We all know how difficult finding THE perfect foundation can be. With so many different foundations available and seasonal colour changes with our skin, it’s always a challenge. Luckily for us at The Amazing Blog, we were able to try out this duo of primer and foundation with the Velvet Touch Primer and Cucumber Water Matifying Foundation from the natural skincare and cosmetics brand Be+Radiance.

Aïmara Coupet is the visionary behind this French brand Be + Radiance. Aïmara has been working in the cosmetics industry for over 20 years as a makeup expert. Through her experiences working for L’Oreal, Sephora, and blackUp Cosmetics, she’s gained the expansive cosmetic knowledge that she now puts into Be + Radiance. After working in a laboratory during her consulting days, Aïmara was able to create a silicone-free foundation which pushed her into creating Be + Radiance. With her plural heritage, she has personally felt challenged to find the right products for her skin. She wanted to design a “collection of shades to represent the diversity of women” and to provide a product that anyone could use, and has a passion to “create a new art of makeup: healthy and sophisticated, luminous and universal.” Beyond creating the inclusive shades for anyone, Be + Radiance utilises natural ingredients to treat your skin well. Each product uses clean formulas, natural ingredients, probiotics, and other rich active ingredients to help the skin. In particular, they wish to make the skin healthier and more beautiful without clogging the pores or masking it with heavy pigments. The researchers and formulators at Be + Radiance understand that the skin has a delicate balance to keep it healthy. The formulas all contain probiotics to help strengthen the skin’s natural barrier and protect its microbiome, the natural bacterial ecosystem of the skin. The protection of this barrier helps to keep our skin healthy. The brand's cosmetics are made in France and are vegan and cruelty-free.

Let’s start with Velvet Touch Primer Natural and Breathable, this is designed to prepare the skin before applying makeup. This natural and breathable primer helps to reduce the appearance of pores while prolonging the wear of makeup. It helps to smooth the skin for that ‘blur’ effect. This primer is silicone, paraben and fragrance-free, and made up of 97% natural ingredients. The formula uses pomegranate extract for its antioxidant properties, which helps restore the skin for optimal hydration. The blackcurrant extract soothes, softens and strengthens the skin, while the shea butter promotes skin regeneration, hydrates, and nourishes the skin. The use of sunflower oil also nourishes and softens the skin. What we like about this primer is that it’s natural as well as lightweight and velvety smooth to apply. It also marries well with a serum or foundation (like their Matifying Foundation) and worked well on the eye area too.

We followed the primer with the Cucumber Water Matifying Foundation, a natural, water-based foundation that’s lightweight while also providing good coverage to even out the complexion. This foundation uses organic cucumber water to make this a fresh and natural product. They use 85% natural ingredients, like organic cucumber water, because of its soothing, hydrating and antioxidant properties. There are no parabens or phenoxyethanol, and it doesn’t contain any mineral oils, phthalate (from petrochemicals) or fragrance - making it ideal for even the most sensitive of skins. For the non-natural ingredients, Be + Radiance provides full transparency by listing each ingredient with their use and origin, which can be found here. This foundation is available in seventeen different shades that match a variety of skin tones. We were sent shade 13 which was a good colour match. Again it’s a silicone-free formula and super light leaving an almost veil-like finish, perfect for those wanting natural-looking coverage. This Cucumber Water Matifying Foundation is perfect for oily skin, combination skin or sensitive skin. We have quite dry skin so the primer was definitely needed prior to application, we loved how it gave a really good matte finish with no need for a quick dusting of powder to remove any shine. Our only ask for the brand, is to put an SPF in either your primer or foundation - then these would be perfect for us! Both products are available for purchase through Be + Radiance’s website here. Or the 30ml Cucumber Water Matifying Foundation is available for £21.85 here and the 30ml Velvet Touch Primer Natural and Breathable is available here for £20.05