Natural “No Makeup” Look

Hi everyone! I want to apologize for my long hiatus. Second semester was a lot busier than I had anticipated especially with two jobs on the side. Nevertheless it is summer time and I’m ready to update frequently :)!

Today I have a natural “no makeup” look that I have been wearing for the past couple of weeks during spring and early summer. It takes me less than 15 minutes to do and makes me look more awake and fresh. I’m very excited to share this with you! Here is the before and after look: As you can I see I look a bit tired, dull and groggy. But in the after photo I look much more energetic without looking overdone. Before we start I applied my morning moisturizer along with my SPF 30 sunscreen.

Here is a list of products I have used: 

• Clinique Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Sunscreen: My go to sunscreen for face and body in the summer. Sun screen is very important, especially if you have sun-spot prone skin like me. Also interestingly, the body and face sunscreen from clinique contain the exact same ingredients yet the one labelled for face is not only smaller but more expensive! So beware!
• Estee Lauder Double Wear Concealer in 01: my HG concealer
• YSL Le Tient Touche Eclat Foundation in BD40 – my current favourite foundation, see full review here. Make sure to choose a foundation that is best matched for your skin with a sheer coverage to look as natural as possible. 
• Becca Shimmering Perfector in Pearl – my everyday highlighter for day time. You’ll see why later :)
• Fairy Drops Mascara – current favourite waterproof mascara 
• Christian Dior Lip Glow Colour Revival Balm – Lip balm with pinky tint. Will look different depending on your natural lip colour.
• Benefit Posie Tint – cheek and lip stain, which I only use on the cheeks for a natural flush
• Mac Blot Powder – to prevent a greasy face later in the afternoon
• Shu Uemura Hard Eyebrow Pencil 9 (Stone Gray) – Love this!! Looks natural and lasts all day. 

The most important part of a natural look is glowing skin. I like to start by applying a small amount of my favorite foundation in the center of my face and cover any imperfections with my concealer. This is the finished look for this step:

Next I like to use my Shu Uemura pencil and apply it over the eyebrows by drawing small lines along the natural direction of the hair growth. As you can see the result is subtle but the change is evident. I’m using the colour stone gray, and it is a great colour for those with black hair!Next I applied my CD Lip Glow. At first I was a bit disappointed in this product. I prefer more buttery lip conditioners and this one felt waxy. However, after a few uses it grew on me and I liked the natural pinky tint it gave to my lips. For the price however, I’m sure there are cheaper alternatives that can achieve the same effect. I admit it is the gorgeous packing that tempted me to buy it. 

The last step is to apply blush and highlighter. The Becca Shimmering Perfecter in Pearl is my current favourite day time highlighter. It gives the perfect amount of glow especially under the sun without being too obvious. I recently acquired the Posie Tint from the Getting Cheeky trio set at Sephora, and I really like the natural flushed look it provides. When my skin is more tanned, I’ll be likely to use Chacha Tint instead for a coral glow. I am hesitant to use the tints on the lips however due to the chemical smell….

I love the look the highlighter and light pink blush on my cheeks! This photo was taken with direct sunlight. I love the “lit-from-within” glow that the highlighter and cheek stain provides. (I also curled my eyelashes and applied mascara.)And that’s all the steps and all of the products I have used :)! I believe this look is appropriate for work, interviews and for any occasion during the day. To the untrained eye, it is difficult to tell if you are wearing any products at all. It is simply an enhanced version of your natural self with more luminous skin, darker eyebrows, and minimal eye and lips. Hope you enjoyed the look!

Thanks for reading everyone! Look out for more posts in the upcoming days!