of...

MAC Studio Sculpt NC40: I went down a shade! But this is slightly too light for me (I think) and not yellow enough! I have to use it sparingly and blend blend! So this has led me to believe that I'm a NC41 in the Studio Sculpt range!!! I must be, right ???

MAC Mineralize Satin Finish Liquid Foundation in NC40: I was recommended this foundation by a friend, who said it was amazing and she's seen it on others and it looks amazing. So I got a sample. I really liked this foundation, really really! I had used this when my skin was really good and behaving really well, and when I used this-and just a tiny tiny amount then let it settle in for a few minutes, my skin just looked soooo even and perfect, my skin tone and all, no yellowness vanishing! I really liked it, but they gave me such a tiny sample I haven't been able to play about with it and my skin hasn't been too good these past couple of months.

MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NC40: This is okay, but I think its a little too light for me, I would be interested in trying the NC42. So I cant make any judgements on this yet.

So these are the foundations I've tried, I just wrote a little detail on them, if you want to know anything just let me know. I haven't been 100% with any of these, apart from the MAC Mineralize Satinsfinish. But if anyone has any advice to give me please leave some comments. I don't like looking grey, I want a foundation that will work with my yellow undertones and natural glow. Because I don't think I've found my perfect match yet, and I'm confused as to whether I am a NC42 or NC40?!? Maybe I am applying them wrong, should I invest in some brushes? Something with decent coverage as well, makes me look radiant and flawless and gorgeous!! This is a long post eh?! Oops! Any help and recommendations are welcome! And so the search continues...