A makeup re-match is like tweaking your seasonal wardrobe, which means it’s time to rethink the colour and finish. Editor Trudi Brewer shares how to, here.
Editor Trudi Brewer gets a makeup match by Shiseido at Life Pharmacy.
Your foundation's colour and finish can make or break your makeup look. Less is more this season; layering is the key to perfecting the result. Here are the steps to get a flawless, youthful-looking finish and the products we rate at Life Pharmacy.
PREP & layer your skin
To get sheer coverage, focus on skin prep. Always apply your foundation to freshly cleansed and well-moisturised skin for the best results. To ensure lightweight coverage, start with light layers of your go-to serum and then a moisturiser and SPF; wait until these are fully absorbed for at least five minutes. Primer is the last line of defence against foundation migration. It was made to work hard during the day to keep your makeup in place. Then apply foundation to the middle of your face and forehead, then move down your T-zone, around the nose, and onto the chin. These areas often need the most coverage, then blend outward to ensure a seamless cover over your face.
Clinique Even Better Light Reflecting Primer, $71.
This new makeup-boosting primer illuminates and hydrates the skin in one swipe, thanks to 20 billion prismatic illuminators in every tube and antioxidant ingredients to promote visibly smooth and brightened skin. This can be worn under makeup or alone to help boost your complexion’s radiance.
How to swatch your makeup shade
First, don’t swatch the shade on your hand; it’s not the same colour as your face. For the ideal match, makeup artists say to look at the undertones in your skin. If it's pink or rosy, you probably have a cool undertone; if it's golden, you may have a warm undertone. Always remove any makeup and swatch the colour on your jawline, neck and nose. Go for an exact match; never lighter or darker than your natural skin colouring.
Shiseido Synchro Skin Glow Luminizing Fluid Foundation, $70.
A hybrid makeup stacked with skincare ingredients, including argan kernel oil, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, sunflower, cranberry and rosemary extracts, and an SPF 20. But the cross polymers help the makeup glide over the skin to give you a barely-there gorgeous glow. Try the Shiseido Synchro Skin Soft Blurring Primer, $72 to enhance makeup longevity. It’s a weightless, water-based primer that helps refine pores, mattifies and blurs with light-diffusion technology.
PERFECT YOUR application TECHNIQUE
To get that lightweight, fresh-looking finish, start with concealer (where you need extra coverage); think under the eyes or any dark spots. A flat brush will lay the foundation down onto the skin, or clean fingers are the speedy and easy way to get a sheer finish – be sure to massage the product in, as you would a moisturiser. Complete the look by blending with a large round fluffy brush in swift, circular motions. This technique will keep your makeup flawless and sheer, almost like a second skin.
Clarins Skin Illusion Velvet Liquid Foundation, $72.
If, like us, you want that barely there finish when it comes to foundation, this makeup promises that while controlling shine and blurring imperfections. It’s lightweight yet silky thanks to a cocktail of skin-caring ingredients, including glycerin, vitamin C, manioc root extract, bamboo powder and silica, and natural mica to give each shade a true colour match.
HOW CAN YOU STOP FOUNDATION CAKING IN FINE LINES?
If you’ve been wearing the same makeup in your 40s and 50s, you wore in the ’20s, this could be the reason. Foundation pooling into lines or open pores often means the formula lacks hydrating ingredients, humectants like hyaluronic acid that draw moisture to the skin, and ceramides and emollients to nourish it. Or our favourite makeup hack is to mix a little eye cream with your concealer, which boosts moisture while covering imperfections. This adds luminosity, exactly what mature skin needs.
Benefit The POREfessional Super Setter Setting Spray, $64.
This microfine mist helps your makeup stay put for hours (16 hours according to Benefit) while blurring pores and leaving that fresh feeling on the skin - and it’s water and smudge-proof while being alcohol-free.
Don’t mix makeup, TEXTURES
If you use a liquid foundation, use a cream bronzer, blusher and highlighter. Or powder foundation, go with powder blush and highlighter, don’t mix the textures of your makeup products. This way, everything will work in synergy, and you're less likely to get pilling ((small balls of product begin to roll off your skin). Always shake liquid makeup first; lightweight textures often separate in the bottle.
Estee Lauder Double Wear Second Skin Cream Primer SPF20, $81.
Praised for its flexible hold that ‘increases the skin-fit of makeup,’ this primer ensures you have a soft velvety base for makeup to last all day while brightening the skin and creating an even canvas for any foundation.
FIND YOUR PERFECT MATCH ONLINE
If your favourite foundation is out of stock or is no longer made, you can find the perfect substitute at Findation.com. It’s a brilliant online tool that compares thousands of shades from hundreds of foundations to cross-reference. This website uses algorithms to provide you with a similar shade from every other foundation brand out there. So you don’t have to go shade shopping; you can jump online and find your fit - it’s genius.
To covet, gift, or just to treat yourself.