Category Archives: beauty look

I don’t know why, but there’s a word that keeps popping into my head whenever I use Suqqu’s new Frame Fix Liquid Foundation Lightness, and that word is flexible. Perhaps it’s because the makeup seems to move with the skin rather than forming an opaque, mask-like layer, or maybe it’s the way in which it blends so effortlessly, gliding over imperfections with ease. Whatever it is that’s sparked the “flexible” word, this is one very convincing face base.

Frame Fix Liquid Foundation Lightness is Suqqu’s latest addition to their Frame Fix range (there’s a pre-existing liquid foundation and a cream foundation, both providing excellent coverage and glowy, real-skin look) and I think that it steps things up a gear in terms of formula, using something called “Airy Oil” to create a comfortable, breathable veil of makeup over the skin. All of Suqqu’s foundations are designed to blur imperfections whilst maintaining the look of natural, beautiful skin, but the new Lightness really triumphs at it; it’s so very fresh-looking and healthy.

I want to say dewy, but it’s not, not really; in terms of dewiness I’d say it’s almost on a par with the Armani Maestro Glow, in that it’s not all that dewy but it has a certain “fresh glow”. There’s a definite difference, I think, between glow and dewiness – the first looks radiant and light-reflecting and can have (these days, with the wonders of technology!) quite a matte or velvet finish, but dewiness has its own set of characteristics. It’s the juicy, hydra-quenched look of skin that has been doused in plumping serums and buffed with nourishing oils and finished off with rich, buttery creams that glisten on the surface, except that none of these things have usually happened, it’s all in the makeup. (Great dewy-looking things? Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser and – new discovery – No7 Illuminating Cream.) Frame Fix Lightness is nearly dewy, but the finish is dry to the touch (clever) and the overall effect is one of brilliant, healthy skin.

The coverage is comprehensive but doesn’t mask entirely – the trick to such a real-skin finish, I’d imagine. It blurs, softens, throws up a smokescreen but somehow all of the charming nuances of the underneath-skin are still apparent. It’s the perfect balance, especially if you like to look as though you’re mostly makeup free. Here’s a before-and-after:

You can see that the Frame Fix Lightness gives a good evenness to the skin; redness and dark circles taken down significantly, a nice dose of radiance thrown into the mix. If we zoom in further, to the right cheek, you can see that bigger pores in the before picture are effectively disguised without being “polyfilla’d” or “plastered over”; likewise, the small areas of redness or faint pigmentation are taken down but not entirely masked:

It’s just such a gorgeous, natural finish. I think that the shade I used, 102, could just be on the pale side for me, now that we are moving into spring-summer and I’m outside more often, but for winter it’s an excellent match. This is clever makeup that creates expensive-looking skin – glowing, polished and fresh. You’re probably expecting what’s coming next – a high price-tag – but if you like to invest in supremely effective skin makeup then this one won’t feel too steep.

In terms of the types of skin this would suit, it held perfectly well on my PMT-oily skin and looked fine on dryer areas, but as always with a new foundation, best to go in and test on counter if you’re unsure. I’m also becoming quite a primer convert – if you have extremely oily skin or very dry then they can really transform whatever makeup you apply over the top and allow you to get the best from your foundation. I’ll be rounding up some of my favourites soon.

Suqqu Frame Fix Liquid Foundation Lightness is £58 at Harrods.com here. If you’re into the “oil in foundation” idea, then Armani Maestro is really excellent, slightly more surface glow than Suqqu’s but perhaps a little less coverage. Read my full review here.

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Not really a recipe, more an idea. A passing thought. Namely: how amazing is a Greek salad when you haven’t had one in a while? I get sick of feta cheese very easily, especially when I go to Greece on holiday and have it for virtually every meal, but after a bit of a feta hiatus I do enjoy getting reacquainted with it, and I revel in its saltiness against a heap of juicy tomatoes and bitter olives. It’s such an easy, fresh and summery salad and it requires very little in the way of advance thought; packs of feta cheese last for months in the fridge and the rest of the ingredients are pretty run-of-the-mill.

Here I’ve simply halved a pack of feta and broken it with my hands over a salad of leaves, cherry tomatoes, black olives and finely sliced red onion. For me, the red onion is non-negotiable; it adds the bite and excitement that the salad otherwise cries out for. I soak the fine onion slices for a while in some lemon juice, if I remember, which makes them a bit less acidic and burny on the old gullet. Cucumber? I can take it or leave it – usually I leave it. Unless I remember, at the same time that I do the onions, to slice the cucumber lengthways, remove the watery seedy bit and then salt the pieces. Not too much salt, mind – the feta is a salt-fest enough on its own!

The dressing here was a quick mixture of red wine vinegar and very good olive oil, some might prefer lemon juice and olive oil – I’ve had loads of variations, both in Greece and elsewhere. I sprinkle a little dried oregano over the feta, just to give things a more authentic touch, and I like to season with a few grinds of black pepper.

Note: go for a quality feta, not those weird cubes-in-oil that are of dubious origin! And if you seriously like feta then there are loads of feta-worshipping recipes in the Medicinal Chef cookbook that I keep banging on about. It really is a good one – you can find it here. If you hate feta (Mr AMR isn’t too keen) then you could swap for goat’s cheese, but I’d personally also alter the dressing and mix the olive oil with balsamic vinegar rather than red wine. It’s no longer anything like a “Greek Salad” but it’s very tasty.

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