My Foundation Quest: Shu Uemura Water Perfect

Recently, in that typical way we women have, of never thinking what we have is good enough, I decided to switch foundation. My old reliable is MAC Studio Fix. Perfectly moisturising on my dry skin, it stays put, has a dewy finish and basically, I was very pleased with it. One drawback - the shades available were never *quite* a match, and I was always paranoid about tide marks.

So in my wisdom, I started to cast about for a replacement.

I feel like I've run the gamut of base recently - there were the ones that were the right shade, but the wrong texture; the ones that started off well, but had me looking like a scaly fright by 3pm; the ones that were good-Goddamn awful from start to finish. I did come across a couple of keepers - and I'll tell you about them soon.

I was in Paris last week and hotfooted it to a Shu Uemura counter, absolutely convinced that their cult Water Perfect foundation would be The One For Me. Using a combination of pidgen French, hand signals and telepathy, I communicated to the saleslady in Le Bon Marche that I had dry skin, and needed something with a peach undertone. I handed my €34 over, and left happy.

Until, that is, I tried it. PERFECT colour, perhaps the best shade I've ever had, it merged seamlessly with my skin, but immediately I knew we were in trouble. It just wasn't moisturising enough. Lovely product, lovely packaging - but I was scaly and flaky by lunchtime. Such a disappointment.

So, back I went, on all fours, to Studio Fix. I begged and pleaded. We got back together. My complexion sang songs of joy, but still, I can't help feeling that there must be another product out there that's also going to be perfect for me.

Watch this space.