But as the winter months have finally arrived with their brisk cold morning air, so too has the ultra crapness of having combination skin. For the majority of the year I can deal with have an oily T-zone and normal skin on the rest of my face - but with the cold air exposure I get in winter, my normal skin turns to ultra flaky hell. >.<

Which means not only do I have increased redness to cover on bad skin days but also flakiness that clings to anything even remotely foundation-esk.

What's a girl to do?

Insert epic makeup routine that not only looks great all day and has a minimum of grabby-handed flakies, it also only takes 5-15 minutes to complete!!! Win!!

The key to this magical formula for me right now is the Time Defense Skin Sanctuary Foundation in Linen Cream from good ole Rouge Bunny Rouge. Normally I find this foundation a little too heavy/potentially dewy but due to my damned dry skin it now glides on and wears feather light. :) I would say it's a medium coverage foundation on my skin and can be layered somewhat but be careful not to go overboard cos it can look cakey. It may sound kind gross but I love it about two hours in, when its broken in and some my natural oiliness has started to peek through.

The reason I'm digging this foundation so much is that it lasts. Without powder.

Now don't get too excited, it does fade over the course of a work day BUT it has this amazing wear-down ability that even last night after 9 hours, held up to the fiance test, who a) thought I looked great and was having a good skin day and b) couldn't tell I was wearing foundation. :D

First step, I apply it with fingers after my new Verso Day Cream (click here to see how I got it basically for half price) has had a chance to absorb, but my skin is still slightly dewy. You do have to work fast as it sets, kind of like Revlon Colourstay. I like to apply it all over my face including my eyelids but you can apply it wherever you want coverage.

Next I apply my blush - at the moment I'm digging my new theBalm Instain Blush in Houndstooth which is a lovely plumy muted rose colour, perfect for Winter and not too dark on my pale olive skin.

The trick to do this quickly for me, is to use a big tapered blush brush, in this case Sigma's F25. I have high cheekbones on chubby squirrel like cheeks, so I like to apply my blush high/almost on top of my cheekbone from about the middle of my eye back in a slanted C shape that curls up around my temple.

Using the F25 pretty much applies and blends in one go with the majority of colour staying on my cheek and fading back softly towards my temple. BOOM single wipe blush - terrible technique I know but it works for me and replicates my natural flush/colouring pretty closely.

Lastly, a healthy coat or three of mascara. My fave at the moment has recently switched from my old faithful Clinque High Impact to Urban Decay's Supercurl. I like how the brush on Supercurl is curved and the formula is thin and wet which results in long separated fairy-like lashes.

So if I want a more defined eye I'll usually quickly window-wiper-style on a neutral matte brown/taupe shade like Tease from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette with a fluffy crease brush and finger swipe on a neutral peach/pink/champagne shimmer eyeshadow like Booty Call or Sin from UD or Kitten from Stila.

Then I'll apply a cat-eye flick with liquid liner - for speediness I love to use a pen style liner, my fave is the Maybelline master precise liquid eyeliner as it has a super fine brush NOT a felt tip.

Next I might feel like my brows need a little love. I don't take time or have the patience to "properly" fill in my brows as they are so fine and sparse it would take ages. What I do is use my all time favourite brow product K-Palettes 24hr Brow Pen in 2 and draw quick hair like flicks in all the bald spots in my brows and then a quick line through my arch and tail. Next I brush them through a with a spoolie to blend.

And then very rarely I might bother to add a little highlight to the bridge of my nose and cheekbones. I don't bother with a specific highlighter product, I'll just grab an eyeshadow that's shimmery and close to my skin colour.

Oh and if i'm having a really dry day or I've gotten a little over-zealous with the foundation, I'll spray a couple of spritzes of MAC Fix+ (such a holy grail item!) to bring everything back to the realm of natural looking.

And that's it! Work-face done :)