European make up: bb creams and blush

Smashbox - Primer - Camera Ready BB Cream SPF35 bei douglas.de / Lord & Berry | Lord & Berry - Absolute Intensity - Rouge à lèvres chez... / Bourjois | Bourjois – Transparentes Augenbrauen-Mascara bei ASOS / Rimmel London | Rimmel London - Scandaleyes - Crayon khôl résistant à...

I wrote about make up a while ago.  Since I am now well into my early thirties I thought maybe I'd jump on some make up trend band wagons and see where they took me.  In Germany I usually buy most of my make up from Douglas or Karstadt but the selection and prices don't measure up to Sephora or Ulta.  As I already said, I have a hard time finding foundation that matches my skin tone.

not at all tan, golden or tawny 

Everybody raves about bb cream so I set out to get some.  The first one I tried was Smashbox.  I ended up picking this because it was the only brand Douglas carried that matched my skin.  You'd think living in a country with less than eight hours of sunlight half the year we could find pale make up around here, yeah?  Not really.

While Smashbox bb cream matched and made my skin look super amazing, after four days I started breaking out.  It might not have this effect on everyone.  I have super sensitive skin and have never been able to wear liquid make up.  I gave it to a friend and it gave her amazing skin for several days then she broke out too.

I turned to the Internet for help.  Finding some recommended bb creams for people who break out easily.  Smashbox was one (not encouraging) and the other was Estee Lauder.   I heard good things about Estee Lauder so I decided to try one more time.  Bb cream is not the cheapest stuff and I was starting to feel like it might be a big waste of money.  Estee Lauder bb cream was disappointing even though I used it with a cc cream to give it more bang.  It didn't give me amazing skin like Smashbox and on the fifth day I was using it my skin erupted in the worst kind of breakout.  I was irritated and feeling somewhat foolish with my totally f-ed up skin.  My conclusion: bb cream is not for me.  I went back to mineral foundation and have now sworn never ever to go back.  Ever.

I still desired a more youthful looking glow so I sprung for the award winning Stila cream blush.  I wasn't sure it would work with my foundation but it's great.  The effect is a dewier, prettier complexion.  Powder blush on powder foundation was making my skin feel kind of chalky.  Stila was hard to find.  It's not sold at any German stores I know of and I thought the only way I could get it was in the US.  Not so!  ASOS.de sells make up!  They carry brands I haven't been able to find anywhere in Germany like Too Faced, bareMinerals, and Bourjois.  They even have bareMinerals foundation in pale.  I've been buying my foundation in bulk whenever I make a trip home so this was happy, happy news. 

I'm interested in trying out some Stila lip colors and maybe switching back to Bourjois mascara since it's half the price of Dior.  I am waiting on a few other products I bought from Amazon.co.uk and a couple that are being shipped internationally from the US.  Now lets all pretend I didn't spend a bunch of money on make up that messed up my skin, ok?  

Thanks :)

x
Sara

P.S. Anybody want this Estee Lauder 01 bb cream?  Because I feel bad just throwing it away.