The “No Makeup” Makeup

One of the most elusive skills in my life has been learning the tricks to the No Makeup look. I have read and practiced a lot of tutorials, at least a couple of new ones every season for the past 10 years. Yes, that’s a long time for not learning a trick! The problem? Every last single one of these tutorials relays on brown, bronze and nude shades. None of these colors are flattering to my complexion, I finally found out. Bronze or brown eyeliners and shadows make my eyes looks tired, feverish and half closed. My eyes are a very dark brown, my eyelashes and eyebrows are black and my skin is fair with equal amounts of blue (pink) and yellow undertones, basically impossible to work with! If I use brown and yellow based eye makeup, my skin turns sick looking and haggard. I can’t use blush either since I naturally blush a lot. So I finally perfected my personalized “No Makeup” makeup this summer. 

-For Skin: a good CC cream with enough coverage to hide all the discolorations. My favorites are IT Cosmetic CC cream and Revlon CC cream.
-For Lids: a creamy shadow pencil in a shade closest to my skin tone. Favorites Clinique’s Chubby stick shadow tint in “Bountiful Beige” and Covergirl Flamed out shadow pencil in “Ginger Flame”.
-For Eyes: I line the inner rim of my eyes (only the tops) and fill out any space between eyelashes with black eyeliner. A not-too-greasy pencil is the best. My favorites: Stilla Smug stick, Clinique Quickliner or Lorac liner pencil work great.
-For Lashes:  I apply a tiny bit of black mascara to the tip of my lashes. Taking care not to leave any clumps or smudges, just clean curved (natural!) lashes. My current mascara is Clinique Lash doubling mascara.
-For Lips: a barely there color that matches my lips natural light pink/coral. Again Clinique Chubby Stick 
Moisturizing Lip Color Balm in Chunky Cherry or Revlon Colorburst balm stain in Cherish. Although I am still looking for a perfect match.

There you have it, the secret of No Makeup look for someone with a complexion like mine. A great thing about this routine is that it also works with a high impact lipstick like an intense red or poppy.