Gotta Get That Glow
key makeup products for that “lit from within” glow
Learning how to apply your foundation and concealer so your face will look fresh and glowy should be a simple technique to master. However, whenever I click on a video tutorial promising me a goddess-like glow, it always involves full coverage foundation and powder. Ew, no thank you! Do you feel the same way? If so, read on and learn my 6 steps to achieving luminous skin. Don’t worry! I swear it will take you 15 minutes or less to put your best face forward!
prep it
To paraphrase Meghan Trainor’s hit song, it’s “All About That Bass Base.” Whether you are 18 or 48, prepping your skin before applying makeup is the most crucial step in achieving luminous, healthy-looking skin. Your morning skincare prep should include:
Cleansing with micellar water to remove any leftover makeup or skincare from the previous night.
Applying a quick-absorbing hydrating serum to your face while your skin is still damp from the micellar water. Lately, I have been using Drunk Elephant’s B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Serum.
Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize. I like a moisturizer that works as fast as my serum. Your skin should feel soft and not tacky after you apply moisturizer. Here are some of my go-to favorites:
Lastly, gently apply an eye cream. Click here to learn which ingredients you need in your morning eye cream.
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prime it
Feeling like an oil slick at this point? You may have overdone it on the skin prep. No worries. Grab a blotting paper, tissue, or the back of your hand and blot off the excess product. It’s time to prime. So many primers, so little time. I can and probably will devote an entire blog post on face primers. All you need to know right now is to choose a primer with the words “illuminating” or “glow” in their name. Some good choices are Laura Mercier Pure Canvas Primer - Illuminating or Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow Face Primer.
glow me up
Do you want to know the secret for creating a “lit from within glow?” Of course, you do! Apply a liquid highlighter BEFORE you apply foundation! I’ll let that gem soak in for a second. Sometimes women can be heavy-handed when applying highlighter after foundation. It can look a little aggressive. Applying a highlighter before foundation solves that problem. Now, you have read over and over that highlighter should be placed on the high points of your face to make your features stand out. I am here to tell you that you should only apply highlighter to the tops of your cheekbones and a teeny tiny amount to the bridge of your nose for an everyday makeup look. NO ONE should be applying highlighter to the tip of their nose like a disco ball! Remember, you are a grown-ass woman, so look like one! :)
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cover me?
To cover or not to cover? That is the question. As women in our 40’s, we want it all! As a professional makeup artist, I have heard it all. “Cover my sun spots.” “Hide my melasma.” “Erase my lines and wrinkles.” While also hearing, “I don’t want my face to look cakey.” “I hate the way foundation feels so heavy on my face.” “I want my skin to look as natural as possible like I am not wearing foundation, but everything is covered.” First, please remember that makeup artists use a makeup brush to apply makeup and not a magic wand. We can’t turn back time, at least not permanently. Secondly, there comes a time in your mid-life when you have to make a choice. Do you want your skin to be fresh and glowy even if it shows some fine lines and sun spots? Or do you want to erase the sins of your past from your face? The choice is yours. The latter, however, requires a full spackle of foundation.
Using a lightweight foundation or tinted moisturizer can minimize the things we want to see less of, like redness and sun damage, while still looking fresh-faced and glowy. I prefer to use a Beauty Blender for the most natural-looking coverage.
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Strategize & camouflage
Concealer is thicker than foundation. Its purpose is to hide your skin’s imperfections like redness, hyperpigmentation, and any other skin discoloration. This type of concealer should not be used to cover your undereye circles. That’s a completely different concealer formula that I could spend hours talking about. For now, buy NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer for your dark circles. Even better, Sephora sells mini sizes of the Radiant Concealer. You can try it before committing to the full-size concealer. You can thank me later. :)
Back to traditional concealer and our mission to keep our skin luminous and gorgeous. It’s not what you use, but how you use it and how much you use it. For the most natural-looking skin, be strategic and apply thin layers of concealer only to the areas that need coverage. Gently pat the concealer edges with the tip of your ring finger to melt the concealer into your skin for seamless coverage. That’s it. That’s all you need to do. Here are the concealers I use most often for coverage:
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dew me!
Are you still with me? These steps should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete, with skin prep accounting for at least half the time. Here’s the final step! Mist your face with a facial mist for that final touch of luminosity. Noticed I used the word “mist” and not “spray.” Mist implies a gentle touch. The best way to mist your face is to turn your face to one side, mist, then do the same on the other side. Do not spray into the center of your face. You want the glow on your cheekbones and not in the middle of your forehead. Trust me, I have seen too many “facial sprays gone wrong” tragedies. I keep the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist in my pro kit. Lilah B.Aglow Hydrating + Setting Spray and MAC Fix Plus Spray are great choices too.
Ok, now you know my secrets for luminous, healthy-looking skin. I can’t wait to see you try it on yourselves! Post a picture on Instagram and tag @FacingForty and use the hashtags #gottaglow and #facingforty. Have a dewy skin trick, share it below in the comments. May you go and glow!