I couldn’t be happier when I saw more emphasis on skincare and ‘natural’ makeup looks trending as 2019 kicked off. Goodbye, exaggerated lip-liner! Sayonara, streaky contour! Good riddance, ultra-brightened under-eyes!
Makeup artist Sara Hill has been trending lately on Instagram for a very hands-on base-prep technique known as ‘yoga skin’ which she demonstrated in a short video. “The yoga skin technique I created to make the skin look lit from within. Healthy, glowing, hydrated, radiant, sheer and natural. Skin that looks like skin at its very best.” Here are her steps:
1. Cleanse and prep your skin as normal. Let your skincare absorb fully before adding the next step.
2. Apply a small amount of primer (silicone-free).
3. Three to four pumps of your favourite foundation liquid. Preferably sheer to medium (water-based). Not full coverage.
4. One drop of your favourite skincare facial oil.
5. One drop of strobe cream or liquid highlighter. Golden tones work best.
6. For super shine, one small drop of glow drops (this step is optional).
7. Massage into your skin using your hands; this does many things. It gets the circulation flowing, relaxes you, de-puffs, and makes the base sit better too. Build up in layers on top until you are happy with the coverage created. I would recommend allowing time between layers.
8. Add a small amount of liquid concealer only in the areas you wish more coverage like under eyes, spots or around the nose. Please do not over-do this step. You can lightly powder to set concealer. Add cream blush and cream bronzer if you wish. And you can set your face overall with powder too, use a small fluffy brush to do this or puff and keep the powder to a minimum and sheer. No baking, please! If you wish to use setting spray make sure it’s alcohol-free to give further hydration.
Aneesha Shah’s version of yoga skin
So naturally, a flood of Instagram posts (1057 posts as I write this) came about, with beauty-lovers improvising with different budgets for their individual skin types and skin tones. Some took on the trend with drugstore products to show that you don’t need to sell your arm or leg on the black market for Chanel products. Some went entirely natural, using organic makeup to prove natural doesn’t need to be just an aesthetic but a lifestyle too.
The result is universal: skin that’s not necessarily blemish-free but healthy-looking, radiant, fresh and teeming with more goodness than those viral Sugar Bear Hair vitamins. If you have freckles, let them peek through!
With one of 2018’s biggest buzzword’s having been ‘toxic’ it’s only right that the detoxification culture lives through the beauty industry as well... and who better to propel this than the people who are pioneers?
