Imagine if you could fix your expression to your face and make it last all day. Smile, grimace, frown; choose your mood and then lock it into place. It would be so handy for weddings should you could smile once after which freeze it. Or, for a serious occasion – something like an important meeting – it would be great if you could have yourself an attentive kind of look that would stay in spot for the duration. You could have one of those little frowns going on, so that towards the casual observer you would look as though you were concentrating, but inwardly you'd really be chortling away at funny pictures on Instagram.
Or, wow, I’ve just thought of a good one: you could fix your vision open so that you appeared to be awake, however , inside you’d be asleep! Fancy looking all wide-eyed and perky throughout a three hour budget meeting, but really you’re snoozing. Marvellous.
I suppose you could run into problems, though, couldn’t you? With a fixed expression. I can imagine a confrontation between drunks in the very end of a wedding reception, with one guy grinning away such as the village idiot and the other (I like to think he’s wearing a kilt) taking offence.
“You smiling at me, mate?” says the man with the kilt on. (He’s not Scottish, but he's “roots”.)
“No, I’m just smiling generally! I can’t stop, the thing is!”
“What’s your problem? Think I’m funny mate?”
“No, I honestly can’t stop smiling! I’ve fixed my expression!”
“You have to wipe that smile from your face.”
“I can’t! It’s fixed!”
“Wipe it out of your face, or I’ll wipe it for you personally.”
Etc.
Anyhoo, Urban Decay’s All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray won’t quite fix your expression, but it’ll set just about everything else. I’ve never really experienced a rush to test out setting sprays, mainly because I tend to go for quite a natural look and that i rarely need my base to last longer than the usual eight or so hours. In my more spirited days it might have been quite useful – close, humid environments and enthusiastic drinking sessions have a tendency to play havoc with a full face of foundation and bronzer and so on – but mostly I welcomed the rock 'n roll vibe that came along with smudged eyeliner along with a “dewy” skin finish.
I have, however, become something of a convert after trying the All Nighter setting spray. It invisibly holds everything in place – base, bronzer, blush, highlighter, concealer, eye makeup – and stops everything from becoming patchy and blotchy over the course of the day. Or night. If you have problems with your base sliding or becoming cakey after a few hours of wear then (aside from trying out a good primer, which is always a sensible place to start) a few spritzes of All Nighter might just do the trick.
I’ve used the Urban Decay Makeup Setting Spray on a number of occasions now, doing some rather out-of-character stuff in order to test drive it to its limits. I think the very best one was running around the garden like a lunatic last week when it was about thirty-three degrees. I must did eight or so full laps, pushing Angelica in her own little pink car, before collapsing onto the picnic blanket for a twenty minute disco nap entirely sun. (Yes I was wearing SPF50.)
I then entered town for an event, spent an hour on a sweltering train with sweat dripping down my cleavage, speed-walked with a pram through Shoreditch, sat in a baking hot private dining area and then repeated it all in reverse, and when I got home my makeup looked virtually the same. Urban Decay say that All Nighter gives up to about sixteen hours of wear and tear, keeping makeup looking fresh and neat. I guess that makeup would usually look great for around four or five hours anyway, depending on the conditions, so you’re prolonging wear by over ten hours. I am talking about my face really did look nearly as good as it had when I’d first applied the makeup that morning…
Impressive stuff. The setting spray does leave your skin ever so slightly tight, or perhaps glazed is a much better description, but it’s much less noticeable. Not like spraying your face with hairspray, which used to be the conventional method of makeup fixing… I find that I’m now using a little spritz of the All Nighter even if I only need makeup to last the path of a normal day – it seems to stop concealer from creeping into fine lines, and further on up the eye area, shadow appears to stay in place for longer.
You will find the Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray at FeelUnique here* – it’s lb23.50.
