Summer is over and the colder months are here. Maybe you want to prepare your skin for winter with some skincare tips or maybe you want to know how to achieve the faux-no-makeup skin look that you seemed to don all summer without even trying. Gabrielle Bentley shows how you can achieve this effortless glow all year round by focusing on the complexion – the key to perfecting any makeup look.
Pre-makeup
Skin always looks its best when it is healthy – that means cleansing morning and night to take off the day’s residue and exfoliating at least once a week (or 2-3 times if you have oily skin). This is especially important prior to makeup application. Apply a small amount of moisturiser to the face and wait five minutes for it to absorb into the skin before applying primer. Not only can a foundation primer enhance the longevity of your face makeup, it can also change the overall finish of the foundation. To achieve radiant skin, a primer that markets itself as soft-focus, pore-blurring, or radiant is preferable. Apply a pea-sized amount the cheeks.
L’oreal Lumi Magique Primer – Boots £9.99
Alternatively:
No7 Airbrush Away Radiance Boosting Primer – Boots £16.50
Becca Backlight Priming Filter – Cultbeauty.co.uk £32.00
Foundation
It’s easy for your skin to feel dry and lack brightness during the autumn and winter. Choose a foundation that boasts hydration or glow for the skin, but make sure the particular foundation is appropriate for your skin type. Hydrating foundations are best applied with a sponge to achieve that airbrushed effect, whether it be the raved-about Beautyblender or a triangle cosmetic sponge. After applying a little concealer to problem areas and underneath the eyes, powder the face lightly, so as not to take away the finish of the foundation, concentrating the most powder on the T-zone.
L’oreal Lumi Magique Foundation – Boots £10.99
Alternatively:
Inglot HD Perfect Coverup Foundation – £23
Nars Sheer Glow Foundation – Lookfantasic.com £29.50
Highlighter
If there’s one tip that can make a difference to the overall finish of the skin, it’s this one. Choose a highlighting powder a few shades lighter than your skin tone and dust it over the cupid’s bow, the bridge of the nose, the brow bone, and, most importantly, the high tops of the cheeks. Sometimes I find that doing an extra bit of blending with your foundation sponge really helps the highlighter to meld with the skin and give it a flawless finish.
MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder (various shades) – Superdrug £3.00
TheBalm Mary Lou Manizer Highlighting Powder – Superdrug £17.49
Jouer Cosmetics Powder Highlight (various shades) – Cultbeauty.co.uk £19.00
Gabrielle Bentley
Cover Image: beautyheaven.com.au