The trends are funny. The minute you get comfortable with one of them, lets say, shiny skin, some horrible people start telling you that it’s so over and you should be doing matte.
As one of those “horrible
people” or make up artists, let me apologise.
What happens is that long
before you, the general public, or whoever is reading my humble ramblings, are
aware of the so-called “trend”, we the make up artists have been doing it for a while already.
Then the cosmetics companies
notice and develop products and then the trend goes mainstream. The minute the
trend has gone mainstream, make up artists have gotten sick and tired of the
look and have moved on.
One of the easiest
changes that makes so much difference is the shine versus matte.
Take the skin for example.
In the 80s matte was the look that created a nice flat canvas for all the
shading, blushing, and crazy colourful eyes and lips. Then we move onto late
80s and early 90s, as a knee jerk reaction to the previous excess it all got
very neutral and nude. Yes nude make up came into vocabulary about then. And
skin gradually became less matte.
Mid 90s it was shine
central, Vaseline skin came into fashion. Then after that we got dewy, which to
a lay person is something not matte and not shiny. But definitely more natural
than the matte look. Your skin should appear "glowing" without apparent shine. And the glow is reserved on cheeks and nowhere to be seen on less flattering areas such as nose or forehead.
Matte had another
appearance not long ago with all the 80s revival trends, so we pretty much came
full circle.
What I am trying to say that
this season the skin is back to dewy. Total shine was never really that
flattering, especially not on photographs, so we settled in the middle. Sheer
skin, not too much coverage, the look that is very achievable these days with
modern foundation formulas.
So how do you do dewy skin
you may ask?
This is how I do it.
Apply foundation that you
like by dabbing a few dots in the middle of your face and blend it well
outwards with a brush. Good choice of foundations would be Armani Luminous Silk
foundation, Crème de La Mer The treatment Fluid Foundation, Laura Mercier Moisture
Supreme Foundation. I love La Mer foundation, but for such an expensive
product, the colours are limited which is stupid really. Laura Mercier Moisture
Supreme is excellent as well, and as a bonus it does not have silicones which I
personally dislike on my skin.
Many companies sell
foundation brushes that are made of microfibre or nylon, I personally like the
real sable brushes that I get from Screenface in London, I prefer to blend with
real bristle. You blend the foundation into the skin until the foundation kind
of disappears and is not visible. You should have now a nice even base and move
onto the concealer. The concealer is there to fix any problems you might have
such as dark circles or spots or other “blemishes”. By the way, I don’t see freckles
as blemishes so don’t go there.
Under eye concealer should
be slightly paler than the foundation and blemish concealer should be the same
colour. I like Nars concealer.
You apply both with a fine
brush and blend.
Then you apply loose powder.
Take a large brush and fix the foundation, especially concentrating on the
middle of the face, under eyes, nose, around the nose, chin and forehead. You
need the powder to fix the foundation and the concealer. Becca does a really
good loose powder (soon to be sadly discontinued grr), it’s called Fine Finishing Powder or use Laura Mercier Loose
Setting Powder.
And that’s generally it. If
your skin is on the dry side, and you find that the powder just “sits” there, I
have a trick that will fix that. Spray some Rodial Dragon’s Blood Hylaruonic Tonic on your face, then pat dry with a tissue.
There you go, a perfect dewy
look.
And the more time you spend
on your skin preparation, the longer your make up will last.
Main image courtesy of Becca Cosmetic.
Great unbiased advice from professional!
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