My Easy Summer Make-Up Favourites
My favourite products for a no-make-up make-up look, beauty in your forties for dry skin and melasma.
I love seeing inside other peoples makeup bags. As a real nosey parker, the fact that the internet now gives me access to so many is great and I haven’t hit my fill (yet!). I have watched a lot of make-up content over the last few years. I think I’m hoping that if I watch enough of it I will find the perfect foundation or concealer that covers but doesn’t cake, that lasts all day without being matte. Of course I haven’t found such a product. But I have tried and tested a lot of products and I think I’ve found my perfect easy make-up routine.
There are a few accounts I’ve followed for a really long time because the products featured are relevant and I like, or relate to, the creator. However, and I don’t mean to cast any particular shade here, I have noticed a few who actively tell the audience that they aren’t using filters who then display a lot more skin texture in their candid photos on stories. I’m absolutely not criticising anybody else’s right or inclination to present themselves in the best light (ring light or other), and we all have texture - I’d like to see it more, but what I am saying is that this can make it really hard to tell how products actually sit. I have tried a few samples of products that looked great on reviews from online creators with what I thought was natural light but found IRL they really emphasised mid-forties skin and were not for me.
My Issues
So I guess before I open my make-up bag I should caution what my particular needs are. I have dry skin, very dry, oily and combination types look away, my make-up bag will not be your bag! I also have increasing areas of pigmentation, and the first real flush of fine lines. When I was young I had a good complexion and now that Im older, despite having more that I want to conceal, I am still pretty pared back with make-up. I think it suits me more, mask-like make-up doesn’t enhance me at all, and if I ever needed proof of this the TikTok glamour filter makes my features look ridiculous as confirmation. If you are on the hunt for products that deliver a pared back glow and have never really worn a more glamourous full face make-up look, then you share a commonality of purpose with me. This post is not in any way sponsored, but I do want to share my favourite hack, which I tell all my friends about, if it’s stocked on Cult Beauty then almost everything (well over 90% of what I buy) can be discounted by 20%, year round, using Sali Hughes discount code CBSALI. Having this discount does make luxe beauty a hefty bit less luxe on your wallet.
Beauty as you mature
Have you noticed that as you get older, and your skin either becomes drier or shows fine lines, that base becomes important in a way that it never was before?! I find that the older I get the more I am sticking to the adage that less is more. I use quite a few layers, but far less product than is commonly recommended, when I use more I always feel I look older no matter the product. There’s a wonderful straight-talking MUA I follow on TikTok called Erica Taylor who talks a lot about make-up looking dusty with the wrong products in your forties and I owe a lot of what I now default to from her advice. I tend to stick to cream - cream eyeshadow, blusher and bronzer, and skin tints as my base. In the winter I use an Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer, but in summer (despite there being a higher likelihood of slippage) I want to have less on my face, to add a bit of glow from within I use a very sparing amount of Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter (shade 4 Medium) on my cheekbones, like many of my make-up purchases, this stuff lasts me years and years (yes I know, that’s a little gross!).
Skin Tints
I like my skin to look glowy but not ridiculously so, and I find a skin tint is the perfect option for delivering this alongside a no-make-up-make-up base. Heavy foundations have been out the door since I passed the 30 mark and I had been using BB or CC creams in their place. But I have a huge love of many of the newer skin tints on the market. The ones I have really liked (Hourglass and Ilia) provide a veil of minimal coverage with glow but without shine. There are so many good ones on the market, but from those I’ve tried, the skin tint I favour is Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint (shade 10 Porto Ferro) - though be warned as it’s clean beauty it will start to smell a bit off quickly so don’t leave it on a shelf for months. This would be reasonably buildable I think, possibly similar to Laura Mercier’s Tinted Moisturiser in opacity, but I tend to wear it very sheer and rely on concealer for where I need coverage. It diffuses and blurs a little in harsh summer light. I am not by any means an expert but I have tried samples of many of the most popular products (L’Oréal, Atelier Westman, Kevin Aucoin, Nars, Charlotte Tilbury, Bobbi Brown) and my favourites (Ilia & Hourglass) are by far the best for my dry skin and its fine lines. They give me glow without goop, coverage without cake, they don’t age me and both can be built up a little on my areas of pigmentation if I am skipping concealer.
Melasma and Pigmentation
A note on pigmentation, it is my whole reason for concealer. Since pregnancy a decade ago where I picked up the gift of melasma I have been trying to cover areas of my face. After a particularly harrowing experience walking back across Tooting common, when Ted was a baby (at 10.30am in April) arriving home to be confronted by a dark patch of melasma above my lip that looked eerily like an early twentieth century dictator, I have been on the hunt for good coverage! Happily the moustache shaped pigmentation hasn’t returned but I do SPF50 here year round just to make sure. I now have an area of pigmentation on my cheeks (not broken veins) and the side of my nose (an old sunburn that never goes). I am often told it looks like rosacea but I’m pretty determined that it’s not, and believe my skin is the opposite of sensitive or reactive.
Concealer
Apologise if the following sounds a little basic, but when you’ve never used concealer before you really start from ground zero. I had to put effort in, I feel happier when I can hide the pigmentation so finding something which conceals but doesn’t announce itself heavily on the face was my mission. For a good six months I couldn’t pass a make-up counter, or outlet in a central London startion, without going in to try out another concealer, I was determined I’d find the one that was right and give my pigmentation cover without caking or baking. I tried all of the classics to no avail and then at the start of last year found my first favourite. I have three favourites, firstly the buttery Jones Road Face Pencil (Shade 9), I mentioned in last months edit, is great for precision and ease of use on the go. For a light coverage that can be built I really love the Eborian Super BB Concealer, (shade Dore). But in the summertime when light can be harsh, I really rate the Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer, (shade Apricot). It has the fullest coverage of the three, so I use it incredibly sparingly (I press lots of product off the doe foot into the bottle and then place a small amount on the back of my hand before applying with a brush).
I am late to the game here, and it is an absolute revelation just how far this stuff goes, which I guess is the same reason I always avoided it - I always saw it as the poster girl of a heavy make-up look. Something this intimidating requires a bit of learning to get the knack, I heard someone likening putting concealer straight on your face to putting paint on a wall in the house without blending it into a roller first and it made a lot of sense (my decorating head is still my autopilot and it made me think about when you do cutting in with paint on a wall in a heavy handed way and have to blend again, and again, and AGAIN). Back to the Hourglass concealer, which is the best I’ve found. What I really like about this product is that it has the classic light diffusion properties Hourglass are famous for, used sparingly I like the blurring quality of it.
Eyes
Another thing that has changed as I’ve become more mature is what I put on my eyes. In my teens I used a lot of grungey or punk style eyeliner, in my twenties and thirties I favoured a cat flick, but now I tend to use the tiniest amount in the corner of my eyelid (never the bottom lid) for daily make-up and at the moment I’m using an an Elf bitesize palette in Truffles that’s cheap as chips. I also rarely use traditional eyeshadow these days, and especially in summer, I like to sweep whatever bronzer I’m using on my lids to create an overall natural look. If I’m being fancy I will add a smudge of Bobbi Brown Longwear Cream Shadow Stick in Taupe to the crease line.
I have naturally full and long eyelashes, but they can clump and create a lot of smudge if I’m not careful. As I get older I always use brown mascara, the best for the minimalist look are from brands that make mascaras that add definition without heaviness. For everyday I use Eyeko Limitless Lengthening Lash and for more dramatic eye I like L’Oréal Telescopic. I have recently tried a mini bottle of Ilia Limitless Lash and the hype is well deserved, it creates big but defined lashes and I really hope they produce it in brown soon. I have a little thinning on my eyebrows and I find the precision of the Refy Brow Pencil really good for covering sparser areas without feeling you have been too heavy-handed, it would be almost impossible to be heavy-handed with this product, which I appreciate.
Bronze and Blush
Once my base and eyes are done, I’m pretty much good to go, and just need to add a little colour back in a healthier tone. Even with the lightest touch I still need to do this. I had been in love with Marc Jacob’s powder bronzer in Tantastic for years and bought a huge number of them on sale when the brand became discontinued. I’m on my last pan (quite far through it now) and popped into SpaceNK for a recommendation. I got a brilliant one, and though it is lovely, it is eye-wateringly exprensive, so the jury is still out on this one and I will report back! There are very few blushers I think work with cheek pigmentation, and there’s almost nothing worse than the forever-viral Nars Orgasm blush for my particular concern. For blush I veer between a very vintage looking pink from Nudestix in Bare Back and a cheap and cheerful coral coloured stick (despite the name) Caramel Dusk from Rimmel which is sheer enough not to intimidate with its punchy tone.
Lips
On my lips I either just wear lip balm or keep things very simple and natural looking. The lipliner I favour is NYX lip pencil in either Nude or Beige, in summer I tend to prefer Beige as it adds some extra fullness that isn’t obvious when over lining the lips a little. I tend to skip lipstick and will apply some Beauty Pie Collagen Lip Oil in Nude Nectar for a final polish. Eh voila! My no make-up make up staples.