Goodness. If there’s a fresher-feeling foundation out there with the same amount of coverage and glow and real-skin finish then I want to know about it. Becca’s Aqua Luminous foundation ticks so many boxes when it comes to a summertime face base that it’s almost perfect. I say almost, because the whole “teat pipette” dispensary system gets on my nerves (same sort as the Bobbi Brown serum foundation, though the Becca one is admittedly far neater – the Bobbi pipette is, quite frankly, inept) but as I’ve said in many a video – I can overlook that flaw. The Aqua Luminous finish is just so lovely, I don’t mind having to drip-drip the product onto the back of my hand before brushing it on.

I’ve been using the shade “Fair” which, considering it’s supposed to be the lightest (actually just spotted “Porcelain”, so perhaps that’s new) is not that light at all. It’s just right for me, and I’m definitely not the fairest of them all.

It’s worth noting, though, that this foundation does seem to end up lighter in tone than it looks when first swiped on the skin – it’s sort of like reverse oxidation! Definitely worth applying it properly, to a large area of your cheek and jaw, rather than just striping it onto your face to find a colour match. It’s gorgeously sheer and blends out really well, so getting an exact-to-the-nearest-fraction-of-a-shade match isn’t quite so important as it would be if you were going for a heavy-duty pan-stick sort of base.

See how it seems slightly fairer than you’d imagine from the swatch in the first photograph? But it definitely lives up to its name – so luminous and so fresh to apply. I’ve done some skin close-ups so that you can see coverage (good) and propensity to sit in fine lines (none). Here they are:

Note that we are really zoomed in here and things look a bit weird (nobody is ever going to see your face this close up unless they wear binoculars to bed), but you can definitely see that the redness is knocked back, blemishes nearly entirely covered and darkness beneath the eye reduced. I actually think that I could probably go a shade darker (“light”) and warm things up for summer, now that I examine my photographs! And look at that glow – radiant but not shimmery, dewy but not sweaty or waxy.

Aqua Luminous does not give full coverage by any stretch of the imagination, but it has a fabulous, juicy sheen and it sits well on the skin, whether it’s the dry, flaky patches around my nose or the oilier parts of my cheeks. I’d say that this is a dream foundation for those with normal to dry skin, any oiler then perhaps use with a little more caution. You can get away with using just a few

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Okay, I’m holding my hands up and admitting defeat on this one: my pregnancy blog, The Uphill, is still not completely finished. But I feel as though I’ll have given birth by the time I’ve twaddled about with it to the point where I’m completely happy, so here I am throwing the doors open wide and inviting you all to have a read. If you’re at all interested, that is. If you can’t think of anything worse than reading about sore ribs, belly buttons and birthing fears then stay right here!

For the rest of you: welcome. The content that’s up there at the moment is mostly diary stuff from the past few weeks, but I will be writing much more about the whole “trying to conceive” business, because I know that it’s an issue for so many people and I feel that it’s very important to address it. I’m working up to the heavy stuff, I’m afraid, because it’s actually very hard putting your heart out there on a plate! I had a few very long cries when I read some of your comments on my pregnancy announcement post: God, it can be a lonely world out there, can’t it? It’s amazing what we feel we can and can’t talk about, even with our close family and friends. Trying – and struggling – to conceive, suffering pregnancy losses, dealing with fertility issues; all shrouded in such a sense of desperation and helplessness and a feeling that you’re failing some kind of fundamental life test. I hope that there can be some interesting (and kind, and supportive) discussion over on The Uphill. I’ll try and check in as often as I can, though I’m not slowing down on anything here on A Model Recommends so please be patient if it takes me a while to join in!

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