Some people go years wearing the wrong foundation, oblivious to the fact that they are (I speak from experience here, from my pre beauty editor days, anyway). It’s hard to know you see, because just like a bad bra, an average foundation still does its job, just not a very good one. But until you find The One you don’t know that the wire isn’t supposed to protrude into your breastbone, or that the straps shouldn’t leave indentations around your middle. Then one day, you do, you find it. And it’s so comfortable and it enhances your assets just so, you think what the heck did I ever, seriously, ever, do without this? And life from there on is divided into two halves, pre- and post-perfect bra.

All this is to say that finding the right foundation is a revelation. A quiet revelation, but one nonetheless. It makes your mornings breezy and your touch ups few and far between. It hides a multitude of pandemic-induced sins (including drinking wine as if it was water), and it facilitates the kind of compliments that no tie dye tracksuit can. 

Introducing It Cosmetics CC+ Illumination SPF 50. It glides on like silk and covers everything you need it to, from red patches and dark rings to spots. I use one pump, or two when I need a bit more coverage, and apply it with a damp blending sponge for maximum smoothness and ultimate ahh. Ingredients wise, it's got the kind you'd expect to find in your moisturiser, like hyaluronic acid, collagen and peptides, all of which make your skin look nearly as healthy without it, as it does with. Not quite though, as it does make you look like you drink celery juice for a living. Really, you glow with a capital G. So much so that people ask pejoratively if you escaped the UK to spend lockdown somewhere hot. No, you yell in a bid to claw back your integrity, it’s It Cosmetics. 

The glow is its UPS. Lots of brands think of glow too literally, adding actual glitter to their formulas. And while they might look good on teenageers, they're not so clever on women who'd like to be taken seriously, thank you very much. This CC includes nothing of the sort, instead, what the brand refers to ‘micronized light-reflecting pigments,’ which, somehow, render highlighter obsolete. And in these austere, let’s be more sustainable times, that can only be a good thing.

Since trying this product, I’ve never once deviated, and for a beauty editor who tries a lot, that’s hopefully all you need to know?