Glowy dewy skin - how many times have you heard a blogger say this?! Easily said, but man, it's flippin' hard to get this glowiness without looking like a greasy sweaty ball of mess, possibly bordering on the disco-ball syndrome. It took me - wait for it - until about a month or two ago to find a product (actually 2 at the same time, what?!) that would deliver glowy but not greasy and highlighted but not glittered all over. Ladies, meet Vichy Idealia Life Serum* & Touch In Sol I'm Very Useful Make-up Boomer* (what mouthfuls, eh!).

These two.. let's call them bases for now, are very different from each other and deliver different results. Although one is actually a serum and the other one a boomer (what is a boomer?!), all I wanted from a brightening product was radiant skin with a nice sheen to it. A bit like MAC Strobe Cream, but not ask thick and a tiny bit less glowy. How do these two fit into the above description then?

  • Vichy Idealia Life Serum (£29.50 for 30ml, now on offer in Boots for just £19.66!): This product is a serum, which means that it not only delivers radiance, but provides skin with other benefits such as even skin tone, tighter pores and overall creates a smoother complexion. I like using this in the morning before I put my foundation/BB cream on, because it hydrates really well, but it's not sticky (does not cause my foundation to fade) like a moisturizer sometimes does. It actually seems to make my foundation look fresh for longer! As to the glowy effect - the ingredients make my skin look less tired (that well known plump-effect), plus it's got a very subtle pearlescent sheen to it, which creates a perfect brightening base for my foundation. I'm sometimes slightly paranoid when putting too many products on my face (especially when they're just for the pretty looks and not for skin care), so this serum solves this problem for me - a skin care (serum) with a pearlescent sheen (base) in one!    
  • Touch in Sol I'm a Very Useful Make-up Boomer (£11.30 for 32g, now on offer for £10.20) In my experience, Korean brands are really good at combining skin care & make-up products (just like Vichy above!), so this brightening base doesn't come with a sole purpose of illuminating. It contains a seed complex, a repair complex together with argan & jojoba oil which takes care of your dry, dehydrated skin. In addition to being a super moisturizer it adds a nice subtle (but slightly more visible than Vichy) pearlescent sheen to your skin. You can see the difference in textures below - Vichy looks more like a serum, whereas Touch In Sol looks more like a highlighter. Since the sheen is a bit more vivid (but still subtle enough for me to be ecstatic about it!), I use this on the areas where I prefer more highlight - cheekbones, brow bones, my nose.. but you can't go wrong even if you apply it all over your face.
This way I would also like to say thank you to the PR's who sent me these two gems - I would  most likely miss them while browsing through shops/e-shops - now I can't imagine my daily face routine without them!

How do you brighten up your skin?