Natural and healthy. That’s the everyday look most of us strive for. We always want our skin to look its rosy, glowing best. Unfortunately, our skin doesn’t always cooperate. Sometimes it just needs a little extra help. You can totally ‘fake’ the perfect skin look. Follow these eight easy steps to create that natural, healthy glow.
Step 1: Prep your skin
Wash and exfoliate your face to get rid of dead or flaky skin. This is absolutely essential before you apply any makeup. Buffed and smooth skin will help give you a flawless and natural finish. Applying your makeup to rough skin increases the visibility of your foundation and can lead to a cakey look.
Tip: We love Pai’s Kukui and Jojoba Bead Skin Brightening Exfoliator. It’s great for sensitive skin, is packed full of Omega 3 and instantly de-flakes and brightens your skin without causing damage to your skin cells.
Be sure to follow with a good moisturiser even if you have oily skin. Just be sure to use one that’s been formulated for your skin type. Your skin will absorb your moisturiser a lot more deeply following exfoliation. And hydrated skin means glowing skin.
Tip: Give balanceme’s Balancing Face Moisturiser a go. It instantly reduces blemishes and spots whilst making skin radiant.
Step 2: Primer
We love primer for its moisture locking properties. It’ll keep your makeup looking fresh for longer too. A good primer will minimise shine, tighten pores and even out your skin tone. And it does all this without adding any colour, so no one will ever know.
Step 3: Perfect your skin
You’ll need to spend some time getting to know your skin type, tone and problem areas. It’s best to start with a very sheer all over coverage. You can use a BB cream, tinted moisturiser or foundation. Just make sure it blends perfectly with your natural skin tone. This means no shimmer or sparkles; as much as we’d love to be naturally glittery, we’re just not. After you’ve gone over everything once, give some extra attention to any blemishes, spots or red patches that are still visible. Just dab a little more of your base over these.
Step 4: Go easy on the concealer
Concealer is great for this look, as long as you use it wisely. Dab a tiny bit over imperfections that haven’t already been covered. Don’t go overboard on concealer though. You want to cover blemishes, not emphasise them. For a subtle highlight, dab some concealer under the eyebrow arch and on the eyelids.
Tip: Dabbing on your foundation and concealer is the best way to build coverage. Lightly sweeping will help to blend it. Switch between the motions depending on what you’re trying to achieve.
Step 5: Shine control
This only really applies to oily skin. If you have areas prone to excessive shine, apply a small amount of powder in light circular motions with a big makeup brush. The secret is to use a small amount of powder and lightly build. When using powder, to achieve the natural look, less is more.
Tip: Give your makeup brush a tap after loading it up to make sure you’re not applying more powder than you need.
Step 6: Brows
Defined brows are all the rage at the moment, but don’t succumb to that temptation. If you have naturally full brows all you need to do is give them a quick comb with a spoolie and set them with a clear eyebrow gel. If your brows need a little filling in, that’s fine. Just use a matte brow powder or pencil that’s one shade lighter than your natural colour. Aim to be light handed and use a brush to angle and shape.
Step 7: Define your eyes
There are a few things you can do to make your eyes pop without making it look obvious. Use the same matte brow powder to define your eyelid crease just slightly. This will create a natural shadow at the socket of your eye. Again, aim to be light handed. It shouldn’t look like you’re wearing eyeshadow.
Frame your eyes by curling your lashes and setting them with some clear mascara. If you feel like you need a little more definition, don’t be afraid to use one or two coats of coloured mascara. If you have darker hair, feel free to stick with black mascara, but blondes or brunettes could go for brown.
The same colour rules apply if you want to use a little eyeliner. Use a black or brown eyeliner pencil to dot the colour between your lash line and your waterline, making sure the base of your lashes have the most colour. This will make your lashes look full without making it obvious that you’re wearing eyeliner.
Step 8: A pop of colour
You might have noticed we’ve been talking a lot about browns and skin tone colours. Natural makeup doesn’t have to be just neutral. Again, work with your skin tone. If you have a tan or olive complexion, a little matte bronzer just under your cheekbones can go a long way. For darker or paler skin tones, add a little colour with some blush. A cream blush is usually the best bet because it’s easy to blend and usually glitter free. Try to resemble your natural ‘flush’ when choosing a colour. Use your fingers and blend well on your cheeks.
You can also use a little lip colour, as long as it’s not too glossy and the colour works with your natural lip. Apply it with your finger for easy and light blending.
Tip: Use your favourite nude lipstick as a blush as well as a lip colour.
Et voilà! Your bare-faced makeup look is complete. Of course, it goes without saying that fish oil works wonders on your skin and our Life & Soul is a ‘beauty must have’ in luxury retailers and a favourite of skin guru Caroline Hirons. Embrace your natural beauty by taking a selfie of your new look and sharing it with us on social media. We always love hearing from you. If you have any of your own natural beauty tips we’d love to hear them too.
