While bold, glamorous looks are still gorgeous and popular, another trend has been popping up that encourages you to embrace your natural features: the “no makeup” makeup look. As the name suggests, this look focuses on being natural, yet polished and enhanced. It’s also a flexible look that’s fit for any occasion, whether you’re going on a date or a simple hang out with your friends. If you want to master the “no makeup” makeup look, here’s how you can get started.
Invest in your skincare.
Proper skincare is half the battle when it comes to this look. Proper skincare can help you achieve a hydrated, glowing look without having to put on any makeup at all. The basics of skincare are your cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen. After that, you can add additional steps to your routine, depending on your needs. A gentle exfoliant can help get rid of dead skin cells, resulting in brighter skin. A serum can give your skin some much needed hydration, providing you with a natural glow.
Don’t forget the sunscreen.
You can certainly keep your skincare routine simple if you’d like, but one product you can’t skip is sunscreen. You’ll need to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful UV rays, which can cause sunburns, worsen signs of aging, cause skin discoloration, and worst of all, cause skin cancer. A sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 or higher is enough to protect your skin. Plus, using sunscreen regularly has its own benefits too; it can prevent blotchiness, protect essential skin proteins, and help fade scars.
If you find yourself forgetting to put on sunscreen, you can integrate it into your skincare routine by looking for a moisturizer with SPF. Again, you should look for one with 30 SPF at the least for it to be effective.
Opt for lighter coverage.
Full, heavy coverage has its time and place, but this isn’t one of them. If you’re going for a natural look, you can either look for lighter coverage or none at all. This will allow your natural skin texture to shine through. There are many foundation substitutes that offer lighter coverage, such as a tinted moisturizer, tinted sunscreen, BB cream, or CC cream. You can research and experiment to see which product would suit you best.
Alternatively, if you just have a few blemishes or spots that you want to cover up, you can ditch the foundation and go straight for concealer.
Stick to cream and liquid products.
While powder products can mask your natural features, cream and liquid products can highlight them, which is exactly what we want for this look. Not only do they blend into your skin well, but they’re also easy to use with each other. For example, you can easily blend a cream blush and cream foundation together to create a natural effect. You can easily find cream or liquid products of any makeup you have, from blush to eyeshadow.
Use eye products sparingly.
Bright and bold eyeshadows are fun, but they’re not very fitting if you’re aiming for a natural look. Instead, look for a light pink or cream shade that suits your skin tone and apply it to your eyelids lightly with your fingers. You can also use your bronzer as eyeshadow for an even more natural color. Brown eyeliner comes off subtler than black and should also be applied sparingly. Then, brush your eyelashes out with a clean spoolie and apply your mascara. These steps offer a subtle and refined look to your eyes, but you can skip any part of it if you choose.
Groom your brows and lashes.
You can certainly use your eyebrow pencil to reshape and color in your eyebrows, but you can also opt to leave them alone. If you still want to do something with them, use a clean spoolie to brush your eyebrows upward and diagonally. Then, apply brow gel or normal hair to your brows to keep them in place for the rest of the day. Leaving your eyebrows alone or doing very little will make your “no makeup” makeup look truly shine.
Use a lip gloss or lip tint.
Lipsticks are beautiful, but they’re best for bolder looks than the one we’re trying to do. Push your favorite lipstick aside for now and try a lip gloss or lip tint. Many of these products can hydrate your lips while giving you the perfect amount of color. If you want something even more subtle, you can also opt for a tinted lip balm.
Finish off with setting spray.
The final step to this routine is to spritz your face with setting spray. This product does two things. First, it locks your makeup in place and makes sure that it doesn’t budge throughout the long day ahead. Second, it makes your face look dewy and glowing, adding more of that clean girl aesthetic.