That actress on television looks so flawless first thing in the morning with her glowing skin, bright eyes and hair perfectly messy. And then you look at yourself in the mirror wistfully, wondering why you don’t look the same way... well, don’t. Because the solution is simple — barely there no-makeup makeup (also known as maximum use of products for the ‘barely there’ result). This is a quick solution for those early morning meetings or breakfast/brunch dates when you want to look put together but not made up.
As a makeup artist, perfecting the no-makeup makeup is probably the hardest. It’s easy to smoke out eyes or add a pop of colour to the lips, add layers of highlighter and contour, but it isn’t all that easy to make someone look like they have no makeup on their face, while highlighting their best features and making them look bright and awake. But never fear, here are some quick and easy methods to achieve this look.
Hydrate Apart from drinking litres of water (which will show up on your skin), make sure to moisturise. I’ve learnt that prepping the skin is key to any kind of makeup – be it bridal or barely there. So moisturise your skin, add a little eye cream if you must, but make sure you have a layer of moisture that slowly sinks in. If your skin is dehydrated like mine and drinks up every bit of moisture you seem to give it, I’d suggest using a pearlescent cream over it (MAC Strobe Cream, Revlon PhotoReady Skinlights). And of course, do not forget SPF; it also adds a little sheen to the skin that will come in handy, trust me.
Go easy on that base Remember those BB and CC creams? Time to crack them out. Make sure you use just a small amount to really work the product into the skin; we want it to sink in, not sit on top of the skin. If you have acne-scarring or hyper-pigmentation, now is a good time to ‘pinpoint conceal’. Use a small brush, like an eyeliner brush and place a small amount of product on the area you want covered and pat it in with a clean finger. The warmth of your finger will help a full coverage concealer (MAC Pro Longwear, BobbiBrown Creamy Concealer) sink into the skin, while still covering what you need. Now, this may take a little more time than slapping on a higher coverage base, but it looks far more natural. Use the same clean finger and pat concealer under your eyes if you need it.
Precision powdering While the heat and precision powdering may not be the best of friends, nothing says ‘I have makeup on’ like a well-powdered face. Use a smaller brush to set your concealer with your powder, under the eyes, on the T zone (centre of the forehead, nose and sides of the nose). Make sure to pat and not sweep, so we don’t lose any of the coverage. Leave the rest of the face bare. Just make sure your skin still looks moisturised, because that sheen that you see on your face first thing in the morning — we intend to make sure that still looks like it’s there.
Add dimension Now, my favourite part — a little bronzer. A cream bronzer is great at adding depth, while keeping things looking more natural, but if you haven’t powdered your face, a powder bronzer works brilliantly to set your face. I would use this on the outer perimeter (jawline, hairline, cheekbones and light dusting across the nose) of the face and contour just a little. Now, if you would rather blush, once again, I’d suggest a cream blush if you didn’t powder your face, and a powder one if you did.
Eyes I always make sure the eyebrows are filled in. I can leave the house without anything else, but my brows need to be in place. Unless you have perfect Cara Delevingne brows. If you don’t, fill them in, but using a powder product so they look more natural, and brush them. For the eyes, highlight the inner corner (tear duct) with a muted champagne or pale gold, as it makes you look awake. Skip the eyeliner and load up on the lengthening mascara to give you definition, but not clumpy lashes.
Pout And finally, for the lips... use a tinted lip balm or a sheer lipstick blotted out for natural-looking lips. A nude lipstick can also work wonders here.
