My Natural Makeup Look

You like a fresh, healthy, and vibrant look but you don’t want to look all made-up.

You want your face to feel clean, and you want to be able to touch your face without accidentally smudging foundation or makeup off.

You want to look pretty and feminine and you want to do that with minimum effort and minimum ‘stuff’ on your face.

You’re in the right place!

I’ve been working to achieve and perfect the ‘natural makeup look’ ever since I began wearing makeup (enough years ago, but not too many, thank-you very much!)

My idea of a good start to the morning is minimum hair and makeup preparation time.

I would rather dedicate any extra time I have to a good breakfast, and maybe a few minutes of meditation instead–BUT, like most women out there, I want to look good, actually, I want to look great, and feel fabulous!

After years of trying out different makeup brands and different combinations of primers, powders, makeups and creams (potions, as my hubbie likes to call them) I’ve come to be very knowledgeable about the whole ‘natural’ look.

I’m going to share with you what brands are good, what works, what doesn’t work, and the best methods of makeup application.

After the many requests that I’ve been getting from my girlfriends for advice on the ‘best of this’ and the ‘best of that’ I’ve decided to just put it all together and create the Natural Makeup Look.

And I’ve decided to dedicate this site to all the ladies out there who want to look fabulous without looking like they’ve spent all day trying hard for it!

THE SECRET TO REAL BEAUTY

I’m going to let you in on the first and most important secret to beauty right away; You’re only as pretty as you feel.

What does that mean?

That true beauty is from the inside out.

Beauty begins within you and then shines out into the world; true beauty means feeling healthy and energetic; acting with confidence and feeling in charge of your life and circumstances; radiating happy energy that is born of loving yourself; feeling energetic, inspired, and open to life and all it has to offer!

As Alan Dattner, a New York medical doctor and pioneer in holistic dermatology put it, “The most important thing that people can do for beauty,” he says, “is to come from peace, joy, appreciation and happiness inside, and let that radiate out on their faces.”

Working on yourself from the inside out, as well as from the outside in, makes a huge difference to how you feel about yourself, and by extension, how your body expresses itself and looks to the outer world.

Simple things such as reducing exposure to toxins of all sorts, including stress, and watching what we put in the body, as well as what we put on it, should be part of your daily beauty regime.

I’m a big believer in this philosophy of beauty, and am always looking at how to provide my body with the best inner nourishment of breathing, meditation, visualization, exercise and diet, as well as looking at all the outer goodies that makeup can offer.

THE BASICS OF MAKEUP APPLICATION

The basics of achieving the natural makeup look is actually quite simple and is mostly about matching the right colors to your skin tone and using highlight tones that work with your general coloring.

Like any artist, you need to begin with a good canvas, and that means healthy, glowing skin that you’ll achieve with a daily skincare regime that works for you.

Once you’ve achieved the optimum hydration (because we can’t begin the makeup routine with dry skin!) you can begin with the first steps of makeup application.

You can also watch some tutorials on how to achieve the natural look by clicking here.

But here’s four important little secrets that you should know first.

1- Concealer secret #1

: Make sure your concealer is yellow in tone as this helps to mute imperfections without adding color, giving your skin a natural look.

2- Foundation secret #1

: Find a foundation that matches your skin tone by trying it out on the inside of your wrists and on the skin right below the cheekbone.. The right foundation will seem to disappear on your face. If you are African-American, it’s a good idea to have light, medium and dark shades of your foundation to allow for different gradations of color on different parts of your face.

3- Powder secret #1:

Again, it’s all about the color-matching. If you’re using powder instead of foundation or if you’re using powder on top of your foundation in both cases it should match your skin so closely as to almost disappear.

TIP: You might be buying a foundation that you think looks great, until you walk outside, and realize it looks like a completely different color.

The lighting in department stores or indoor places in general is quite different than outdoor lighting, so beware! — I usually try a foundation or powder inside and then walk outside or to different parts of the mall and check again to make sure the color still matches my skin tone.

4- Cheeky secret #1:

Choose a blush color that is close to the color of your cheeks after you’ve exercised, this will give you a healthy, natural look rather than made up.