I have gradually - very gradually - learned that no matter what the make-up product is, it will not give me a different face. It will not make me Jennifer Aniston circa Season 3 of Friends. I will still be me.
But, there are certain things that do, in fact, make a significant difference to how much better my dreary face can me made to look.
One trick that is circling Instagram is to prep the face with make-up setting mist, apply a translucent powder, then apply make-up and then another layer of settings spray.
Don’t go! I know you are a practical person and do not enjoy spending hours daily at the mirror. Many of you are E45-and-go girls and I salute that.
But, there are some days when you just needs to look your absolute best. Or you feel like going back to those days, pre-work, pre-family, pre-internet, when you had nothing much to do and fiddling about with cosmetics on your teenaged face was a tremendous joy on a par with colouring in or filling a new-term pencil case with fresh stationery.
Some days you just need to know that, push come to shove, you can look great.
I had a moment like that today. There are still 4.5 days left of the summer holiday and although these days my children are far, far less of a hassle than they used to be, we are a little aimless and it feels faintly like a slog. So while Sam re-watches old episodes of Friends and Kitty does whatever she does when she’s not in the kitchen, I put my face on and did my hair. And it reminded me of the old days, of being a teenager.
“What the hell are you doing in there?” called out Sam, who was watching Friends in my bed (I was next door in the bathroom). I struck a Liza Minelli pose in the doorway and crooned, “I wanted to look pretty today!”
Sam squints. “Yes, very pretty!” he said in his high, nervous, mum-is-being-mad voice.
ANYWAY. If you want to have a go at this, what you do is apply a generous misting of a make-up setting spray (e.lf. , Urban Decay or Charlotte Tilbury), leave to dry, then a dusting of translucent powder (Laura Mercier), then your normal base (I use this by BareMinerals) then blush or whatever and then another spritz of setting spray.
What you will discover is that just the setting spray and the translucent powder provide a very soft-focus situation and, really, you could probably leave it at that. If you want to really blow their socks off, do a full face.
How are the dog days of August treating you? Been shopping for new stationery yet? Please leave a comment in the handy box below.
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For the truly idle, I bought Avène Antirougers Unifying Care by accident a few weeks ago, thinking it was a moisturiser and totally ignoring the brown band signifying it was tinted (ffs, it did not say ‘tinted’ anywhere, though nor did it say ‘moisturiser’ either …) BUT it adds that imperceptible sheen of Better Skin. Like me, but less tired and pale and saggy. I was particularly peeved as I’d just bought ELF halo glow to do the same job, though I think the Avène might be better, and does have a handy SPF for this nice hot back-to-school week. If the concrete and the hackers haven’t kyboshed that for you.
Put a ‘full face’ on during the week for the first time in years (had in person meetings with various clients) and it’s been so long I looked like I was in drag! I shall be studying this method and practising - thank you for the prompt!